The Barackalypse, Day Two

As of 9AM Eastern, the stock futures indicate that the end of the world has been deferred.  The Asian markets closed down but off their lows; European equities are down-ish, but it is not carnage.  ANd US stock futures are up nicely (S&P +15, Dow +117).

And if (IF!) the real battleground is the Italian bond market, so far the ECB seems to be finding traction - the ten year Italian-German spread continues to narrow to 2.8%, down from 3.9% last Thursday.  Of course, that is far too high to declare victory but the direction is right.

Apparently the Fed statement this afternon will be critical.  Why I am not sure - there is not much the Fed can do (build on the glorious success of QE I and II?) but perhaps it will be reassuring to learn that adults are aware and concerned.

Comments

[Melinda Romanoff]

Opening indications are just that, opening indications. There's still over 6 hours of trading to decide who's right and who's wrong today.

Here's how jobs are created in Illinois, with some strings attached mind you.

[Annoying Old Guy]

As one who has actually created jobs in Illinois, I can't say I'm surprised. I currently have no plans to create any more, or invest, because I expect massive looting by the state government as the last rats leave the ship.

[Extraneus]

Is Obama smart?

When it comes to piloting, Barack Obama seems to think he's the political equivalent of Charles Lindbergh, Chuck Yeager and—in a "Fly Me to the Moon" sort of way—Nat King Cole rolled into one. "I think I'm a better speech writer than my speech writers," he reportedly told an aide in 2008. "I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I'll tell you right now that I'm . . . a better political director than my political director."

On another occasion—at the 2004 Democratic convention—Mr. Obama explained to a Chicago Tribune reporter that "I'm LeBron, baby. I can play at this level. I got game."

Of course, it's tempting to be immodest when your admirers are so immodest about you. How many times have we heard it said that Mr. Obama is the smartest president ever? Even when he's criticized, his failures are usually chalked up to his supposed brilliance. Liberals say he's too cerebral for the Beltway rough-and-tumble; conservatives often seem to think his blunders, foreign and domestic, are all part of a cunning scheme to turn the U.S. into a combination of Finland, Cuba and Saudi Arabia.

I don't buy it. I just think the president isn't very bright.

[Ignatz]

Louis Woodhill at RCM with an excellent analysis of why raising taxes is destructive and provides some simple mechanisms and math to explain it very well.
As a byproduct it demolishes the insipid "stimulus multiplier" the charlatans attempt to conjure out of thin air.

[Threadkiller]

He should go write for "The Five", Ext.

[Ranger]

I think Obama clearly demonstrats the difference between being clever and being smart. Obama has been very clever his entire life. He's figured out how to game pretty much every situation to his personal advantage. He's managed to dodge his way from one do-nothing situation to another, always getting out before people got tired of his lazy ass being around, and always trading up to a better situation with each jump. Unfortunately, for both him and us, he can't just leave the Presidency after 3 years, though I suspect his focus on his re-election campaign is how he is trying to distract himself from the job he's supposed to be doing.

[reliapundit]

but what happens tomorrow and next week?

iow: the ecb is like the fed: no arrows left in the quiver.

and greenspan is wrong: we cannot just print money.

that's partly why we're where we're at!

the current global crash is not the problem.

the current global crash is the correction for the problem.

the problem is 40 years of wasteful welfare state spending.

the riots in london are a better indicator of the wastefulness of the welfare sate as the stock market.

globally, the left spent trillions on multiculturalism and what did that get us?

trillion in debt and an unruly mob within the gates.

[Porchlight]

"I have a gift, Harry."

[Sue]

I'm starting to see their pictures, learn their names, find out they have wives and children and children on the way and I am getting sadder by the minute. Bring them home. All of them. And nuke the place on your way out.

God love each and every one of my SEALs and help their families hold it together.

[Janet]

dodge his way from one do-nothing situation to another, always getting out before people got tired of his lazy ass

A perfect video to illustrate your point, Ranger. Sorry I'm late.

[Extraneus]

Allow me...

[Janet]

the riots in london are a better indicator of the wastefulness of the welfare sate as the stock market.

globally, the left spent trillions on multiculturalism and what did that get us?

trillion in debt and an unruly mob within the gates.

A good London's Burning article by a lib!

from the article - "What we have on the streets of London and elsewhere are welfare-state mobs. The youth who are ‘rising up’ – actually they are simply shattering their own communities – represent a generation that has been more suckled by the state than any generation before it."

[Ignatz]

--greenspan is wrong: we cannot just print money--

Sure we can, it's been done numerous times in the past.
Now, it happens to hurt those the left claim to love the most, those on fixed incomes and middle class wage earners while helping those they hate the most, those who own lots of fixed assets and commodities; but make no mistake a country with unsustainable debt and liabilities either defaults or inflates its way out.
The only other alternative is dismantling the welfare state and the left would prefer an inflated, worthless welfare state to none at all.

[Extraneus]

Obama's penchant for speeches now sounding hollower by the word

So aides loaded his Teleprompter with 1,531 words. And off Obama went, as he so often does. If you listened to his words, they sounded fine, although dragging the slain U.S. soldiers in at the end of fiscal remarks felt forced.

But if you read the full statement, as anyone could right here on The Ticket, you kept waiting for the point, the real rhetorical reason for the remarks. Like a grand restaurant with the most romantic atmosphere, crackling fireplace, flickering candles, exquisite place settings. And with impressive style the waiter proudly serves an empty plate -- and awaits your awe.

Trouble is, real leadership is more than talking and calling for things. It takes a while, but over time listeners begin to notice rote rhetoric, predictable patterns, empty words. An example:

We didn’t need a rating agency to tell us that we need a balanced, long-term approach to deficit reduction. That was true last week. That was true last year. That was true the day I took office.

The day Obama took office, 931 of them ago. Subsequently, in his Monday remarks the president said this:

I intend to present my own recommendations over the coming weeks on how we should proceed.

Over the coming weeks? The need for a balanced, long-term approach was clear the day he took office $3+ trillion dollars ago and sometime soon he'll share his plans?

Obama is still saying, 'Yes, we can.' But he never explains why we haven't.

Then more solicitous empathizing:

The American people have been through so much over the last few years, dealing with the worst recession, the biggest financial crisis since the 1930s, and they’ve done it with grace. And they’re working so hard to raise their families, and all they ask is that we work just as hard, here in this town, to make their lives a little easier.

This from the guy who doesn't have a long-term deficit reduction plan 133 weeks in and just stepped from his helicopter after two days off in the Maryland mountains.

No wonder the markets plunged 200 more points as he talked.

[Jim Ryan]

the difference between being clever and being smart

Or the difference between being (a.) ruthless, cunning, self-absorbed and gifted with the narcissist's ability to persuade those in his hypnotic thrall and (b.) smart.

[Jim Ryan]

simply shattering their own communities

"Rioting, the unbeatable high. Tomorrow you're homeless, tonight it's a blast," as the old song goes.

[narciso]

I wonder what Meghan Daum's reaction, will be,
I guess he's too smart for the markets,

[larry]

I told you guys not to let DoT go to London. Does anyone listen to larry? Nooooo. Now look what you've done.

[Boatbuilder]

Bret Stevens is a very sharp guy. The fact that he has come to see the wisdom of MarkO proves it.

[Captain Hate]

O/T For the first time in over a month, it looks as if the oppressive heat that has continued unabated in NE Ohio is about to break. There's an unusual coolness to the air today that is supposed to last until at least Friday, with nighttime lows dropping into the 50s, and the expected bump up then isn't expected to be severe. The only good thing that I can say about the heat, particularly the nighttime lows staying in the 70s, is that it promotes good apple growth which should be realized in the Fall.

[Janet]

Unfortunately, for both him and us, he can't just leave the Presidency after 3 years,

FLOTUS is probably screaming "Let's Move!" at the top of her lungs.

[narciso]

From J.E. Dyer, from which I've posted before:

Palin focuses like any good executive on the big picture. We have to cut spending and get government out of the economy’s way so it can start pumping out revenues again. These things are increasingly obvious to everyone, and moreover, they constitute a plan. Talking ourselves into corners about other, tangential things isn’t even interesting any more. It feels so wrong that it’s hard to watch anyone’s news program at the moment: no one seems to be talking about what matters.

What is interesting is how few in our national political life have put the case together, as Palin has, without temporizing or bloviating. I haven’t heard anyone else do what she does with this post. She acknowledges the actual, enormous scope of the problem, envisions a solution, and outlines what to do to achieve it, with encouragement that it can be done. It is sad and a little frightening that so many Americans have become unable to see this for what it is: leadership. Almost everyone else is focused more narrowly, on one aspect of the problem or another, and a good few commentators don’t seem to even have the vocabulary or the mental infrastructure to address the problem itself; they can only express opinions about the impossibility of the politics surrounding it.

[Jack is Back!]

Sarah's take at LUN.

Hot Air says she "knocked one out of the ballpark". Read the comments. I think she saw all this coming and is waiting for the full shoe and the emperor's clothes to drop before she decides to run. That is why you stay in the market. When she announces it will rise back to where it was pre-Bammy meltdown and downgrade.

Once again, she is proving that if you want a quality education you should consider the U. of Idaho and forget Harvard.

[narciso]

That's who I was quoting from her own Blog, Opticon.JiB,

[Captain Hate]

What is interesting is how few in our national political life have put the case together, as Palin has, without temporizing or bloviating. I haven’t heard anyone else do what she does with this post.

Great point here. The country is starved for leadership and all the Repubs seem to be concentrating on getting across is "we're not as corrupt as they are"? This is inexcusable because there are some ostensibly smart people who are either being held back or maybe aren't as smart as I believed. I think El JEFe even realizes what the country wants but is incapable of delivering it with his staggeringly empty speeches and inability to overcome the dogma in which he's steeped. Palin's instincts again prove to be on target.

[narciso]

But Captain.Politico, is telling us, they fear the Iron Fist of the Mittens, just like
the sheer terror at the prospect of Hunts. . .
sorry I can't complete the sentence.

[Captain Hate]

LOL narc; that's like 3 years ago fearing McAmnesty's unbreakable bonds with conservatives.

[Threadkiller]

McClintock is one who I believe was sidelined by establishment GOP clowns. He is gaining traction. Often I hear him referred to as the original Tea Party candidate.

http://tommcclintock.com/congressman-mcclintock-with-brain-sussman-on-ksfo-88

[Janet]

Palin is outside the beltway. IMO even smart Republicans get blinded to the big picture by being surrounded by the chattering classes, the MFM, & the political bubble.
These politicians need to go home...get out of DC. Like teens that have been gaming too long, they've been playing the political game 24/7 & are bleary eyed & numb.
It is why Pops & Sarah Palin's ideas seem so common sense & refreshing....they are.

[Thomas Collins]

Whatever Barracuda is doing, she has prepared well and thought this out. Those who have scoffed at her for going the "reality show" route are going to have to eat plenty or crow (or is that moose). While keeping herself in the public eye by using Facebook and Fox as her public forum, she clearly has been studying behind the scenes and consulting with advisors. No other politician today could have recovered as well from what in effect was a racketeering operation to file a continuing stream of bogus ethics complaints in Alaska to destroy her.

[narciso]

The problem is this idiocy, is viral, it gets transmitted north to Anchorage, and South to Miami, through Minitrue outlets like the Daily McClatchy.

[Jack is Back!]

Jane,

Are you near Hubbardston, MA?

The reason I ask is that the other day I needed some eggs but not a full dozen, so I bought a 1/2 dozen at Publix. They are The Country Hen brand of cage free, organic eggs from Hubbardston. Anyway, they always have a little double-sided Farm News inside the carton and this issue was about the tornado's in western and central Mass that you witnessed and felt.

So, every time I have an omelet or soft-boiled egg, I'll be thinking of you and The Sturbridge Gang:)

[Ben Franklin]

Mel;

What's is your take on the spike in food prices at retail? Are the wheeler-Dealer Commodities free-marketers making us buy rape-kits again after a fashion, the same as when the W/D screwed up the real estate market?

http://www.foodnavigator.com/Financial-Industry/Cargill-and-ABF-owned-firm-accused-of-manipulating-wheat-market/?c=Kj0778GJoLnnbmeXmDTcbA%3D%3D&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter%2BDaily

[Captain Hate]

TC, there is nothing that heartens me about the future of our country than how Palin has managed to overcome not only the coordinated planting of obstacles by the usual crew of anti-American trash but also the unwillingness of her own purported party to speak up in her defense. If Palin had caved to the pressure, the concept of citizen government by the non-elite would be just about kaput. But now it appears to be doing quite well.

[Ben Franklin]

"the concept of citizen government by the non-elite would be just about kaput. But now it appears to be doing quite well."

Yes. We've all noticed how, swimmingly, events are proceeding.

It's gong just as planned...................

[Ben Franklin]

..going just as planned.

[Threadkiller]

They could not ring the "gong" any sooner on odummys act.

[Ranger]

Reading Sarah's statement last night, I looked like the outline of a Presidential campaign platform. I get the feeling that if she chooses to run, she is going to manipulate the media to slingshot her to the nomination. As Obama's poll numbers continue to fall, the media will decide Sarah is the only candidate the Obama can beat, and work like hell to get her nominated. She will be "drafted" into the race with a full media push behind her.

[Threadkiller]

Oh, "going"... My mistake. :-)

[Extraneus]

Heh. BF comes with the funny, gotta give credit where it's due.

[Extraneus]

Astute as always, Ranger.

[Ben Franklin]

Re; this Cargill thingy;

I recall in the late 90's when ADM was caught cornering the citric acid market. It was just after the FTC had amped up it's fines for such behavior to 10 times the profit made. I think it was $100 million fine.

Wheat seems a much bigger deal. We'll see how Obama uses his kid gloves on this one..............

[Melinda Romanoff]

BF-

You tell me, since you obviously read my posts.

[Danube of Thought]

"Yes. We've all noticed how, swimmingly, events are proceeding."

You seem not to have noticed that the elites are still in charge. What is doing quite well--as CH said--is the concept of their being thrown out.

Pay attention.

[Ben Franklin]

Typos are always more fun than addressing the pain of the issue.

Distraction is the better part of pallor..

[OldTimer]

Sarah's wisdom is so obvious, only those of us with our eyes wide open perceive it as such. But in the deep recesses of their sub-conscious beings, her enemies perceive with alarm that she could lead us out of the wilderness, if only given half a chance. That's why they need to destroy her. If Palin ever became a viable candidate, the left's whole reason for existence dies a painful death in the smoke and mirrors of their own destructive ideology.

Thanks for the link, JiB..

[Ben Franklin]

Mel;

Don't go narciso/Kim on us....spell it out. I promise it won't hurt/

[Extraneus]

(Click pic for full size.)

[Threadkiller]

"Gong" was such a funny typo, though. When you responded to CH it seemed is if you weren't going for a fact filled debate. My mistake.

[Danube of Thought]

I wasn't talking about any typo. I was talking about your sarcastic suggestion that things are going swimmingly now that the non-elites are in charge. In fact they are not yet in charge, nor did CH suggest that they were. We're still suffering from the madness inflicted by uber-elites Obama, Reid and Pelosi.

Pay attention.

[Ben Franklin]

"You seem not to have noticed that the elites are still in charge"

You seem not to have noticed the Tail Wagging the Dog, Mr. A-D-D.

[Janet]

Here's the audio of algore's rant. He's gone over the edge.

this comment was good - "Pretty funny Al Gore flys to Aspen a mecca for tourists from around the world where tourists are encouraged to come visit complaining about CO2 emissions what hypocrites !!!

I wonder what would happend to Colorado's economy if no tourists showed up there for say 2 consecutive years ?"

[Extraneus]

Obama renews call for more stimulus

“If Congress fails to extend the payroll-tax cut and the unemployment-insurance benefits that I’ve called for, it could mean 1 million fewer jobs and half a percent less growth,” the president said from the White House, as stocks were in the midst of deep losses that would register a nearly 635-point drop in the Dow Jones industrial average. “This is something we can do immediately, something we can do as soon as Congress gets back.”

Those items together, however, come with a price tag that exceeds $100 billion in 2012 alone, and which, unless they were coupled with offsetting cuts or tax increases elsewhere, would dwarf the $7 billion in 2012 savings that it took Congress four months to wrangle in last week’s debt deal.

The White House has not offered offsets and didn’t respond immediately to messages seeking comment on whether he wants his proposals to be deficit-neutral.

[Dave (in MA)]

I can't imagine why food prices have spiked. Anybody have any good theories? Puzzling.

[rse]

LUN is the Latest from VDH-"Tottering Technocracy". Once again he gets it right.

As an aside, the cartoon above confirms my belief that it affirmative action in universities and grad schools cannot survive BO and Michelle's ineptness. You have to either be seriously subpar or simply not listening not to have picked up better insights from some of the myriad of very bright people around you in the environs they inhabited for years. Neither of them seems to have developed the more common reaction of the observant:"There are some exceptionally bright people in the world".

Nope. No sign at all.

[Rick Ballard]

"As of 9AM Eastern, the stock futures indicate that the end of the world has been deferred."

Steady central bank intervention will have that effect. At least for the very short term. The BoJ came in at 10:41 (all times local), while the Europeans showed their independent streak by launching at 10:32 and the US launched an hour early at 9:43. The coordination is simply lovely.

I wonder how all the markets will do without crutches?

[Ben Franklin]

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/

"Stock market down 17% in two and half weeks while the bond market has reduced the yield on the Ten-Year Treasury from 3% to 2.35%, and break-even five-year inflation has fallen from 2.1% to 1.7%. I think that is a very loud wake-up call for Mr. Obama--that it is long past time for him to stop talking about how surrendering to Republicans on long-run spending priorities will bring the confidence fairy who will then gift us with a strong recovery and start actually doing his job."

Yes, that 'certainty' thingy about Wall Streeters is a very big deal.
The debt ceiling resolution (?) brings the cows home, every time.

[Jim Ryan]

Dems: If the Tea Party GOP had just stepped aside and let us spend even more, then we wouldn't have been downgraded. That's what S&P meants by "It's teh gridlock!"

[fdcol63]

Gore .... he must be losing TONS o' money from the collapse of the emissions trading scam, huh?

[henry]

I'm hearing reports of extremely high turnout for the recalls today -- plus lines at polling places moving slower due to a new requirement that voters sign the register (step one in voter ID). I get cautious optimism from radio reports and people in the know.

[Danube of Thought]

"You seem not to have noticed the Tail Wagging the Dog, "

Try saying something that makes sense. (And no, Dana, "Distraction is the better part of pallor" makes none at all.)

[Chubby]

((Hot Air says she "knocked one out of the ballpark".))

I agree. It was the closest thing to Reaganesque I have heard in a very long time. Homespun common sense, great grasp of the facts, humorous and sharp digs at Obama, invocation of a great past, promise of a great future.

[daddy]

DoT,

Since you're in Scotland and currently drinking, you might check out a Quaich.

Years back some Scottish friends gave me one. Apparently the Druids originally used to fill these unusual drinking cups with blood from the heart of sacrificial victims, but starting about 1700 they became popular in Scotland for quaffing Whiskey.

Just a suggestion, but I doubt they'd suit for Martini's. I'd never heard of them before my friends gave me one.

[Danube of Thought]

"The debt ceiling resolution (?) brings the cows home, every time."

Again: try saying something that makes sense.

[daddy]

"and currently drinking SCOTCH..." Sorry. Left that out.

[narciso]

You know, the Journolist is trying to prove
the Douglas Adams trope, about 'infinite number of monkeys writing Hamlet'

[Ben Franklin]

"Again: try saying something that makes sense."

I'll try to take your shortcomings into consideration.

Metaphors- scratch
Similes- ditto
multi-syllable- nada

Right-brain dominant adhoms......done

[Ben Franklin]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_Procedures_Reform_Bill_of_1937

"We hear people compare Barack Obama to Franklin Delano Roosevelt quite a lot, usually in an unfavorable manner. We also hear people talk about 1937 as an object lesson about what not to repeat about the latter Roosevelt administration. In 1937, FDR embraced budget-balancing and stalled the recovery the country had been enjoying from the Great Depression. I just want to put things in some context. The 75th Congress, which served from 1937-1939 had 76 Democrats and 16 Republicans serving in the Senate. It also had two members of Minnesota's Farmer-Labor Party, one member of the Wisconsin Progressive Party (Robert M. La Follette, Jr.), and one progressive independent (George W. Norris of Nebraska). In other words, the U.S. Senate had an 80-16 margin against the Republicans. The House of Representatives was similarly stacked 347-88 against the GOP.
These numbers can be very deceptive. The Democratic Party of the 1930's was dominated by Jim Crow-supporting Southern segregationists. And they were even more culturally conservative than their modern-day Republican counterparts. In the 75th Congress, the only Republican senator serving anywhere south of the Mason-Dixon line was John Townsend of Delaware. Still, President Roosevelt could count on his party members to support him in most things. He had immense power. You simply cannot compare the kind of power he had to any other president in history.

Imagine if Barack Obama was operating with more than 80 Democrats in the Senate, more than 340 seats in the House, and that his party controlled the entire South and all of Appalachia. Do you think he might behave a little differently than he is behaving now? Why, he might even try to stack the Supreme Court!!"

[narciso]

The events out of Croydon and Birmingham, remind me of how the Insiders like the Alliance in Serenity, in their zealousness
to manage society, create the Cannibalistic
Reveres, and then whitewash the result,

[Ignatz]

--In 1937, FDR embraced budget-balancing and stalled the recovery the country had been enjoying from the Great Depression.--

Yes, and he did so mainly through large tax increases, which are almost universally being cried out for again by the left. Brilliant.
And incidentally his "recovery" was somewhat similar to President Fred G. Sanford's, corporations did quite well, but unemployment, while down somewhat from its peak, still stayed extremely high.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Using commodities as a savings account is a stupid move by the "hot money" crowd.

Clear enough?

[Ignatz]

--What's is your take on the spike in food prices at retail?--

Food at retail is a reflection of commodities at wholesale and after a plummet in the 2009 downdraft of all things economic except bonds they have spiked back up especially as the weak dollar policy of President Sanford and co has continued.

[Chubby]

((That's why they need to destroy her.))

I think their demonization tactics are wearing thin with a lot of voters. Distressed citizens want to hear realistic, positive, concrete solutions not just nasty personal attacks which are merely vapid substitutes for ideas of substance.

[Ben Franklin]

"Clear enough?

Well, a lot of stupid things seem to happen, nevertheless.

Thanks for the brevity..............

[Jim Ryan]

fdcol63, I thought Gore sold high a few years back and made a bundle.

[Ben Franklin]

"FDR embraced budget-balancing and stalled the recovery the country had been enjoying from the Great Depression."

I guess you missed the sarc..........yes he slowed the recovery, Think of it in a medical sense.

Head injuries sometimes require the Dr to induce a coma, or slow the metabolism so the organism, as a whole, may survive.

The New Deal was for the little guy who needed a softer landing than the 'let them die' proponents would prefer.

DoT- please ignore-DANGER- Metaphors within this comment.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Distraction is the better part of pallor..

I'm unclear as to the context but I love the line.

[Chubby]

My dad was a devoted fly fisherman and on one of his trips to Scotland, the laird of the manor took a fancy to him, and invited him to go hawking. That was always one the highlights of his fishing memories.

[Janet]

This cartoon is pretty funny - from DirectorBlue

[Ben Franklin]

Gee. I am sorry to have put some of you off your adhoms and vacation dreams of scotch. But, you always have your GoogleGroup.

[Danube of Thought]

"Metaphors- scratch
Similes- ditto
multi-syllable- nada"

Come on, dope--get serious. Your pathetic efforts at metaphors and similes are so infantile as to be embarrassing. "Distraction...pallor" is a metaphor? A simile? Do you even know what the terms mean?

We're all familiar with the tail wagging the dog--the notion was even incorporated into the title of a popular movie. But just tossing it around in the course of a discussion about whether the non-elites are running the country is simply stupid.

You have a manifest aversion to the simple declarative sentence that discloses a viewpoint that you are prepared to defend. You are the equivalent of a harlequin-clad fool who is not sufficiently clever to evoke laughter. You are tiresome and boring.

[macphisto]

"plus lines at polling places moving slower due to a new requirement that voters sign the register (step one in voter ID)."

THEY DON'T EVEN HAVE TO SIGN IN? Christ, even in the People's Republic of California we have to sign the sheet.

[Danube of Thought]

"Metaphors within this comment."

Pathetically inapposite ones.

[Threadkiller]

"On May 9, 1939 – after nearly a decade of unemployment checks and stimulus spending – and with unemployment at 17.2 percent – Franklin Roosevelt’s Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau, made this stunning admission during a meeting with Democratic Members of the House Ways and Means Committee. He said: “No gentlemen, we have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrong as far as I am concerned, somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises ... I say after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started ... And an enormous debt to boot!""

[Melinda Romanoff]

macphisto-

In Illinois, you'd be a racist.

[Porchlight]

Palin's piece was fantastic.

henry, thanks for the updates. Your eyes and ears on the ground are incredibly valuable.

[Frau Wahlzettel]

henry, will it help that the "students" are on vacation? The multiple voting of Madison students alone is seared, seared in my memory.

[henry]

Frau,

if the students vote absentee it will not matter that they are at home in Iowa or Illinois.

turnout numbers look like they will exceed the 2008 presidential election numbers, possibly by a lot. This is coming down to paid union boots on the ground (essentially camping out a voters houses to back up 3-5 phone calls and 2-3 door knocks per voter in traditionally Dem areas) vs Tea Party enthusiasm elsewhere. Both methods appear to be getting people to the polls.

[NK]

Threadkiller do you have a citation to the Morgenthau quote?; I've seen references to it but not the actual quote. Even today's debt mongers know that STIMULUS! is a fiscal disaster. Larry Summers was recently quoted as saying if Hitler hadn't invaded Poland/France, in January 1941 FDR would have been out of office and the New Deal would have been recognized as a colossal failure.

[Frau Wahlzettel]

"Christ, even in the People's Republic of California we have to sign the sheet."

mephisto, you probably saw that Gov. Moonbeam has signed the bill that gives CA's electoral votes to the person who wins the popular vote. Who needs voters if you have union bosses representatives to decide everything?

[Frau Wahlzettel]

...person who wins the national popular vote...

[fdcol63]

Jim Ryan,

I'm not sure. Maybe.

[Frau Wahlzettel]

***macphisto***

Sorry, still too much Goethe on the brain.

[Threadkiller]

NK, that is a quote from a McClintock speech. I will email him and ask for the citation.

[sbw]

NK - Look here.

"Caruba has kindly confirmed the source from the Folsom book: Morgenthau Diary, May 9, 1939, Franklin Roosevelt Presidential Library."

[Threadkiller]

NK, from Folsom's site:
http://www.burtfolsom.com/?p=1217

[Danube of Thought]

Daddy, out of a decent respect for the opinions of the locals, I am sampling The MacAllen and Glemorangie, both of which are not less than magnificent. I did manage to score a Martini before dinner tonight, but while the fellow made a valiant effort it does not appear to be a familiar local favorite.

Having spent those momentous three days in London, I must confess that I have less notion about what happened than I would have if I had remained in Coronado.

[Jack is Back! (literally)]

DoT,

Two words - Highland Park.

Cheers!

We once had a large branch store in Edingburgh on Princes St. Lovely city but still be careful. Not as hostle as a Glasgow but still in these times in Old Blighty when they have truly run out of other people's money.....