The A Rod Death Watch

As we await news on the possible lifetime ban on Alex Rodriguez, we appreciate the concern expressed by Oriole manager Buck Showalter - if A Rod is suspended, the Yankees don't pay him, nor does his contracted salary count against the Yankees salary cap and luxury tax.

So who is rooting for what as we await word from the commissioner? The Yankee front office is at risk of a fist bump crisis if the commissioner relieves them of the burden of A Rods contract for 2014 and lets them reset under the new luxury tax rules. More money for Robinson Cano!

And who else benefits if the Yankees can become big spenders again? Well, the players union will huff and puff if the commissioner extends his "integrity of the game" power to ban A Rod for drug related offenses, but they will be thrilled to see the Yankees perk up the free agent market, and force other teams to reach into their wallets as well. Which further suggests that other owners are wishing A Rod would go quietly into that good night and somehow take the once free-spending Yankees with him. An A Rod suspension is going to cost a lot of owners a lot of money in new, more expensive free agent signings and "lock 'em up" contract extensions.

Personally, I have never particularly disliked A Rod. He is a weird mix of needy, nerdy over-achiever and massively talented athlete. He tries to be cool instead of just being cool, which is odd for one of the greatest ball players ever. But all that said, he and the Yankees have opposite interests here and if neither can live while the other survives then I have to hope he is banned in perpetuity.

Comments

[Danube on iPad]

I would simply like to be able to follow baseball without ever again hearing this fraudulent fool's name.

No such luck.

[JIB]

Just shows how intimidating congressional hearings are on PED usage. Its most likely increased since no one would expect it to after the Federal government threw down the gauntlet.

This the contempt everyone has for Congress in a microcosm of PED usage in baseball. Plus it also shows how unimportant it is to be in the HOF as long as your contract is Coutts approved kind of revenue.

[peter]

I am suspicious that Major League Baseball is taking so long to hand down the punishment. Makes me think that they aren't holding as many cards as they are trying to convince the media. And it is well known that Big Papi David Ortiz tested positive for steroids, something ARod has never done, at least "publicly, " although he has admitted to using them as a Texas Ranger. Most Yankee fans are convinced that Bud Selig hates the Yankee organization, but he may be handing them a gift if he bans ARod for life-- his skills are declining, and he certainly doesn't deserve the $27.5 m a year he gets in his contract.. but does Howard Stern deserve the kind of stupid money he gets? Opie and Anthony? Any celeb?

[Thomas Collins]

So, what's the over/under on the length of the suspension the lawyers are going to work out? I predict the rest of this season and next season.

[JIB]

TC,

Who'd want an A-Rod after a season and 1/4 layoff at his age and informants? Even as a DH?

I know, Boston:)

[Thomas Collins]

See LUN for an article indicating that the talks have stalled. But talks typically stall before a deal. I'm. still predicting a deal.

[Donald]

A-rod to Boston would be the most awesome thing ever.

[Thomas Collins]

JIB, unless the Yankees can get out of the contract, they'll have to take A-Rod back. The Yanks are probably hoping A-Rod is banned for life and they can get out of his contract entirely. As for the Red Sox, I think they'd go after Ryan Braun before they would go after A-Rod (although I don't think Cherington wants either one).

In any event, I'm still amazed at the numbers Pedro Martinez put up during the height of the juice era.

[daddy]

test

[Dave (in MA)]

A-rod to Boston would be the most awesome thing ever.

[daddy]

I wonder if Arod will have trouble getting Hollywood starlets to dat him anymore if he gets banned for life?

According to the tabloids his current squeeze is a 24 year old Grad student in Business in the Dominican Republic.

Meet Rebeca Yunen Finke:

.

[Steve]

Benghazi-gate Update: CIA Pressuring Agents to keep quiet or else...

http://commoncts.blogspot.com/2013/08/benghazi-gate-update-cia-pressuring.html

[Ignatz]

A Rod strikes me as a mental case.
Some deeply weird insecurities going on in there.
Maybe he can bunk with Tiger.

[daddy]

Just came across that story of the Russians giving Snowden asylum in Russia.

That strikes me as Putin giving Obama the biggest "Eff You" in modern history.

[JIB]

daddy,

Did you see my link on the other thread to the French father who built a 737 simulator for his son - in his bedroom?

Trey Gowdy on Greta was en fuego. Nite all.

[daddy]

Just read it JiB,

What a great Dad!

[centralcal]

Dang! I leave to have dinner and there is yet another new thread! ::sigh::

So, sorry to break up your comment trains of thought, but I am gonna post this from one of the now dead threads:

Very interesting and, surprisingly, moving at times.

Greta does a Google Hangout with ...

Howard Watson Gowdy, III.

"Please, please give me a nickname." So, his parents did - Trey ... Trey Gowdy.

[Account Deleted]

daddy,

TC had a great comment here at 5:20 on Putin's humiliation of BOzo.

I would also note that Putin may have even more disdain for Kerry than he had for Clinton. This gesture of total disrespect for the Buffoon in Chief also allows Putin to avoid another BOzo "summit" photo op in September. Putin may have reservations concerning his ability to refrain from slapping the idiot silly in public.

[narciso]

This is a Gordian knot of credentialed idiocy on parade;

http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-environmental-apocalypse.html#comment-form

like you say,Rick, reformatting, maybe the only solution,

[narciso]

A cunning, cunning plan;

http://hotair.com/archives/2013/08/01/sternly-worded-carney-hints-obama-might-cancel-moscow-summit-with-putin-over-snowden-asylum/

[Some Guy]

and massively talented athlete

He obviously isn’t a massively talented athlete, because it looks to me like he’s been using for a very long time and likely his entire MLB career (yes, I know he’s never failed a test, but neither did Bonds).

He and the other users have actually prevented genuinely talented athletes from making the show, and banning him for a day or forever won’t make up for the all guys who missed out on their shot because insecure dorks like A-Rod reached for the needle.

It’s a bit of a joke that he’s fighting any of this wanting to make the remainder of his contract – which is only based on his using.

[Danube on iPad]

My guess is A-Rod agrees to a ban through next sesson so he can pocket the remaining money, rather than risk everything on an appeal from a lifetime ban.

[daddy]

Thanks Rick. Still just catching up.

BTW, did you guys see this photoshop response to The Rolling Stone cover?

I can't find at the moment who did it, but more power to him.

[narciso]

James Woods tweeted it, I recall that much, but the whole original cover is full of fail, the Arctic Ice Melt' is another search for the
mythical 'SkyDragon nest, in a new guise,

[Gus]

Have any of you seen the Black Illinois legislator on O'Reilly.

Holy shit we are in deep trouble folks.

[narciso]

It's like the Python 'never pay' policy;

http://legalinsurrection.com/2013/08/fed-judge-obama-dream-policy-illegal-but-ice-agents-cant-sue/

[rich@gmu]

That strikes me as Putin giving Obama the biggest "Eff You" in modern history.

Posted by: daddy | August 01, 2013 at 10:11 PM

****

Should make the G20 coming up in St.Pete's a real barnburner. What's the over/under Putin asks Obama "how's my ass taste".

[rich@gmu]

and I have had a Beasts of England sighting. if anyone is working on unspaming regulars he has been able to post in a while.

[daddy]

From the pushback by the Ellie Light commenters in the ADN, I think this proposed Conference by the State to discuss overreach by The Federal Government may actually accomplish something.

Alaska panel plans summit on 'federal overreach'

A state advisory panel is holding a summit this month on Alaska's relationship with the federal government and areas of perceived overreach by the feds...Coghill said it became apparent there needed to be a history review to better understand agreements the state had made with the feds, as well as court cases, rather than address the issue through piecemeal resolutions...the intent is to develop an "action plan" that can be implemented by the Legislature, governor and congressional delegation.

I have no problem with this at all. It is difficult for the average Alaskan to understand all the myriad agreements we have with the Feds as a result of them owning so much of the State, and their continual inventing of new Federal Regulatory Agencies that restrict our ability to develop our assets in a sensible manner. Anything that sheds light on that in my view is a positive step in the right direction.

[Gus]

When Putin asks Obama how his "ass" tastes, Dana lol dorado, will answer.

[Account Deleted]

Rich,

Did you see this one on the reluctance of South American countries to support the IMF bailout of Greece? This G20 should be a laugh riot. The group photo will show all 20 heads of state with one hand in the pocket of the next fella. The OPM Famine is getting both deeper and wider.

[narciso]

Well, Rick, Yorick, the Medieval Banker, hasn't proven they are up to the job, maybe they should consult their Galen again,

[Danube on iPad]

I believe that if Obama were not half African in his heritage his approval rating would be in the low 30's. I think that almost all of the black population, and a significant percentage of non-blacks, will never express disapproval of him for no reason other than that he is black.

I also believe that all of us here will be long dead before historians will be willing to assess his presidency as the catastrophic failure that it has already become. And they won't do so solely because of his race.

Lincoln might recognize that every drop of blood drawn by the lash is not only being repaid by one drawn by the sword, but also by many drawn by the ascendance of this horribly destructive and inept fraud. And he doesn't even have a slave among his forebears.

[Gus]

We have a SPY, a man accused of Espionage, and Obama is doing JACK SHIT about it. I understand the low i.q. idiots and libtards think Espiionage is ok, so long as the reasons for it are acceptable to them, but it's not ok.
Obama is a big bad man when he uses drones to kill Pakistani's, against Pakistani law. Well now's his chance to get Snowden.
Putin is laughing at Barney Fife Obama. I am too.

[anonymous]

I'm sorry but who really cares? Yet another rich, idiot screws himself out of a fortune.

This is really old news. I wish there were a few more sportsmen involved in sports instead of so many arrogant, self-centered morons who can't figure out how not to blow their once-in-a-lifetime chance...

[Threadkiller]

Speaking of his heritage:

Ted Nugent Say's It As It Is: Obama Has A Phony Birth Certificate & Phony History

http://youtu.be/P0ThMHtndJE

I await ccal's instructions on her choice of threads.

[Ignatz]

Barney would eat Barry's lunch and make him cry in the bargain.

[Gus]

I can't wait until Kim Kardashiain does a sex tape with A-Rod, and the news media gets Kanye Whatziznames' reaction.

[Ignatz]

Kim K seems to prefer the Trayvons of the world to the George Zs.

[Danube on iPad]

Ol' Ted is quite authoritative. Not that he has long been understood to be a loon or anything....

[Gus]

Yes Ignatz, she would have loved Biggie Smalls and ThreePack.

[Gus]

Tk, here is my take. Obama is so full of shit his eyes are brown. His entire story is either bullshit or a lie. He has used his Kenyan past in his book publicists case. And he hides all else. His Social Security number is that of some deceased man from Connecticut. I don't think he was born outside of Hawaii, but I wouldn't believe the mother fu@#er if he told me the sky was blue. I totally enjoy him having shit rammed down his throat. Some believe that continuing to talk about his birth certificate is counter productive. I think that it's counter productive to give Obama ANY BENEFIT of the DOUBT. Obama is a pile of shit. He is evil and is destroying our country. He is a loser, he is not capable, nor honest, nor trustworthy. He gets ZERO benefit of the doubt. Until he proves it to me, I wouldn't believe his shoe size.

[narciso]

Herein lies a difference, among many Gus, about 8 years ago, Putin had a problem, there was a Chechen exile leader, living in Doha, who was in contact with leaders in Moscow, he sent in a team to blow him up,

[Threadkiller]

I have nothing to say until the appropriate discussion thread is identified.

[Gus]

Narciso. Remember when Iran got one of our drones? Remembet what Obama said??

[narciso]

Ah, TK, you noticed how 'F. Chuck' apparently did not know that Filner was a former Democratic congressman,

[Gus]

I hear Filner was a COLLEAGUE of Pelosi.

[Threadkiller]

In an attempt to make my post les SOB worthy I offer this off tooic question:

Why is it a bad idea to make two passes, at two seperate depths, with a Ditch Witch 1030?

My gut tells me iggy knows the answer.

[Threadkiller]

Filner is a Democrat?!?

The way he beat up fags to win the election over his homo-RINO opponent I would have guessed he was a Todd Akin conservative.

[Threadkiller]

...less...

[jimmyk]

Off topic, but from Taranto:

James Taranto ‏@jamestaranto 1h

@Tom_Maguire 1, Puffington Host 0. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/29/mcdonalds-salaries_n_3672006.html … @julietlapidos has corrected as well. http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/30/how-much-would-you-pay-for-a-big-mac/ …

[Gus]

Todd Akin. Wasn't he the guy who KILLED Valerie Plame in the WAR on women??

[narciso]

It's almost as if everything they say is a lie;

http://freebeacon.com/liberal-foundation-distributed-money-from-bermuda-to-liberal-nonprofits/

[Gus]

MARXISTS/COMMIES and LIES. Who knew?

[Threadkiller]

He killed her with Bunda, Gus.

Goodnight all! I will check for answers in the AM.

[Gus]

TK. Imagine TED KENNEDY'S victim was named Valerie Plame.

Food for thought.

[bunkerbuster]

As for the claims of cited comments as evidence Reagan foresaw the Soviet Union's demise: none of them suggest that communism would collapse on its own in the absence of military aggression by the West. If we frame Reagan's vague statements in the context of the specific policies he advocated, it becomes obvious that he was talking about the military-led demise of the Soviet Union. He believed, above all, that only military aggression could bring an end to communism.
Reagan's message was clear in that regard and history proved it dead wrong: he insisted that military aggressiveness was the only way the Soviet Union could be defeated.
Indeed, as DoT acknowledges, Reagan's trademark policy was to demand the military defeat of communism, rather than a policy aimed at allowing communism to collapse under its own internal flaws.
To this day, ahistorical rhetoric parrots like Ignutz repeat the assertion that the Soviet empire would still exist had only Jimmy Carter been re-elected. How intellectually feckless do you have to be to simultaneously embrace the idea that communism is doomed to fail on its own principles, but would live forever in the absence of military confrontation? History shows the opposite. Communism collapsed first and fastest where the level of military confrontation against it was the least. It endured and, indeed, endures today, almost exclusively in places where Western military intervention was at its most aggressive.
Red Scare conservatism could not and would not exist against a weak, dying enemy. As a political force, Red Scare conservatism required an existential threat and, indeed, conjured one that was powerful, protean and omnipresent.
Sadly for Republicans, they have yet to figure out that the absence of such a force -- a clear, present, existential military threat -- undermines the tentpole of their core narrative.
That is exactly why Republicans have won the popular vote for president only once since the end of the Cold War -- and that was when the party was able to trump up an existential military threat to the country.
I feel absolutely confident that this voting pattern will remain and Republicans only chance to retake the presidency will be the emergence of an existential military threat, OR an overhaul of the party's core narrative.

[bunkerbuster]

Reagan was demonstrating faith in the potency of communist ideas even before entering electoral politics. As president of the actor's union, he happily conspired in the hysterical blacklisting of American writers, directors and actors based on the ludicrous premise that their books, films and performances were spreading communism.
Americans and educated people everywhere have always been perfectly capable of rejecting Marxism as a political program based on its obvious, fatal internal flaws. Whatever dalliances 1930s intellectuals and 1950s screenwriters had with Marxism were never a significant threat to democracy or freedom. The superficial poses of professors and entertainers were inert on their own merits. The dirty, backstabbing politics of people like Reagan, then, were not about fighting communism, but about using anti-communism to grab money and power in Hollywood and academia though blatantly unconstitutional means.

[anonamom]

Update on the Pressure Cooker/Backpack computer search that triggered a visit from "the authorities":

http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/01/employer-tipped-off-police-in-pressure-cookerbackpack-gate-not-google/

(Looks like it was in MA, and his employer passed the info on.)

[Thomas Collins]

Assuming that's a legitimate press release, anonamom, it's from a village in Suffolk County in NY.

[Jack is Back!]

TC,

My home county. Bay Shore is down island from me about 40 miles. Not MA but NY as you point out.

Lesson learned: Wipe your company computer search history before you leave.

[peter]

There's a punchline here somewhere, but the coffee hasn't kicked in yet...... LUN (h/t Dave Barry.)

[Captain Hate]

(yes, I know he’s never failed a test, but neither did Bonds).

Is this a joke? Bonds used to be the size of Kenny Lofton and ended up looking like one of Vince McMahon's freaks with a giant roid melon for a head. ARoid may be a mental case and guilty of massive PED use, but the changes in his physical appearance and performance through his career have been, if anything, age related compared to the ludicrous power spikes of Barroid. Bonds has failed every common sense visual test that even the witless Selig can't ignore.

[Janet]

narciso's 10:39 link to Sultan Knish is wonderful.
It made me mindful of this quote from President Obama (June 2013 in Johannesburg, South Africa) - "Ultimately, if you think about all the youth that everybody has mentioned here in Africa, if everybody is raising living standards to the point where everybody has got a car and everybody has got air conditioning, and everybody has got a big house, well, the planet will boil over -- unless we find new ways of producing energy."

[Captain Hate]

unless we find new ways of producing energy."

Like fracking.

[narciso]

So AQ is 'pining for the fjords' apparently,
and Pinnette is living up to reputation,

[narciso]

No more like Tony Stark's arc reactor, which the EPA would eventually sanction because of Palladium!!

[NK]

TomM-- 1. Congrats on the Taranto shoutout!

2. A-Rod-- Puh-lease, take off those Skankee Goggles, at best A-Rods' a selfish, cheating jerk, at worst he's a mental case. As I mentioned yewterday, 3 WS were the direct result of PED performers. That drug shop run by former Darienite and lunatic Brian Cashman has been a PED disgrace for at least 15 years. Yet that's not enough to 'particularly dislike' A-Rod, Jeez.

[NK]

CaptH@7:28-- only difference between Bonds and A-Roid was that Bonds used '80s vintage steroids to add 50 lbs of muscle mass, and A-Roid used more sophisticated PEDs, that were HGH centered. A-Roids PEDs improved stamina and injury prevention-- things he personally needed more than muscle mass. In that way, A-Roid's cheating is more like Mark McGuire than Bonds. Bonds is more like Sammy Sosa.

[NK]

OKAY-- I'm finally on board with the anarchists here-- The Congress has conspired with Obummer to exempt Congress members and emplyees from ObummerCare. This is the biggest outrage in the past 5 years, The POTUS has bribed Congress, and as usual Congress took the bribe. Time for revolution: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/congress-to-get-obamacare-exemption-report-2013-08-02?dist=tcountdown

[Janet]

Here's a great line - "The headline reads "Editorial on Nugent, Fox News Opens Conversation About Race." But it's less like a conversation than a tennis match in a tiny court inside Matt DiRienzo's brain." Hah!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323681904578642044155155894?mg=reno64-wsj.html?dsk=y

[Chris Sullivan]

TM- I can't believe I'm commenter #72 & nobody ahead of me has given you mad props for the classic Harry Potter quote in your last sentence. Well played, sir! The only question- who is Voldemort in this case?

[Captain Hate]

NK, you're saying that ARoid used something similar to what Eldrick employed?

[Old Lurker]

Welcome aboard NK.

[narciso]

Chocolate rations up to 45 grams,

[NK]

Obamanomics.... again: Another lousy jobs report. 162K payroll, MISS expectations, Participation Rate down, hours worked down-- the ObummerCare forced PART-TIME jobs that people like Cathyf predicted 1 year ago are really showing in the BLS data now-- hours worked and the horrific U-6 14%+ underemployment. The GDP revision was interesting earlier this week-- Obummer's own people admit that late 2009 - early 2010 GDP grew strongly after the 2009 end of the Recession and TARP banks started paying back. Since summer 2010, NO REAL GROWTH roughly 1% GDP growth since then. 2010 ObummerCare and constant demands for tax increases have devastated the US economy. It's UNreal, there should be marches in the streets by 20 somethings.

[NK]

OL/Narciso-- so you were right about the useless 2 Party system, and I was foolish to believe they could reform Obummer's debacles. (PS: you do realize I am genetically programmed against making any such admission.) Is there a Molotov cocktail recipe online?

[narciso]

That was my slightly cryptic reference,

[DublinDave]

Unemployment drops to lowest point since 08.
Republicans furious. The GOP plan to sabotage the economy failing.

6% unemployment guarantees Clinton a 3rd term.

Bill "We're going to need a lot more interns..... and Purell".

[NK]

Capt: Mais bien sur-- they even acquired the material in the same place and got the same complementary #@&*job with their purchase.

[James D.]

Chris:

Bud Selig, obviously!

Or, more accurately, Lying Buddy Selig.

[NK]

DD is right in one sense-- the more DD types WHO DROP OUT OF THE LABOR FORCE AND REFUSE TOLOOK FOR WORK, the better the Dem chances. Their mothers must be so proud. The Molotov cocktail recipe?

[narciso]

You think after what happened to Catalano, we'll tell you, check the '69 NYRB.

[NK]

Harry Potter reference? Can TomM be banned from his own blog? (although I do admit that one of my lasting memories of a JOM post was TomM describing taking adolescent children to a Harry Potter showing in the New Canaan movie house and describing teen audience reactions, one of my favorite posts.)

[DublinDave]

"DD is right in one sense-- the more DD types WHO DROP OUT OF THE LABOR FORCE AND REFUSE TOLOOK FOR WORK, the better the Dem chances. Their mothers must be so proud"

I never knew my mother.

[MarkO]

A-Rod was responsible for my face to face meeting with Cami Diaz. For that I am ever in his debt.

Nevertheless, a life time ban is unlikely to last any longer than the one imposed by the usurper Fay Vincent on Steve Howe.

The prevalence of PED's makes everyone suspicious of any salient performance. It makes me wonder about the triple crown. It taints even clean players.

[clarice]

Colin Powell's emails hacked--turn up 10 years of intimate correspondence with a Romanian diplomat. He denies it progressed to an affair.
Call me skeptical. Also, call me glad that two faced SOB is getting some mud splashed on his toga..It's way overdue.

[narciso]

Yes, they've all become Ivan Drago, or suspected of same,

[Captain Hate]

A-Rod was responsible for my face to face meeting with Cami Diaz

Is she as dumb as she sounds in interviews?

[NK]

"A-Rod was responsible for my face to face meeting with Cami Diaz"

Is she as hot as she appears in movies/TV?

[DublinDave]

The jobs report IS disappointing but it has the appearance of good news and that's all my party really needs to put Hillary Clinton in the WH in 2016.

If the American public starts to catch onto our incompetence we can fall back on the classic triangulation strategy; Obama proposes jobs bill and infrastructure bank that he has absolutely no intention of signing into law, Republicans in Congress reject all economic proposals (that aren't offset by spending cuts...sssshhhh...that parts not important) and this gives Clinton a platform for 2016.... running against a Republican Congress that intentionally sabotaged the American economy. We'll be aided by our friends in the media with blanket headlines that routinely read: REPUBLICAN OBSTRUCTIONAISM GRINDS ECONOMY TO A HALT-DEMOCRATS FRUSTRATED and boom!!!! We got ourselves another 16 years in the White house for having proposals that we never intended to get behind rejected by Republicans.

Triangulation.

[NK]

Narciso-- if you're a cycling fan, there's an Ivan Drago look alike German rider, who won a bunch of Tour de France stages this year, Marcel Kittel.

[OldTimer]

So who's going to present a lawsuit to the Supreme Court suing the White House and Congress for their egregious abuse of the 'found to be a Constitutional tax authority' ACA?

Would Chief Roberts redeem himself, or allow the ruling class to exempt itself from the LAWFUL TAX of its own foul concoction...?

[I R A Darth Aggie]

I wonder if Arod will have trouble getting Hollywood starlets to dat him anymore if he gets banned for life?

He's been paid what so far? $150 million +? minus taxes, expenditures and so on. Unless he's a complete spendthrift, he's still a multi-millionaire.

They can pull all the poon they want. Unless these particular PEDs causes one's nether regions to shrivel. IYKWIMAITTYD

[NK]

DD-DUH!!-- that is the Dems hideous and sinister plan for this country-- obviously. It requires 70million moronic voters. Could work.

[Army of Davids]

payroll unemployment numbers in

+162,000 w/ some -26,000 in revisions from previous months

Labor Force Participation Rate dropped from 63.5% to 63.4%

but the media will focus on the headline number down from 7.6% ro 7.4%.

Zero Hedge always does a good job digging into the numbers

the part-time mix shift since the beginning of the year really shows how much business is anticipating and preparing for ObamaCare.

And for the uninitiated the +162K is not really a very good number. We really need to be seeing monthly numbers well North of 300K to make a dent in our long term unemployment problem.

5 years now...the longer this goes on the more long term damage it is doing to a generation of young people.

What is going on in the job market now really amounts to child abuse. Just horrible.

Many factors...but ObamaCare is almost surely the biggest one.

[MarkO]

She is stunning. She seemed reasonably intelligent, but I was in a trance.

[NK]

MarkO-- you lucky dog!

[NK]

AoD-- IMO the biggest factors are Obummercare, the Obummer constant demand for tax increases, and the crazy Debt run-- have combined to make business owners (especially private company owners who earn income) refuse to hire and invest, because going Galt is the only ratiional response to these confiscatory HardLeft policies. Look at Obummer's own GDP re-write -- GDP stopped cold after 2Q 2010 when ObummerCare passed and he moved on to Tax Hikes, which Congress refused to pass before 2010 midterms. this is a federal Government created catastrophe.

[Army of Davids]

To further expound on the damage being done to the 18 to 35 age group...

It's not just that the Labor Force Participation Rate for this age group is at a multi decade low...it's also the part time mix and low wage makeup of the job market they have to deal with.

Early employment years act as a baseline for future earnings.

A 23 year old college graduate working part time at Starbucks is not realizing his or her earning potential and through their life there will be consequences from this early year baseline.

The 18 to 35 age group is really getting taken to the cleaners. And they are the ones who will have to deal w/ the huge fiscal problems (both federal and local) we are leaving behind.

A bond market w/ long term yields rising will only make all this debt service more difficult.