David Corn

All the jobs in the world aren't going to do anything to improve the lives of most Americans if something isn't done fast to shore up the plummenting value of the dollar.

War without end, mounting debt, slowing economic growth are sure to continue if we dump trillions down the drain in the persuit of control of the oil supply in the middle east.

And yes, by any means we should appreciate and support the displaced musicians of New Orleans whose valued traditions are in serious danger of being "Disneylanded".

-T

Of course the Republicans won't offer any substansive alternatives to tax cuts for the rich. To advocate anything other than trickle down economics would be like insulting St. Ronald himself.

"Note that none of these references were a pledge to improve the jobs situation in the United States or a proposal to do so. Sure, conventional unemployment numbers are low."

First of all, they haven't made a pledge because they haven't a clue.

Second, improve job situattion in the US? Sure conventional unemployement numbers are low?

Try coneventional unemployment numbers are at a historic low.
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"All the jobs in the world aren't going to do anything to improve the lives of most Americans if something isn't done fast to shore up the plummenting value of the dollar."

The plummenting value of the dollar is not a bad thing Hajji. Our exports are at an all time high, which means more money kept at home instead of sending it over seas. Why do you think China has purposely kept there currency under valued for so long?

What we need to improve our economy is less spending in government. Both Republicans and Democrats are guilty of spending us into a point of no return just like the mortgage and credit mess before us.

On the radio this morning (and I read it somewhere):

One MILLION dollars a minute - That is what we have to borrow. We are not paying down anything and we will be TEN TRILLION dollars in debt very soon.

How much longer can this go on?

Seems like it is still the ecomony stupid - does HRC dare make the comparison?

"...The plummenting value of the dollar is not a bad thing Hajji..."

Tell it to each and every person who pays more for food, gas, power, clothing, etc. who are lucky if they can make it from payday to payday with no real increase in salary and a VERY real DECREASE in the purchasing power of their static paycheck.

Tell it to the folks that have to do without or settle for medication that isn't the BEST for their condition because they can't afford the top-shelf antibiotics and maintainence meds their doctors prescribe. Tell it to the people who can't afford pre-natal care, diabetes education and medication, childhood asthma treatments.

Tell it to the people who wait for up to 10 hours in an emergency room because they won't be seen by a general practicianer without payment "up front".

Tell it to the epilepsy patient whose last dollar went to pay his rent, now having a seizure in room #6.

Tell it to the octagenarian suffering hypothermia because she can't pay the power bill since her income is FIXED, but her heating bill isn't.

Tell it to the 70year-old who should really quit working at the grocery but can't because even though she's been working all her life, paying in to the system, there's no way to make it on what she'd get paid out.

But don't tell it to me. I KNOW your history of agitation, here.

Tell it to the people I see every day as their dollar buys less and less and their expenses rise more and more.

On second thought, go tell it to your mother.

Hajji,

I agree that this leaves some people with less to live on. However, the Dems are not purposing anything to remedy these problems other than spend more than Bush did. The Dems want to remove the Bush tax cuts that give these same people $500 per child tax credit and aren't doing anything about the inceasing AMT tax.

You guys should be praising the higher oil prices. Higher prices means less driving those SUVs and Al Gore will have to cut back on his private jets not to mention the mansion that takes a city to heat of his. All this will help global warming-Yah!

I started my own business 7 years ago and lived on less than $25,000 a year for a family of five while paying for my own health insurance and we did just fine. I bet you haven't even had to struggle like that Hajman! The problem with most, not all, of your sob stories is that these people can't afford good medical care becaus ethey drive brand new SUVs that cost $80 to fill up every week with $400-$500 car payments. Kind of like the SChip family you all used as a political football until they were found to be frauds.

Now cry me another river Hajpaj!

"Tell it to the people who wait for up to 10 hours in an emergency room because they won't be seen by a general practicianer without payment "up front"."

I was recentley at the ER for a cut hand on a Sunday night and had to wait for more than 6 hrs. I had health insurance, but the 25 illegal immigrants that couldn't speak english seemed to not be complaining about not having a general Pract. to go to since the ER was free, paid for by me!

"Tell it to the octagenarian suffering hypothermia because she can't pay the power bill since her income is FIXED, but her heating bill isn't."

Tell her that low income housing is available and the heating is part of the fixed low rent.

Tell it to the folks that have to do without or settle for medication that isn't the BEST for their condition because they can't afford the top-shelf antibiotics and maintainence meds their doctors prescribe.

Tell those folks Wal-Mart has $4.00 prescriptions.

Tell it to the 70year-old who should really quit working at the grocery but can't because even though she's been working all her life, paying in to the system, there's no way to make it on what she'd get paid out.

I agree, Sol Sec is a liberal scam and should be dis-continued. Private investing returns 6% and is a better choice.

Tell it to the people I see every day as their dollar buys less and less and their expenses rise more and more.

It's called making a budget!

Nothing, if not predictable. It is pathological the way some have to categorize, depersonalize and make up "background" stories about people they've never met in order to blame them and hate them, just so they can argue that the falling value of the dollar "a good thing".

They create people in their mind to despise so they feel better about being a "big picture" kinda guy, so they can buttress a small, flawed point in a meaningless debate.

Whether the plight of returning soldiers, Katrina victims, the poor, the homeless, the struggling of those less fortunated who just want to get healthy, get shelter, get "home", it is always the same deamonizations.

Pathological and Puh-thetic!

I am doubly blessed in that I work for a "not-for-profit" hospital. I not only get to actually meet REAL representatives of the millions of "little pictures" that make up the "big picture", I get to do something real to help them.

We often get to provide medications to people who need drugs not on Wally's 124 medication formulary.

We get to provide social services for those who fall through the cracks.

We get to arrange shelter for the homeless, the poor, the psychologically impaired.

We only get to help a small fraction of people in need, but it at least gives us a REAL perspective into their plight.

It is so much better than ignoring them, deamonizing them, despizing them, blaming them and HATING them.

But, hey, if it helps to perpetuate the persona...then by all means, carry on!

Hajji,

Congrats to you for the humanity award. However, you make my point better than I can. It's non-profits like the one you work for that makes a difference for these people not big government or Hillary care.

Keep up the good work

"...I had health insurance, but the 25 illegal immigrants that couldn't speak english seemed to not be complaining about not having a general Pract. to go to since the ER was free, paid for by me!.."

"Tell her that low income housing is available and the heating is part of the fixed low rent."

"...Tell those folks Wall mart has $4.00 prescriptions..."

"...I agree, Sol Sec is a liberal scam and should be dis-continued..."

"...The problem with most, not all, of your sob stories is that these people can't afford good medical care becaus ethey drive brand new SUVs that cost $80 to fill up every week with $400-$500 car payments..."

Uhm, yeah, man MOST of 'em just want those spinners on their Lincoln Navigators!

"We only get to help a SMALL FRACTION of people in need, but it at least gives us a REAL perspective into their plight." (reading comprehension, try it sometime!)

And here I was thinking that it's point was that these people were undeserving of help and consideration! How could I possibly read that into what it posted!? Silly me!

LBH, an *ss from the passed. What's that LBH?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LBH:
"You guys should be praising the higher oil prices."

"I agree that this leaves some people with less to live on. However, the Dems..."

The problem with most, not all, of your sob stories is that these people can't afford good medical care becaus ethey drive brand new SUVs that cost $80 to fill up every week with $400-$500 car payments. Kind of like the SChip family you all used as a political football until they were found to be frauds. Now cry me another river Hajpaj!

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Now that's Bush derangement syndrome. LBH reminds me of HAPPY, who really is a doueb*g. It's to imagine a conversation anyone could have with LBH that would have value.

Now that's Bush derangement syndrome. LBH reminds me of HAPPY, who really is a doueb*g. It's to imagine a conversation anyone could have with LBH that would have value.

The difference Neil is that Happy and myself don't resort to petty name calling because of a lack of ideas or rebuttals.

Hey Neil,

How'd your buddy Chavez do is is little dictaor vote yesterday? I hear the people weren't so happy with the little socialist dictator you progressives praise as a hero.

"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man."
~Mark Twain

Don’t Fear The Weaker Dollar — It’s Keeping The Economy Afloat

Investor's Business Daily ^ | 3 December 2007 | IBD Staff

The plunge in the dollar has turned normally calm voices strident and fearful. A weak currency, they say, spells catastrophe for the U.S. economy. But like much conventional wisdom, this isn’t true. Nor is it true that the dollar, to use one favorite recent word, has “collapsed.” You wouldn’t know it, however, from recent headlines. This week’s Economist magazine, known for its cool-headed discussion of economic events, has this on its cover: “The Panic About the Dollar.” Others see in the dollar’s slump a metaphor for America’s future — one of decline and waning influence in the world. To be sure, the dollar is down almost 40% against the euro since 2001. Against the pound, it’s off almost 44%. It’s even down against the yen, by nearly 13%.

But put in perspective, these declines are neither dangerous nor even undesirable. Over the long-term, the dollar is well within normal bounds. After years of rallying due to massive flows of investment into the U.S., the dollar has simply come down to Earth.

To say it has “collapsed” or “plunged” is simply wrong — as the chart above shows.

Look at the dollar weighted against all its trading partners, not just a cherry-picked few, and you see the dollar hasn’t plunged at all. It’s about where it was 10 years ago — during the Internet boom.

Recession hits U.S. corporate profit; will overall economy be next?

WASHINGTON: U.S. corporate profits are in a recession, and the entire economy might not be far behind.

Slower sales and higher costs for energy and labor are forcing companies like Bear Stearns and Pitney Bowes to reduce spending and hiring. Their efforts to keep earnings from eroding even further raise the risk that the U.S. economy, already weakened by the steepest housing slide since 1991, could shrink sometime next year.

"The earnings recession has already arrived," said David Rosenberg, North America economist in New York for Merrill Lynch. "We are going to see an economic recession in '08."

Corporate profits, as measured by the Commerce Department, fell at an annual rate of $19.3 billion in the third quarter from the second, as domestic earnings dropped by $41.2 billion.

The fourth quarter may be an even bigger bust.

*****

I think I know why the con’s are so full of vitriol and negativity during the Christmas season. Great economies always bring out the best in the “anything for profit” users.

Yeah, the weak dollar is GREAT - all is fine.

The idea speaks volumes about anybody that could try to sell that BS, eh?

FACTBOX: Gulf Arab foreign acquisitions since May

(Reuters) - Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Tuesday Abu Dhabi Investment Authority had agreed to buy $7.5 billion worth of its stock, in the second-largest foreign acquisition announced by a Gulf Arab investor.

Gulf investors have announced more than $70 billion in foreign purchases in 2007, more than in any previous year. Following are details of some of the largest deals since May:

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Foreign investment can be a good thing. The weak dollar makes buying American cheaper for the purchaser without any benefit to Americans - worse we end up owned at about fifty cents on the dollar. When the investment capital comes from oil and our government does nothing to stop the tripling of cost for the people at the pumps it could be said we are giving them the money to buy us. Good deal for them as long as we are selling dollars so cheaply.

When the investment capital comes from oil and our government does nothing to stop the tripling of cost for the people at the pumps it could be said we are giving them the money to buy us. Good deal for them as long as we are selling dollars so cheaply.

Good reason to drill in Anwar and offshore. If only you could talk Al Gore in flying those private jets less.

Capt,

Worst of all, the deflated dollar buys less gas so the price of anything that is transported by rail, truck, air or moped increases in turn. Tractors and trucks run on diesel, so even the local farmers have to ratchet up produce, meat and milk prices to make it by.

Buying locally would normally help, but more cheaply imported goods sold in bulk at mega-stores (who rarely buy THEIR goods locally) become even more attractive to the consumer holding the dwindling dollar.

If it is a spiral down the drain for the average consumer, it is also one for the economy as a whole.

No matter how one budgets, if prices keep rising, income remains static and the dollar keeps falling...

Three Strikes just never get one on base, do they?

-T

Three Strikes just never get one on base, do they?

Explains why Gallop says Progressive report for mental health issues~

I'd be depressed too if I needed prozac to survive and couldn't afford it because of a dwindling dollar.

Things could be worse, just think if progressives got there way here like Chavez. Not only would you not be able to afford gas for your SUV but milk and sugar would be gone gone!

Overlooked poor bite back at Chávez
By Richard Lapper and Benedict Mander in Caracas

Visibly shaken by his referendum defeat, President Hugo Chávez tried to put on a brave face early Monday morning.

Seeking inspiration perhaps from Simón Bolívar, the 19th-century independence leader whose image hung behind him at the Miraflores Palace, Mr Chávez promised to turn a difficult moment into a moral triumph.

Chávez was out of step with the wishes of the poorer sectors of the population that support him,” says Edgardo Lander, a leftwing political scientist at the Central University of Venezuela. “He had interpreted his election victory in 2006 as a kind of carte blanche to do whatever he wanted, but in reality it’s not like that.”

Others suggest that economic distortions resulting from price and exchange rate controls and a sharp fall in private investment in farming and manufacturing have hit the government hard. Despite the oil bonanza, in the state-run supermarkets where the poor shop many basic foodstuffs – such as milk and sugar – are in short supply.

Interesting how when it feels itself defeated it moves on to subjects which have no bearing on the debate.

Kinda like the riddle...

Q: How many ADD kids does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

A: LETS RIDE BIKES!!!

Hajpaj,

Interesting how when it feels itself defeated it moves on to subjects which have no bearing on the debate.

There is no debate with you guy's, all you do is whine and moan about how life sucks without using any logic or facts. I'm just here to help you all get off the prozac and realize what potential you could have in the damn greatest country in the world!

Speak of lightbulbs,

I hear Hillary is going to solve global warming by making everyone get florescent light bulbs- It will take a village. With ideas like that no wonder she's the Dem front runner.

Hey LBH,

How's your buddy Putin doing rolling back democratic reform in Russia? Bush may have looked in his eyes and gotten all warm and fuzzy but it looks like Bush got rolled like an old drunk. That liberal (and world champion chess player) Garry Kasparov is trying to say his country from your buddy Putin.

How's your buddy Mushareff who declared Marshall law, disbanded the Supreme Court and exiled his political opposition? And all Bush asks is that Mushareff take off his uniform. I always thought Bush'd go both ways, not that there's anything wrong with it if yer a f*g.

How's your other buddy Larry Craig? Gay men are coming out of the woodwork, five in fact, to affirm (nice pun, eh?) they had sex with Republican Senator Larry Craig who defended himself, "I was an not gay. I never have been gay." not that there's anything wrong with it.

How's your buddy Tom DeLay, John Warner, Dennis Hastert and Roberto Gonzalez? They're jumping ship - some waiting until after they've been indicted, seom gitten out first.

"but the Dems, the Dems blaa blaa blaa."

I think I'll pass on a dialogue with you LBH. I don't learn anything except the popular spin coming from librul-haters like Rush, Hannity and O'Reilly. You're not constructive or sincere. You go find someone else to exchange witty insults and derogatory characterizations with.

Awww how CUTE!

It wants to be an edjumacator! A TEACHER! It wants to be a SAVIOR of those who are lost in the pursuit of a better life, not just for themselves, but for EVERYONE!

It turns to familiar territory, lookin' for someone else to bite its wiggling lure. It flashes "logic" by denouncing a suggestion that it might be a good thing to save a little 'legtricsty".

It doesn't believe us folks oughta try and CONSERVE, but puts forth a CONSERVATIVE front....

How cute, how very...

Rove Blames War on Daschle

If you ever suspected Karl Rove was nuts, now you know he is. Ever since escaping the asylum, he’s been running around like a madman, blaming the Iraq war on Democrats.

He started it on “Charlie Rose.” He repeated it on “Fox News Sunday.” Back in 2002, he says, President Bush was in no hurry to go to war. He wanted to give U.N. inspectors more time. But Democrats in Congress, led by Rep. Tom Daschle (S.D.), insisted on scheduling a vote on Iraq — in October 2002, before the midterm elections.

It’s an interesting theory. There’s only one problem with it: It is absolutely, totally, no-doubt-about-it FALSE. Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer was on the scene at the time. Like all the rest of us, he remembers well who was driving the issue. “It was definitely the Bush administration that set it in motion and determined the timing, not the Congress,” insists Fleischer. “I think Karl in this instance just has his facts wrong.”

Indeed. As we all remember, it was George Bush who forced U.N. inspectors out of Iraq. It was officers of the Bush White House who publicly attacked Hans Blix. And, when he sent the war resolution to Congress, it was George Bush himself who said: “We’ve got to move before the elections” — meaning the midterm elections of November 2002.

Whatever you think about this war, one thing is certain: It is George Bush’s war. He started it, he directed it, he screwed it up, and now he can’t find his way out of it.

For Karl Rove to try to re-invent history by blaming the timing of the war on Tom Daschle — it’s nuts.

*****

An admission the occupation is a failure, why would there be any blame in a glorious success? Hmmmmm.

Capt,

It sounds like the bulk of those who are "reality based" is in proportion to one's distance from Rove.

Can you imagine Card or Fleischer spouting such heresy while Turdblossom had his hand up Bush's butt?

Could Rove be doing it intentionally to distract? Maybe to try to get himself fired from Newsweek? How can Newsweek prop up such an obvious liar?

Sagging dollar adds to body armour blows

Shares in Morgan Crucible lost nearly a quarter of their value yesterday after the company warned that the weakening dollar would affect annual results.

The group, a manufacturer of components for British and US army body armour, said revenue growth for 2007 would be below analysts' expectations because of the deteriorating dollar, which will reduce yearly revenues by about £30m and cut underlying operating profits by £6m. The trading statement was hammered by investors as the shares hit a two-year low, falling 23.4% to 202.5p.

*****

Ouch, the law of unintended consequences, eh?

Credit gloom sends banks slipping and Rock sliding

· US treasury secretary says 2008 will be worse
· Barclays, RBS, Lloyds and Paragon under cloud

Fears that conditions on global money markets are deteriorating amid gloom at further sub-prime losses in the US sent bank shares crashing yesterday.

Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and Lloyds TSB joined Northern Rock and Paragon on the sick list of finance companies expected to suffer from a prolonged credit crunch. Barclays sank 5% while RBS declined 3.7%. Paragon, the specialist buy-to-let lender, was the big loser along with Northern Rock, which last night plunged 12.5% to an all-time low of 84.8p, valuing the bank at £360m.

Hank Paulson, US Treasury secretary, predicted that 2008 would be an even worse year for the US housing market than 2007, undermining what little confidence was left that the financial system could make a quick recovery from the freeze on lending that began in August.

The gloom deepened after Bank of England deputy governor Sir John Gieve warned that there may yet be more turmoil in financial markets and that money markets may feel a bigger squeeze before the end of the year. London interbank lending rates (Libor) were fixed at two-month highs, reflecting continued stress in the credit market.

*****

Will the other “global” markets let the weak dollar take them down too? I am guessing only to a point.

Great economy, though - at least by some accounts.

Iraq's numbers don't add up, U.S. says

American commanders rely increasingly on data compiled by the nation's forces, but fear they aren't fully reliable.

BAGHDAD -- As U.S. forces begin to scale back in Iraq, the military is becoming increasingly reliant on Iraqi forces to report a wide array of crucial statistics, from the number of attacks on the local infrastructure to how many Iraqi civilians have been killed or wounded.

And just as Iraqi forces have had a mixed record in fighting insurgents, they have been spotty at providing data from the regions where they have taken command.

Iraqi officials have been reporting far higher civilian death totals than those reported by U.S. forces, and aides to American commanders now acknowledge that the U.S. military probably had been undercounting such casualties.

*****

We undercounted the number? Now why would we be doing that if the numbers were so good? Maybe the numbers are the very best ever it is just the ministry of peace and truth wants us to think it is even better, eh?

Rove shouldn’t be looking for anyone to blame for the illegal fiasco - he should be singing the praises of Commander Bunnypants and his stellar victory for freedom and democracy. Maybe Rove has lost his mind?

Bush Snarkier Than Ever in Attacks on Congress

For a guy who vowed to change the tone in Washington, Bush could not have been snarkier in his Monday Rose Garden attack on Congress.

The only civil things he said were “Good morning” and “Thank you.”

Between the salutations all he did was sling mud.

He tried to ridicule Congress for trying “to squeeze in nearly a year’s worth of unfinished business” into the remaining two weeks of the legislative year.

And he sneered at the parliamentary maneuver the Democrats have employed to block his recess appointments, a privilege he’s been overeager to exploit.

On substance, he got down to rusty tacks.

Once he again, he repeated the canard that Democrats in Congress want to “deny funds to our troops in harm’s way.”

Senator Jim Webb denounced these “fear tactics” on Meet the Press Sunday. “There’s no one in the Congress who’s going to interrupt funding” that is necessary for the military and sufficient to bring the troops home safely.

But Bush would rather distort the truth than come clean.

******

I think Bush has made it obvious the money will fund “civilian contractors” so the lack of it will not effect even one of our troops.

Let the chips fall where they may.