Hard Times On Sesame Street

Geez - first Big Bird became an unwitting star of the Presidential campaign, and now this troubling headline from the Times:

Is Grover Finally Over?

What'll we tell the kids?

Comments

[henry]

what'll we tell the kids?

Grover spent all their money. Eat your soylent green.

[Buford Gooch]

We could point out that, like Grover, Sesame Street has been taking advantage of children for lo, these many years.

[daddy]

Good Morning.

Today's number is 16.35 Trillion.

A cheery OT anecdote from my Math humor book.

"Straus told the story of the day that he and Einstein finished work on a paper. They looked for a paper clip to bind it together. After shuffling though several drawers, they finally found one lone clip. But it was so bent and mangled that it could not be used. So then they began looking for a tool to straighten the forlorn paper clip. Scrounging through more drawers, they finally found a full box of brand new paper clips. Einstein immediately began to shape one of the new clips into a tool for rectifying the bent clip. Straus was bewildered, and asked Einstein what he was doing. The reply was, "Once I am set on a goal, it becomes difficult to deflect me."

[narciso]

Talk about delusional circumstances

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2012/11/jose-baez-state-buried-anthony-computer-activity.html

[Jane - Mock the media]

I always thought Arafat died of Aids. Perhaps exhuming him will prove that.

Anyone know who is so intend on proving he was poisoned - and why?

[Jane - Mock the media]

Daddy,

Any idea how many miles you have traveled?

[Porchlight]

JOM new threads: when it rains, it pours.

[Clarice]

Palis,, Jane, to defuse the same rumors you heard and pin it on Israel.

[narciso]

Well you know, Jane, it's necessary to blame the Jews, although the Saudis and the Russians who
kept him on retainer, has just as much reason to get rid of him,

[Extraneus]

Did you see the thing about Einstein's brain, daddy?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/einsteins-brain-was-unusual-in-several-respects-rarely-seen-photos-show/2012/11/26/19b0987a-332a-11e2-bb9b-288a310849ee_story.html?hpid=z6

[narciso]

Of course, they put the correct spin on this story, but you know the narrative must live, or something;

http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=45607

[narciso]

Well, gosh, this might have been important,

heck who am I kidding, 'Sheriff Joe', there was nothing to worry about;

http://news.yahoo.com/ap-exclusive-graph-suggests-iran-working-bomb-161109665.html

[Jim Eagle]

I only wish we could find a way to suppress the votes of our inexhaustible supply of stupid, low intellect, meth abusing, pederast community of moochers and poachers. But instead we, Florida, do everything we can to qualify them, educate them, remind them, help them and even help them vote for the loony criminals that run on the Democrat ticket.

How would you like to live in the district that just returned Alan Grayson to the Congress? Can you imagine having a lucid conversation at the local Publix checkout line with one of these tattooed bozo's buying cigs and beer with their EBT card? Of course not, but they live among us and in increasing numbers. Government schools, Boortz tells us and even though I would like to cold-cock him sometimes, I believe he has the hammer and the nail here.

rse and all her work are being done after the horses have left the barn, unfortunately. I had a guy tell me the other day that it was my duty as a someone who owns a home to hire him to paint it. I kid you not. "You have money, dude, share it". I had to tell him to go and ask Obama for his free due.

It ain't going to get better until we do something drastic like fall off the cliff together. The ones with parachutes survive to play another day.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

What is the tax level a condescending little prig like Bruni thinks we should eventually arrive at?
As Clinton's own OMB pointed out, the course we are on will eventually require a 75% tax rate to close the unfunded liabilities of SS and medicare.
Since creeps like Bruni want to expand other spending as well, don't they in effect imply a close to 100% tax rate by the end of the century?
If so why do they squeal so when people call them socialists?

In 28 years, IOW a period as short as the time from Reagan's second election until now, SS and medicare alone will be adding $850 billion to the yearly deficit and the numbers are probably considerably worse than this graph demonstrates since it uses 2007 numbers. Right click for the whole thing;

[narciso]

One takes solace in dark moments;

http://hotair.com/archives/2012/11/27/wasserman-schultz-stuck-as-dnc-chair-for-another-term/

[Old Lurker]

Deaf ears, Iggy. Deaf ears.

[narciso]

Well he's just one of Carlos Slim's dimmer 'dancing squirrels, OL,

[Jim Eagle]

How many people here work in the private sector and if so, what are your chances of survival if you talked like Susan Rice today in front of your Board of Directors? Do you think you'd still have a job? Of course not, but then you work for a company (people) who do not tolerate BS to advance your profile and status to the community of clients, customers or consumers.

This may be one reason Romney lost. He was too business like and honest rather than tricky and accepting of plausible denial and lies. Politics as a sin of pleasure.

[Ralph L]

Anyone see the Obama photo at the Byron York piece linked on an earlier thread? It's the opposite of the usual halo shots. Well done Getty IMages. LUN

[narciso]

Well this might partially explain it;

Rice was a foreign policy aide to Michael Dukakis during the 1988 presidential election. She was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, the global management consulting firm, in the early 1990s.[17] Rice worked in McKinsey's Toronto office for a time.[18]

[henry]

Ralph, night visible antlers for the end of deer season?

[Jim Eagle]

narciso,

My Stanford MBA BIL worked at McKInsey as did my old No. 2 but that doesn't mean shit when it comes to competent judgement. I only wish I could buy a guy from McKinsey for what he's worth and be able to sell him for what he thinks he is worth.

[Porchlight]

Rice was a foreign policy aide to Michael Dukakis during the 1988 presidential election.

At the tender age of 24, I guess - she was born in 1964.

[Ralph L]

The wall sconce behind his head extends his ears.

[Barbara]

Anyone see the Obama photo at the Byron York piece linked on an earlier thread?

JIB,

One of the lesser reasons that I wanted Obama defeated was so that I would not have to see his face on just about every web site that deals with political issues. My profound gratitude to TM for not polluting JOM with photos of JEF.

[Jim Eagle]

What a beautiful night on the First Coast. So warm the dragonflies are out in case there is an infestation of moths and mosquitos to feast on. The Mayport shrimpers are heading home in a longing manner. Pink skies, low clouds. A true John MacDonald- Travis McGee kind of moment.

[Janet]

If Republicans are gonna jump on the illegal immigrant bandwagon...then I need a new political party. Why even have a Federal government if it won't secure our borders? What is its function? With open borders we cease to be a sovereign nation. There is no United States anymore.
Get rid of all the immigration enforcement agencies...the border patrol. Get rid of the State Dept.. Why even pretend? At least we could save some money.

[Dave (in MA)]

Speaking of photos,

I'm not a violent person, but have you ever seen a face asking to be punched more than this?

We could point out that, like Grover, Sesame Street has been taking advantage of children for lo, these many years.

Well, the Elmo character at least. Turns out he's also a different kind of mo.

[glasater]

I am wondering if a brilliant person on JOM can help explain the below chart to me.
A fellow on twitter by the name of Larry Smith says that before the '86 SS act the wealthy were paying their 'fair share' in payroll taxes (or for that matter all taxes) but in the years since have not.

The fellow is pleasant as can be and we've had a very civil discussion but I am not seeing his logic at all.
Help!

[Threadkiller (Get off your couch and leave the GOP!)]

http://weaselzippers.us/2012/11/27/naked-libs-storm-boehners-office-to-protest-fiscal-cliff-spending-cuts/

[Pops]

If Republicans were smart, they would be one upping the President on the soak the rich. For instance. Republicans should propose that any rich person buying our Federal bonds will get ZERO percent interest!! Thats right, ZERO percent. Lets see Obama soak the rich more than that!!

[maryrose]

Dave in MA.
I admit , Grayson really does look like he has been hit with the ugly stick. Do you notice that narcissistic people always have a smirk on their faces? Think: Obama, Grayson Holder, Moochelle, Bill Clinton HIl{though hers is more of a grimace} and Wasserman-Schultz. Also Chucky Schumer and Big Dog Bill Clinton. It's odd really and makes me go Hmm...Sorry, I seem to have mentioned Bill twice. They are additionally able to fool people and in another life probably would have been revivalist preachers{ala Jim and Tammy Faye Baker} or used car salesmen.

[Captain Hate]

Hey guys. Posting from iPhone so this will be all. Had a fine meetup with Elliott yesterday thanks to Herculean efforts on his part to accommodate my not knowing how to get from point A to B here. Very interesting fellow in keeping with the JOM trend

More later

[rse]

JIB-I don't know if you read my post about Otto Scharmer and Presencing relating to Systems Thinking. It was maybe 2 months ago. Anyway Otto had done a series of interviews for it with committed execs to the vision and 1 was the head of McK in 2000 I think. Lovely. I have the interview in a file. Plus McK was present at a conference in Rio in about 2003 where Big Blue said basically we are or represent all the movers and shakers. We define innovation and can just lobby the govt officials to then regulate as needs be. That's the no distinction between Public and private vision.

And I just finished reading the EPA vision released today called "The Road Ahead" on running everything around systems thinking. And being cutting edge.

And you are right. Figuring it out while simultaneously making parachutes and practicing jumping techniques.

The book I mentioned sure is clarifying further the whys of what MO's been pushing too.

[narciso]

It can't work, rse,

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/11/27/clashes-resume-in-cairo-ahead-opposition-rally-against-morsi-power-grab/

[maryrose]

Captain H
Glad to hear from you today! You have been missed.
Also any lurkers who posted recently, please join in the discussion. You made some interesting points.

[rse]

No it can't narciso. Especially now that I have seen the rationales and the purported research. But I guarantee you the CBC believes every word. And has no idea just how bogus these prescriptions and analyses are. It feels good. There is no such thing as deficits. Individual behavior does not matter. I think I wrote Baloney so many times today in the margins I should probably store the book in the frig tonight to prevent further spoliage.

[Clarice]

Hey--why not spread the word that Obama's Arab Spring was designed to get the entire Arab world fighting each other? Well, the evidence indicates that is what is happening, doesn't it?

[maryrose]

clarice: Welcome back. I know spending time with your family {especially the Wolverine} must have brought you great joy.
I love your comment about Obama's Fighting Arab Spring.Obama gets re=elected and all hell breaks loose.

[Gus]

Henry!! Sorry I missed you this weekend. I had a long weekend. As for what to tell your kids.
You only get one kid. Having said that, just imagine what kind of stem cells our NEW IMPROVED SOYLENT GREEN will be made from!!!!

[glasater]

Here's the link to Larry Smith's contention that the wealthy are not paying their fair share:

http://twitpic.com/78lx2g

[Extraneus]

Just for argument's sake, let's assume that Texas ultimately secedes, perhaps along with Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi.

Great idea if you ask me! But anyone who decides to relocate to the new promised land after the breakup will surely be assessed an "exit tax" by the Good Ol' Former US of A.

Should You Renounce Your U.S. Citizenship?

U.S. citizens who expatriate are treated as though they sold all of their property the day before they renounce, even if they will continue to own it and pay property or other taxes.

Capital gains (net of losses) are taxed at the current top rate of 15%, after an exemption of $651,000. The tax on some assets, such as an individual retirement account, will be at ordinary income rates up to 35%, notes Dean Berry, an attorney with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in New York.

The tax applies to U.S. taxpayers whose net worth is greater than $2 million or whose average annual income tax for the past five years is $151,000 (adjusted for inflation).

[snip]

The U.S. heirs of wealthy taxpayers who renounce their citizenship usually owe inheritance tax equal to the U.S. estate tax on assets left to them by the expatriate. (This doesn't apply to spouses who are U.S. citizens.)

For example, a woman worth $50 million renounces her citizenship and becomes a citizen of the Bahamas. If she leaves each of her three grandchildren in the U.S. $10 million, each will owe (at current rates) $3.5 million of federal tax on the bequest, as a substitute for estate taxes the woman didn't pay.

Moving there beforehand would probably be the smartest idea for those at risk, but perhaps transferring one's assets to a Texas bank might be wise in the meantime.

[henry]

glasater, Smith was trolling for graphs and found that one. Same time frame, compare per capita income to non-wealthy payroll contributions and it will look the same. It is a concept that once was called economic growth -- if we cut government down to size we might experience it again.

[henry]

Gus, I hoped you were busy! The Pack sucked on Sunday.

[Extraneus]

According to Steyn, the Buffet Rule would raise $3.2B per year, and take 514 years just to pay off the 2011 deficit.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2012/11/26/eib_guest_host_mark_steyn

"If you think only the wealthy are going to be hit by what's coming, think again. The fiscal cliff is going to drag everyone else down with it. It's just the warm-up for the total societal collapse of the United States."

-Mark Steyn

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

What is the guy's point glasater?
The chart he links is not for SS taxes, but all revenues.
Moreover 1986 also included reforms far beyond SS taxes.
If his claim is the 1986 income bracket lowering helped the rich then presumably Clinton's raising of them would have eliminated any such advantage.
Mostly his chart just shows that the rich do well when the economy does well and it also show they do less well when it sucks,something most people with brains already knew.
If he is upset that a plan like SS necessarily hurts the middle class when its excessive costs must be closed by taxes on its recipients and wishes instead it was turned into a pure welfare program which has payouts tied in no way to payins he should just say so.

[glasater]

Thanks, Henry.

I was looking through some of his other charts at that link and he has one on Wisconsin that show 20k non-farm jobs lost under Gov Walker.
This stuff makes my head hurt!

[Barbara]

Moving there beforehand would probably be the smartest idea for those at risk, but perhaps transferring one's assets to a Texas bank might be wise in the meantime.

Extraneus,

Sounds like a solution. Sell. Move/buy property in new location. Transfer cash assets. Disinherit anyone who is foolish enough to still live in what remains of the U.S.

[glasater]

Thanks to you Ignatz, also.

I was trying to make a little of your points within the confines of twitter limitations (not near as well as you do of course :) but although the conversation was civil it was like hitting my head against the wall.
This guy is supposed to be pretty smart. And the conversation started when a Disney trust fund baby got on Kudlow and said she wasn't paying enough in taxes and Larry Smith agreed and tried to prove his point with all these charts.

[henry]

glasater, the funny thing is the 20k non-farm jobs "lost" were all public sector after Act 10 eliminated work rules from collective bargaining. additional funny tidbit... unemployment is lower under Walker.

[glasater]

I should have gone to the JOM brain trust before I started the twitter conversation with Mr Smith :-)

And I just don't know how people can get away with distorting numbers as they do, Henry.

[pagar]

"Said she wasn't paying enough in taxes."

According to the IRS site, it is very easy to sent the IRS what ever amount one wants to send. There is no earthly way one can claim they are being prevented from sending all they want to the IRS.

On the other hand, moving to some other place does not relieve one of paying US taxes. The only way to do that (as far as I know) is to give up US citizenship and I hear there is a huge penalty on that.

[narciso]

Well Churchill said it best 'there are lies, damn lies and statistics,' and that doesn't include people who don't understand charts on Common Dreams, mangia

[pagar]

Hadn't seen Extraneus's 06:37 before I posted.
It really does a good job explaining the giving up citizenship situation. Thanks.

[Clarice]

Thanks, Maryrose. I don't imagine he planned it that way but Obama does seem to have a reverse Midas touch wherever he pokes his nose.

[Rocco]

I need a new political party.

Me too Janet...me too! I'd rather lose than compromise my principles.

[pagar]

Not giving any further details.

http://www.stratfor.com/sample/analysis/saudi-arabia-kings-rumored-death-and-new-line-succession

[Extraneus]

Imagine if Romney had come out strong against the Democrat Party's racist history?

During the Reconstruction period of 1865–1877, federal law provided civil rights protection in the U.S. South for freedmen – the African Americans who had formerly been slaves. In the 1870s, Democrats gradually regained power in the Southern legislatures, sometimes as a result of elections in which paramilitary groups intimidated opponents, attacking blacks or preventing them from voting. Gubernatorial elections were close and disputed in Louisiana for years, with extreme violence unleashed during the campaigns. In 1877, a national compromise to gain Southern support in the presidential election resulted in the last of the federal troops being withdrawn from the South. White Democrats had regained political power in every Southern state.[5] These conservative, white, Democratic Redeemer governments legislated Jim Crow laws, segregating black people from the white population. Blacks were still elected to local offices in the 1880s, but the establishment Democrats were passing laws to make voter registration and electoral rules more restrictive, with the result that political participation by most blacks and many poor whites began to decrease.[6][7] Between 1890 and 1910, ten of the eleven former Confederate states, starting with Mississippi, passed new constitutions or amendments that effectivelydisfranchised most blacks and tens of thousands of poor whites through a combination of poll taxes, literacy and comprehension tests, and residency and record-keeping requirements.[6][7] Grandfather clausestemporarily permitted some illiterate whites to vote.

How many blacks know about this? Surely none who have gone to public school in the past thirty years or so.

Someone should mention it.

[sailor]

They don't care, Ext.

[Mark Folkestad]

Narciso, that phrase about lies and statistics came from Twain, who spuriously attributed it to Disraeli.

[Danube of Thought on IPad]

Headline in today's S.D paper says if fiscal cliff talks fail, 400,000 Californians will stop getting unemployment checks.

Tut tut.

[narciso]

Was it, oh well, Arabia, does fit the label of 'mystery inside a riddle wrapped inside an enigma'

http://news.yahoo.com/saudi-crown-prince-says-king-abdullah-well-good-165629478.html

[narciso]

Yes, this was much more stable then before;

http://liveblog.egyptindependent.com/liveblog

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

On the other hand, moving to some other place does not relieve one of paying US taxes.

Pagar,

Do you have to pay income tax on income you make outside the country?

[Joan]

Gee, thanks, Ralph. :) I just read Byron York's column you linked, and I think I might have to get up, leave the room, and go vomit.

Jeez (don't know how to spell that word), I hate liberals.

[DrJ]

Do you have to pay income tax on income you make outside the country?

I'm not pagar, but I have a friend who is a US citizen who lives and derives all of his income from Japan.

He has to pay income taxes to the US. He is allowed a deduction for taxes paid to Japan so the income is not taxed twice, but yup -- Uncle Sam wants his money.

[Joan]

Re paying taxes on money you make outside the country. Yes, you do. We paid U.S. taxes when we lived in London. We also paid UK taxes. And, some of our fellow expats had to pay their state taxes from state they left (as I remember, that point is a bit fuzzy.) We moved abroad from one state and then 13 years later moved back to the states to reside in another state, and somehow we never paid taxes. ??? No one ever complained, especially me -- also, that might have been because we went from being paid by a SC fibers company to an oil company with Europe-Africa after its name, but was a subsidiary of a Delaware corporation. Goodness, I'm confusing myself. However, I am firm on both US and UK taxes. We paid them. :)

[RichatUF]

Late again and still catching up on reading. Maybe I should open a few more tabs on my browser.

Headline in today's S.D paper says if fiscal cliff talks fail, 400,000 Californians will stop getting unemployment checks.

Tut tut.

Trying to see the downside of not going over the cliff. Think it is going to happen and the pieces will get put together in some way. The Reps will get blamed anyway so the Dems can stall and still get everything they want. Tried to answer you question on the other thread.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--...400,000 Californians will stop getting unemployment checks...--

Damn, there goes Pelosi's main economic job engine and stimulant.
Could she really have believed that when she said it or was it just the usual cynical BS?
If she actually believes it I may have to reconsider Barbara Boxer as the last word in California dunces.

[pagar]

There are a lot of rules but like DrJ says,
Uncle Sam wants what he claims is his, and expects to get it.

[RichatUF]

Ralph-

Thanks for the York link.

Fighting income inequality in the traditionally liberal way -- by introducing new redistribution programs and expanding existing ones -- will likely be a continuing theme of the second Obama term.

So much for welfare reform.

[narciso]

This seems to be the publication from which the rumors appeared;

http://asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=1&id=31953

personally, I think that name is solid as 'Winning the Future'

[RichatUF]

Iggy-

Damn, there goes Pelosi's main economic job engine and stimulant

What about food stamps?

[narciso]

Yes, that's been a pet peave of that Pear fellow in the other thread,

[narciso]

Restoring welfare, something he agreed with Obama on,

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Rich,
I'm sure she believes and has probably claimed that Food Stamps have saved or created five million morbidly obese Dem voters, but I only specifically remember her claiming unemployment benefits were some kind of miracle salve for the economy.

[Jim Ryan]

I have shared Dot's appalled exasperation with the indecency, ignorance, and overall vice of our country. But during the last couple of weeks I noticed an unexpected hop in my step and a lightness in my heart. I finally realized why.

The country died a long time ago, slowly over the last hundred years or so. It has been stumbling around, some of the flesh not yet necrotic, for the last little while. One thought one detected a light burning desperately deep in the eyes, but this has been extinguished some time ago by the spread of necrotism in the flesh. The being fumbles, rumbles and stumbles but it is quite dead. Quite dead indeed. The kids today would use the term "zombie."

Put it this way. In 1776 1/3 pulled the remaining 2/3 along over the line from the doldrums of statism and muddlehood to America. But the other 2/3 are no longer willing to be pulled along. They have never wanted to be pulled along and now, with all the wealth for the taking, they have decided to put their foot down on the matter. The answer is no. It has long been no. Sure they liked Reagan's speeches. But they didn't really care. They liked the booming economy he brought about and so they don't rate him so poorly. But they don't get the point of him or of the Founding Fathers because they aren't interested in the values and vision it expresses.

In a sense, the country was always terminally ill. 2/3 of the flesh was always sickly and now that 2/3 is quite dead.

So, there is nothing to mourn for, mourning being for a recent demise. There is nothing to fret over because nothing is in peril. This is what I must have realized in the last couple of weeks, and it explains why I felt quite relieved of a burden of many years.

Nevertheless, the patriot never gives up. He stays faithful to what is right and stands for it, loyally. But he may slough off the burden on his heart now that it is clear that it has long been quite quixotic of him to carry it. And there is much more to life, much of deep and lasting fulfillment besides America. He is bigger than America and its ideals. Those ideals are only one component of the life he treasures and not even a necessary one.

[bgates]

These conservative, white, Democratic Redeemer governments legislated Jim Crow laws

That's a quote from a modern American conservative lazily using "conservative" as a synonym for "bad". It would do no good to present that summary of the racist history of the Democratic Party to every black person in the country, even if they cared, because it would be easy enough to point out that today's Democratic Party has no self-identified "conservatives", only the Republican Party does.

[DrJ]

There are a lot of rules but like DrJ says,
Uncle Sam wants what he claims is his, and expects to get it.

It should surprise no one that in any foreign locale where there are lots of US expats, there is a bevvy of very-well-paid tax preparers who specialize in applying those many rules.

[RichatUF]

Iggy-

She talked up Obamacare by paraphrasing St. Marx from "The German Ideology". Surprisingly, outside of the comments here, no one mentioned it.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Jim Ryan's 8:49 sounds like an episode of The Walking Dead.
When do we get to start shooting. :)

[RichatUF]

I don't like or admire many Americans any more. My disgust with what the nation has become is total.

Yikes! DOT, when I make it to that part of CA, I'll have to have a martini with you, just so you can go over how to make it right.

And to add to Jim's comment above, I have a tv on in my secret, undisclosed location, and I can't change the channel. Unfortunately, the topic of the show is the bubonic plague.

[narciso]

You mean this bit here:

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01a.htm#a3

[narciso]

If that's where she's going, there at least one part of the 'underpants gnome' formula missing.

[Joan]

I understood Jim's 8:49 too, just was in a bad mood for awhile. I've been telling myself since the election to relax, not go around with my guns figuratively pulled, ready to fight liberals and their ilk. One reason I fell in love with JOM quite a few years ago was the wit, the piercing, sharp wit of so many posters. I love the humor, the intelligence, the fun of this place.

[RichatUF]

Iggy-

The quote-she said both:

For every dollar a person receives in food stamps, Pelosi said that $1.79 is put back into the economy. The U.S. Department of Agriculture cites an even higher figure of $1.84.

"It is the biggest bang for the buck when you do food stamps and unemployment insurance. The biggest bang for the buck," she said.

DOOM. Thanks America for giving these folks like her 4 more years.

[daddy]

Hi Jane.

Simply using my logged hours from the Company (post Navy) I take 13,000 Flight hours and multiply times @450 MPH (we use knots) and come up with about 5 million, 850 thousand miles, just for the company. I've probably read books for about 4.8 million of that, paid attention for only about .05 million, and simply looked out the window for the rest. Today pounded the pavement in Seattle (Pikes Place Market) with an excellent co-pilot, (Math Major) from the University of Washington.

Big fun was that yesterday we were on a quick layover in San Fran. He called his mom and dad in Hawaii and they told him that they were attending a bridge tournament that very instant in San Fran. They gave the address, and they were only 1.8 miles away. Big fun ensued.

[RichatUF]

narciso-

If that's where she's going, there at least one part of the 'underpants gnome' formula missing.

LOL. That is stealable;)

[narciso]

Well an absurd point of reference is necessary, because otherwise like they used to say on the old maps 'there be dragons there'

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

Daddy,

That's a hell of a lot of miles.

I wonder what the most miles anyone has gone in the history of the world. (Since you read absolutely everything I figure you might know.)

Are there any pilots who don't like to read?

[DrJ]

For every dollar a person receives in food stamps, Pelosi said that $1.79 is put back into the economy.

Even if this is true (which I doubt) what is the cost to collect and administer the money that is distributed? That includes tax collection, USDA staffers, field people, card printers, buildings, insurance, pension and medical benefits and the like.

These things are not without cost. Unless they cost less than $0.79 or less per dollar distributed, this loses money. And 80% overhead is not that high.

[narciso]

Really, this is the best they can say, in this circumstance:

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2012/11/27/Rice-McCain-Ayotte-Graham

Yes, there's a missing ingredient, in that formula, Dr. J.

[RichatUF]

DrJ-

I'm just re-reporting. The last farm bill was about 80% food stamps and a dog's breakfest of ethanol and other subsidy.

I'm also having a brain freeze and can't remember the economics term. Every dollar that people don't have to spend on food can be spent on other things...booze, cigarettes, weed...you know the essentials.

[narciso]

opportunity cost, speaking of the absurd;

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/mystery-science-theater-3000-bad-movies-stuff-watch/

[narciso]

Ethanol, oh frabjous joy, well I didn't need to buy bread anyways,

[DrJ]

RichatUF,

I was not intending to point the finger at you. Simply, what is dangled in front of the public is reported with so little discrimination that many economic factoids are worthless. This is one of them.

I make it sort of a game to identify them, but it sure is frustrating. This, from one who has had only a single economics course. I do run a company, and that matters I suppose.

The term you are looking for is "discretionary spending" I believe.

[daddy]

Ext,

Saw that on Einstein's brain. Who knows what to make of it all. Obviously one of the worlds top handful of geniuses.

My new math book I've been pasting from, has this strangely related tale on our current woes:

"Logician Kurt Godel (1906 - 1978) was an eccentric an unworldly man who frequently needed to be protected from the vicissitudes of life by his friends. After Godel had lived in this country for many years , he was persuaded to become an American citizen. He therefore began studying for the Citizenship exam.

Unfortunately, as soon as Godel began reading the US Constitution, he discovered troubling logical loopholes. This insight cast him into deep distress. John Van Neumann (1903-1957)---Godel's colleague at the Institute for Advanced Study---was finally called in to convince Godel that if you looked at things the right way then there would be no logical inconsistency.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) and the Economist Oscar Morganstein (1902-1976) were the ones who chaperoned Godel to the hearing for his citizenship application. The judge was overwhelmed by this opportunity to talk to Einstein, and they conversed at length about events in Nazi Germany. Finally, as an afterthought, the Judge turned to Godel and said, "But of course from your reading of the Constitution you know that nothing like that could happen here." "As a matter of act," Godel began---but then, under the table, Morgenstein kicked Godel. So Godel got his citizenship after all. [By some accounts, Morgenstein had to do a heck of a lot more than just kick Godel. Fortunately, he was equal to the task.]"

[DrJ]

narc is right: opportunity cost. The weed, women and booze is discretionary spending, but the loss thereof is an opportunity cost.

[Melinda Romanoff]

daddy-

Two spots of note, and MT will agree, across from the Market, there's an outstanding little French cafe, Cafe Campagne , which has the best lamb burger ever, or Place Pigalle, which isn't quite as "robust" a location as its namesake in Paris but the squid appetizer is one of the best things I've ever eaten.

Last one. Ocho. A bit out of the way, and up the hill from the Art museum, but great fun and great food. (They've moved since we were there, apparently.)

[Gus]

Melinda, none of those are as good a Weiners circle.