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Class Warfare in the Blizzard of 2017

Winds increase from a strengthening nor’easter, blizzard conditions will bring dangerous travel over the interior Northeast, while a wintry mix, rain and flooding continue to advance northward along the coast through Tuesday.

The storm has forced a State of Emergency to declared in multiple states.

Blizzard conditions with heavy snow, very low visibility, plus drifting snow will clog streets and highways from parts of central and eastern Pennsylvania and northwestern New Jersey and over much of Maine and New Brunswick.

But as I was digging my car out, I couldn't decide is it Class envy or Class warfare? I guess throwing that snowball at the passing SUV gives you why I made the word choice.

Blame Game at the N'th Hour

House Speaker John Boehner announces debt plan, rejected by some conservative lawmakers; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid releases own plan, quickly endorsed by White House; Obama, Boehner tells their sides in separate speeches to nation; transcript of Obama’s speech; transcript of Boehner’s speech.

Waaaah! I haven't seen this much finger pointing and flat out crying at a microphone since Dave Wan-stash was coaching the Bears.

Meanwhile, the following chart should be included in any discussion of the trouble we're in:


Yes, see, it's all the Bush Tax cuts - that Obama extended. He also extended the wiretaps and the wars, and then started another two... Libya and Yemen. Here's another chart to chew on...

Oh, ironically, Football is back on! The players and the owners came to an agreement.

Read More

Depression 2.0.2

Dow Jones Suffers Biggest Fall In A Year As Analyst Says: 'We're On The Verge Of A Great Depression'

Let's see...

* Manufacturing index falls to 53.5 from 60.4 in April
* Private employers added just 38,000 jobs in May
* Dow Jones crashes more than two per cent by 280 points and erases quarter of year's gains
* Republicans press Obama for detailed plan on cuts
* The housing market continues to falter and has yet to hit bottom.

It might be time to hold onto your hats (still) as the U.S economy continues it's crash.

A market strategist gave the dire prediction that ‘we’re on the verge of a great, great depression’ as the economy suffered a triple blow.

Big falls in job growth and the manufacturing sector wiped out more than a quarter of the Dow Jones industrial average's gains for the year.

Read more ....

Update: Horror for US Economy as Data Falls off Cliff -- CNBC

Too much debt .... uncontrollable spending .... an unwillingness to do anything about it .... What's new? Oh and food and fuel prices continue to skyrocket. If history is a guide, and I'm one to get up on a rock and say so - great economic dislocations and depressions were always followed by "Great Wars." Hey, we're in our Third Recovery Summer - it's like Lollapaloza!

I really ought to update that picture - have an iPad2 or something more current.

Double Dip

Rising Oil Prices Raise the Specter of a Double Dip

Sustained and significant rise in oil prices WILL derail the U.S. economic recovery by stirring inflation and putting the brakes on spending.

Oil futures touched $100 a barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange — the highest since before the financial crisis hit in late 2008 — before pulling back. Note, this is WHY there was a financial crisis in 2008.

Pricier oil drives up the costs of everything from gas at the pump to the raw materials used to make nylon and food packaging, because we make everything out of oil. That could mean higher inflation and prompt consumers, who lately have shown more willingness to spend, to cut back their purchases. Duh.

Oil prices have risen 7.35% since the beginning of the year, while gasoline futures have risen 10.67%.

The question now is whether turmoil in the Middle East and Northern Africa could lead to a sustained cutback in production or delivery disruptions that could drive those prices much higher and push the U.S. as well as other countries back into recession. Supply-driven oil shocks, like the ones that came with the 1973 oil embargo and the 1979 Iranian revolution, were factors in past recessions. See, some people do read history books around here. Too bad we don't learn from them.

Most economists reckon that the price of oil would have to rise to at least $120 a barrel, and stay there, to threaten the recovery. Let's see where those economists are when it's close to $200, and ask them some useless questions then.

Sunday Comics - The Week in Review

Finish line. Another week in the history books. The roller-coaster of the drama in Egypt has come to a conclusion - and the three hundred souls that helped make it happen. Social media was a tool, an interment in organizing - not necessarily creating - a revolution. And in Egypt's case it was as effective as a blade or a bullet. In Iran - not so much.
It's also telling that in Iran, as they're celebrating their revolution, and cheering on Egypt - they're suppressing the Green movement and hanging the opposition.
And go he did. The military performed a soft coup d'e'tat. The oil sucking world is concerned what's going to happen next. The West, and America love democracy -- but only if it's to their own benefit. If you're a democracy and elect theocracy into office - that's not good for business. That's why the West is excited for the people of Egypt, but also quaking in their boots that Egypt won't want to play ball.
Which explains, perfectly, the White House's trepidations and confusing messages about Egypt these last couple weeks. A PEW poll discovered that 82% of Egyptians have an unfavorable opinion of the United States. They also want more religion in their government. Factbox: Egyptians want more Islam in politics: poll.

Switching gears, Mr. Obama crossed the street to try to mend fences with the Chamber of Commerce. It went over like a lead balloon.
But the US is on the road to recovery, right? There's nothing to fear... oh, Inflation.
Meantime, make sure you get out to the store this weekend to buy your sweetie overpriced roses and chocolate that was picked by children... oh, you haven't heard? Now chocolate is the new blood diamond. Eh, just email your SO a picture. That ought to go over well.

And there's a new high watermark for failure out there...
Let's try to meet back here next week, gang. In the meantime, hang in there.

Thought of the week: Why is cargo on a ship, but stuff on a truck is a shipment?

Saturday Morning Cartoons

The American Dream

The latest animated explanation of how the recent transition of the American Dream (purchased entirely on credit), was virtually guaranteed to become an American Nightmare. This is an extremely well done cartoon that takes a satirical look at “The American Dream”.

The AMERICAN DREAM is a 30 minute animated film that shows you how you’ve been scammed by the most basic elements of our government system. All of us Americans strive for the American Dream, and this film shows you why your dream is getting farther and farther away. Do you know how your money is created? Or how banking works? Why did housing prices skyrocket and then plunge? Do you really know what the Federal Reserve System is and how it affects you every single day? THE AMERICAN DREAM takes an entertaining but hard hitting look at how the problems we have today are nothing new, and why leaders throughout our history have warned us and fought against the current type of financial system we have in America today. You will be challenged to investigate some very entrenched and powerful institutions in this nation, and hopefully encouraged to help get our nation back on track.

Debt Ceiling

Top White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee warned Sunday that a congressional failure to rise the nation's debt limit early this year would be "catastrophic."

"It pains me that we would even be talking about this," Goolsbee told ABC's "This Week." "This is not a game. You know, the debt ceiling is not something to toy with. … If we hit the debt ceiling, that's essentially defaulting on our obligations, which is totally unprecedented in American history. The impact on the economy would be catastrophic. I mean, that would be a worse financial economic crisis than anything we saw in 2008."More

Uh, yes. Catastrophic that two Administrations spent enough to have to even discuss raising the debt ceiling - again.

We'll just give the alcoholic driving the car in the school zone a couple more shots. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

Hell - why even have a debt ceiling? They're spending like there's no tomorrow anyway - what's some arbitrary stop sign going to do to slow them down now? They'll just move the goal post a couple more times until we have to give everything back to the Cherokee Nation. Perhaps they'll buy it back for a necklace and some small pox infected blankets? They're going to be super pissed to see what we did to the place. We probably won't get our security deposit back.

Democrats Fall Into Trap - Extend Bush Tax Cuts

The top 2% just got their tax cuts extended. Thank the spineless Democratic leadership.

The best part? I mean, the funniest part? It's a trap!

"In Washington, where anything beyond last week’s news cycle is considered ancient history, the jury-rigged nature of the Bush plan—and the fiscal sleight-of-hand involved—have been all but forgotten.

“We knew that, politically, once you get it into law, it becomes almost impossible to remove it,” says Dan Bartlett, Bush’s former communications director. “That’s not a bad legacy. The fact that we were able to lay the trap does feel pretty good, to tell you the truth.”

[...] Had the tax breaks been made permanent—or even extended beyond Sept. 30, 2011—the fledgling Bush administration would have had to muster a 60-vote Senate majority under the so-called Byrd Rule, named for master parliamentarian Robert Byrd. (The final version, cutting taxes by $1.35 trillion, garnered 58 votes.) And by moving up the expiration date by nine months, the Bush team saved $100 billion and made the bill’s deficit-busting impact appear smaller.

As an added bonus, the “sunset” provision, in Beltway-speak, was a political time bomb: At some point in the way distant future, Democrats could be accused of raising taxes if they tried to undo the Bush breaks and return to Clinton-era levels of taxation."

[Found by Gary the Dangerous Infidel]

Look gang, the Republicans a scoring a victory while the Democrats are placing their tails between their legs and doing this in a lame-duck session. Of course they extended it. They always were. if anyone really cared about the 300 Billion - they would have simply raised the taxes or extended this forever, rather than 2 years -- where they get to do it again. And campaign on it. This is merely a distraction from the one group that fundamentally CONTROLS the economy. The Banks.

Cutting or raising Taxes doesn’t matter. Banks not lending because Glass/Stegeall was removed is all that does. We need to take off the partisan blinders and pay attention to the real issues.

Fear The Boom and Bust

Filed under Saturday morning cartoons: bonus time... here's the EconStories guys are back with three video lectures about "Fear The Boom And Bust"

Part III: The Cluster of Errors

The Next Economy and America's Future

"The perfect storm: An unprecedented concentration of income and wealth at the top; a record amount of secret money flooding our democracy; and a public becoming increasingly angry and cynical about a gov't that's raising its taxes, reducing its services, and unable to get it back to work. We're losing our democracy to a different system. It's called plutocracy." ~ Robert Reich

Everybody knows the dice are loaded.

Rethinking The Depression

Three Stories. All Relevant. My 2 Cents sprinkled around.

The Parent Model [Link]
Excerpt: During the first half of this year, German and American political leaders engaged in an epic debate. American leaders argued that the economic crisis was so bad, governments should borrow billions to stimulate growth. German leaders argued that a little short-term stimulus was sensible, but anything more was near-sighted. What was needed was not more debt, but measures to balance budgets and restore confidence. The debate got pointed. American economists accused German policy makers of risking a long depression. The German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, countered, “Governments should not become addicted to borrowing as a quick fix to stimulate demand.”

The two countries followed different policy paths. According to Gary Becker of the University of Chicago, the Americans borrowed an amount equal to 6 percent of G.D.P. in an attempt to stimulate growth. The Germans spent about 1.5 percent of G.D.P. on their stimulus. This divergence created a natural experiment. Who was right? The early returns suggest the Germans were. The American stimulus package was supposed to create a “summer of recovery,” according to Obama administration officials. Job growth was supposed to be surging at up to 500,000 a month. Instead, the U.S. economy is scuffling along. The German economy, on the other hand, is growing at a sizzling (and obviously unsustainable) 9 percent annual rate. Unemployment in Germany has come down to pre-crisis levels.

My 1/2 cent - ironic that in 70 odd years, it's the Germans trying to teach the Americans how to prevent a Depression.

Little-known fact: Obama's failed stimulus program cost more than the Iraq war
[Link]
Excerpt: Expect to hear a lot about how much the Iraq war cost in the days ahead from Democrats worried about voter wrath against their unprecedented spending excesses.
The meme is simple: The economy is in a shambles because of Bush's economic policies and his war in Iraq. As American Thinker's Randall Hoven points out, that's the message being peddled by lefties as diverse as former Clinton political strategist James Carville, economist Joseph Stiglitz, and The Nation's Washington editor, Christopher Hayes.

The key point in the mantra is an alleged $3 trillion cost for the war. Well, it was expensive to be sure, in both blood and treasure, but, as Hoven notes, the CBO puts the total cost at $709 billion. To put that figure in the proper context of overall spending since the war began in 2003, Hoven provides this handy CBO chart showing the portion of the annual deficit attributable to the conflict:

My half cent - weren't we supposed to be selling that Iraqi oil to ourselves by now to pay for that situation?

FDR and the Lessons of the Depression
[LINK] Excerpt: In 1937, after several years of partial recovery from the Great Depression, the U.S. economy fell into a sharp recession. The episode has become a lightning rod in the ongoing debate about whether the economy needs further increases in government spending to keep employment from declining even more. Christina Romer, the outgoing chair of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, started this debate last year in The Economist by drawing a parallel to 1937 for anyone getting cold feet about increased government spending and soaring deficits. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman chimed in by claiming that the economy will repeat the experience of the 1930s if government spending is not increased.

The economy did not tank in 1937 because government spending declined. Increases in tax rates, particularly capital income tax rates, and the expansion of unions, were most likely responsible. Unfortunately, these same factors pose a similar threat today. Here are the facts: Real government spending, measured in 1937 dollars, declined by less than 0.7% of GDP between 1936 and 1937, and then rebounded in 1938. It is implausible that such a small and temporary decline reduced real GDP by nearly 3.5% in 1938 or reduced industrial production by about one-third. But in 1936, the Roosevelt administration pushed through a tax on corporate profits that were not distributed to shareholders. The sliding scale tax began at 7% if a company retained 1% of its net income, and went to 27% if a company retained 70% of net income. This tax significantly raised the cost of investment, as most investment is financed with a corporation's own retained earnings.

The tax rate on dividends also rose to 15.98% in 1932 from 10.14% in 1929, and then doubled again by 1936. Research conducted last year by Ellen McGratten of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis suggests that these increases in capital income taxation can account for much of the 26% decline in business fixed investment that occurred in 1937-1938.

My last cent - it wasn't spending, or not spending or even WWII that pulled the US from the Depression Era - it was that all the competition had been blown to hell, and the US was the only manufacturing base that was left standing. There was zero competition for 15 years. And when Japan and Germany were rebuilt with American Marshal Plan dollars - in part to stop the spread of Russian Brand Communism - those brand new factories were able to produce better products than the US. And, the US was also spending a majority of their GDP dollars in the defense of Western Europe and Japan (which we're STILL doing in 2010), which allowed for 'enlightened' social programs of Western Europe and also Japan, since an insignificant amount of their GDP were being spent on their own defense and military. I think my meter just ran out, so I better end with a quote...

Quote:
Socialism is like a dream. Sooner or later you wake up to reality. ~ Winston Churchill

The Week In Review - Sunday Comics

We made it through another week. I'm not quite sure how. Anyhow, here's where we wrap up crap we covered, and stuff we didn't get to with some cartoons.

First off, China's GDP just beat out Japan. Welcome to #2, China, how did you do it? Was it your complete disregard to the environment, human rights, or...
Mr. Obama stepped in the WTC/Mosque-it's-a-local-issue-but-it's-not-and-it's a prayer-center-troll-bait-not-a-mosque debate. At least he was clear, and stuck with his original statement.
Or, another way to look at it, Mr. Obama became John Kerry for the issue.

Wrangle continues to plague the Democrats... but compared to some other Democrats, he's a rank Amateur. And he's had 40 years of practice!

Oh, it's not all Charlie's fault.
Meantime, the oil spill is over - except for the invisible layer that's being detected. How does that work, again?
But that's nothing compared to Fredie and Franny...
Why cap it now?

WikiLeaks Founder was found to be vulnerable to an attack, Farvre DID come back to the Vikings - this week, Blago went down for lying, and so did Roger Clemens. Pakistan continues to tread water as 2 million people and 1/5 of the country is underwater, and still - no one seems to care.

See you next week

The Week In Review - Sunday Comics

The Week in Review is a chance to toss up some stuff we didn't get to, or could be summed up in a cartoon...

The oil spill is all done. Gone. Over. Quit asking about it. Hey, is Lady Gaga talking - go over there!
Another bail out is coming - and it's for the bankers, and the rest of those mortgages - which, one would suspect that the economy isn't quite over the 'adjustment' period, despite the cheer leading?
Here's what a double dip recession actually means....
The trouble with Iran... seems that anyone who still stones another for not following the mob rule ought not to have nukes. Or maybe they should just have a judge overturn the decision?Enforcing Federal Law... I the odd chance you can't read it, one dude says, "I'm glad the feds sued Arizona." Other one says, "yeah, you can't have people enforcing federal law."
Speaking of the Feds...
It's hot. It's summer...
Have a good week. See you next week? Stay cool - and out of the peat moss fires.

Trickle Down

Remember when everything was starting to look better? When spending by the most affluent was about to save us from the Great Recession? It didn't last, and now that the rich are on a budget, it's time to show how trickle down works, again.

“One of the reasons that the recovery has lost momentum is that high-end consumers have become more jittery and more cautious,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics.

That cautious attitude stems in part from concerns about global instability, especially in Europe, and in part from the volatility of the stock market in recent months. Major stock indexes are about as safe and fun as that rusty roller coaster manned by the stoned Carnie at the Iowa County Fair. And after big companies announced disappointing earnings, and bank stockstaking a nose dive as investors wrestled with the twin issues of lower trading profits from Citibank and Bank of America and the prospect that new financial regulation would further crimp their businesses. The rich are starting to google "Frugal" and "on a budget."

Stocks are mostly psychological. Everyone hears the empty piggy bank of financial future and savings. There was a report that half of America has a grand total of two grand in their retirement savings. Waiting for the other shoe to drop? How about the entire shoe store? Consumer confidence slumped in July to its lowest point since August 2009 in the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index..

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 261.41 points to 10,097.9 last Friday, for a loss of 2.52 percent. For the year, broad-based stock indexes in the United States all show losses of more than 3 percent.

Even The Fed has acknowledged that the recovery is losing steam and suggested that should conditions worsen further, additional stimulus will be needed. Well, what else would you expect?

At this stage of a recovery, businesses and economists want to see people of all incomes spending more, because the demand for goods and services would in turn encourage companies to hire workers. The American consumer accounts for an estimated 60 percent of the country’s economic activity.

ut the Top 5 percent in income earners — those households earning $210,000 or more — account for about one-third of consumer outlays, including spending on goods and services, interest payments on consumer debt and cash gifts, according to an analysis of Federal Reserve data by Moody’s Analytics. That means the purchasing decisions of the rich have an outsize effect on economic data. According to Gallup, spending by upper-income consumers — defined as those earning $90,000 or more — surged to an average of $145 a day in May, up 33 percent from a year earlier. Hmmmm.

Then in June, that daily average slid to $119. “I think a lot of that feeling that the worst was over has sort of abated,” said Dennis J. Jacobe, Gallup’s chief economist.

Although real estate brokers in Manhattan and the Hamptons report that buyers at the high end have returned, and Mercedes sales in the United States are up 26 percent this year, other indicators suggest a slowdown.

At the high end, luxury hotel chains like the Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton said bookings were much stronger earlier this year but had recently slowed. And upscale retailers, including Saks and Neiman Marcus, said sales growth eased in June. Overall retail sales slid in June from May, the government said this week.

To the extent that the wariness of the affluent is driven mainly by nerves and sentiment, economists hope that it will be temporary. “If growth is actually solid, those fears will dissipate,” said Dean Maki, chief United States economist at Barclays Capital and a former senior economist at the Federal Reserve Board.

The worry, of course, is that consumers will stop spending because of their concerns about a slowdown, and that economic growth will slow because consumers have stopped spending.

After virtually shutting down during the financial collapse in late 2008, the wealthy began to open their wallets wider last year, in part because a stock market rally helped them feel better off financially.

By spring of last year, the savings rate — which represents the percentage of after-tax income not spent — of the top 5 percent of income earners had turned negative, according to the analysis by Moody’s Analytics. That meant the group was spending more than it made.

Less well-off consumers remained more frugal, most likely constrained by unemployment, declines in home values and the disappearance of easy credit. So the savings rate actually rose last year for those in middle-income brackets as they cut spending.

Job losses have disproportionately hit those at the lower end of the wage scale. According to the Labor Department, the unemployment rate among people in management, business or financial occupations was 4.8 percent in June, compared to 9.5 percent over all, 18.2 percent in construction and 12.1 percent in production.

As a result, the affluent generally maintained their spending power at a time when others were losing it. “High-income households drove the economy out of recession into recovery and powered the recovery through its first year,” Mr. Zandi concluded. He added that although the incomes of the richest people might have been affected by swings in dividend payments or bonuses, the change in their savings rate was most likely driven by increased spending.

Affluent spenders “began to come out of the bunker about this time last year,” Mr. Zandi said, “and part of it was related to the revival in the stock market.”

Other economists suggest that while Mr. Zandi’s conclusions make some sense, the data is hazy on the precise role that the rich have played in consumer spending. “We have tried to do other things like look at consumer expenditures on products mainly purchased by the rich and could never get anywhere,” said Barry P. Bosworth, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

On the ground, those whose sales depend on affluent buyers have seen definite patterns. Last year and early this year, when the major stock gauges were rising, “everybody seemed to be a little bit more optimistic,” said Tom Hauswirth, general manager and partner of Moritz Cadillac, BMW and Mini in Arlington, Tex., near Dallas.

“Then I think everybody was affected when they saw the stock market go below 10,000,” he said. “Even though it may not affect their ability to buy or not, it affects their thinking.”

Mr. Hauswirth said that those who had recently bought new cars were sometimes fearful of being labeled as conspicuous consumers. A few, he said, insisted on buying new cars in the same color as their old models.

“They didn’t want their employees to know they bought a new car,” he said. “It doesn’t look good during a wage freeze or when they’re cutting people.”

Moritz laid off about 15 percent of its sales staff last year, and Mr. Hauswirth said that he did not yet feel comfortable hiring back until sales improved more.

Linda Dresner, the owner of a clothing boutique for women that carries designers like Dries van Noten and John Galliano in the upscale suburb of Birmingham, Mich., has reduced her inventory and says customers often say their husbands have asked them to rein in spending.

“They are wealthy people who live well,” Ms. Dresner said. “But their businesses have suffered some, and they are pulling back.”

Policy makers are divided on what may be needed to spur economic growth, with a current debate raging over whether to extend unemployment benefits, payments that are usually spent immediately. .

Sam Pizzigati, associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, a left-leaning research center, cautions against simply boosting the spending power of the rich through tax cuts or other measures. “Otherwise, we find ourselves in an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ world,” he said, “and the solution to the hard times that the economy is going through is to help the people that are not going through hard times.”

For now, some affluent spenders are getting thrifty. Linda Stasiak, who sells high-end skin care products to retailers like Whole Foods, said that her biggest sales increase had been for a $15.95 tube wringer, made to get every last drop out of a bottle of lotion.

“During peak time, I don’t even really remember selling them,” Ms. Stasiak said.

However - There is one thing we've got that they didn't have in the Great Depression: built in obsolescence : in industrial design is a policy of deliberately planning or designing a product with a limited useful life, so it will become obsolete or nonfunctional after a certain period. Planned obsolescence has potential benefits for a producer because to obtain continuing use of the product the consumer is under pressure to purchase again, whether from the same manufacturer (a replacement part or a newer model, heeelllooo iPhone customers waiting in line, over night?), or from a competitor which might also rely on planned obsolescence. The purpose of planned obsolescence is to hide the real cost per use from the consumer, who will be willing to pay a higher price for the product than if he had been aware of its limited useful life.

So, we got that going for us. I know I've had to buy a whole bunch of crap - washing machine, fridge, car, lawn mower, garage door... I can name about ten other $300.00 items that needed to be fixed or replaced since the beginning of the Great Recession. So, perhaps, one of the worst aspects of capitalism will be the one thing that saves it?

PS Thanks to the NYTimes for the bulk of my cutn'paste.

The Week In Review - Sunday Comics

The US was shocked, shocked, to find a big spy unit working in the US. They got shipped back in a classic spy swap... except that I know about it, and it wasn't done at night on a bridge in West Berlin...
Yes, the economy is just roaring back - or not - and Wall Street is hiring, but everyone else is still firing. So what the hell is going on? Word around the Chamber of Commerce is that since no one is really sure what the Obama Administration is doing, or how reaching their new taxes and regulations they're going to fill up their coffers first before hiring anyone. There. That's what's going on. Do you feel happier knowing the truth?
This guy keeps changing his tune every week. I thought it was about fund raising and trying to save Harry Reid's job? Anyhow, with only half of the slush-fund Stimulus Fund spent - I have to ask, what the hell are you waiting for? November is coming quicker than the Democrats think, and if mom and dad don't have money for the back to school sales, perhaps they'll remember that on November 2nd.
Meanwhile, Mr. Obama seems more concerned with trying to get the Latino vote than actually reading the AZ law... which is going to cause more trouble than it's worth. But filing a lawsuit before the law is even instituted is a bad precedent.
I thought that Mr. Obama studied Constitutional Law and was a student of Abraham Lincoln? Well, I still can't figure out why there were so many nautical allegories in his books.

What a great week. Hope to see you around for the next one.

The Week In Review - Sunday Comics

Yesterday there was a protest against oil in Washington DC and also "hands across the sands" which was a bunch of white people holding hands on their beach front property. Many of them had green hard hats on, which meant they wanted 'clean' energy. Of note, were the green hard hats which were made of plastic. Which is made of petroleum. Goddamn it people.

And why does America need 20 million barrels of oil A DAY?
Yeah, it's a joke about the sweatshop that made the iPhone 4, but the reality is that it's our waiting-in-line attitude and cult-ish worship of the newest and shiniest new gadget rolled out on top of the pile of pointless consumerism and one-up-manship of the Joneses. But on the bright side, this lifestyle is completely unsustainable. Just ask everyone looking for employment.

That recovery is going great! Right?! I mean, every country in the world is following Mr. Obama's advice and driving their countries into crippling debt and dependence? What? they're not? They're standing up to him? Oh, Greece scared the living crap out of everyone? Really?

And as the G8 gets around to condemning North Korea for continuing to fight the Korean War, with a mildly worded letter, the good old fashioned protesting in Toronto is being led by Tyler Durden... no, really.

No. I mean, really. That's not shopped.

What a week. See you next time.