TPS

This is a joke, right? I'm surprised you also didn't post something yesterday about the "S&P's biggest drop of the year"? Sheesh! The average price of gas is 4 cents higher than at this time last year. Do the math on the annual increase and get back to me about inflation....

If you haven't seen Will Farrell's Old Milwaukee take on it, it's pretty funny.http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/02/04/watch-will-ferrell-weird-old-milwaukee-ad/

C'mon Mag, don't let him get the best of you! Besides, I'm enjoying it too much.... Btw, don't know who this is, but, from my perspective, I think he does a good job of clarifying the Joe vs Krugman thing. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/31/joe-scarborough-paul-krugman-and-the-economist-pundit-divide-on-debt-and-deficits/

That's pretty close to nailing RH. I'll get back to you on this shortly.

Friedman as at least wise enough to reject their wacky views...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2012/10/26/irony-behind-2-rise-in-q3-gdp-without-defense-spending-economy-barely-moved/

And what I said was that 3Q was propped up by accelerating defense expenditures into 3Q, which would support your contention of underlying private sector weakness.

The Bloomberg piece on the GDP data stated that the drop in defense spending knocked off 1.1% from growth and was the largest drop since the early 1970s.As for the recovery, as I stated, we'll see it in the 2nd half of the year because the payroll tax hike will slow things down a bit; however, it will also depend on what spending cuts go into effect this year.

I agree, the republicans in congress should not be taken seriously... :-)gnite

As to krugman's point, if you add spending cuts on top of the recent tax increases, the austerity will push a fragile economy back into recession. Magox wants to tout some piddly country like Latvia as the poster child of austerity. how's it working out for a serious economy like the UK?

The people who are calling for entitlement cuts today are the ones who are letting their political bias interfere. We have a problem of high unemployment today; we have a medicare deficit projected to begin 10 years from now. Which one should we be more focused on today? But the amount we spend as a % of GDP is twice what every other advanced country spends, and it's expected to double in 20 years. We have problems; you guys? Ha! :-)

It's one thing to criticize the guy, but when one creates a strawman to tear down, that's another. His basic argument on Joe was, since DC seems to be able to focus on only one thing at a time, then focus on the immediate problem of high unemployment and tackle the medicare problem (that starts in 2024) later. There is no reason to hold the economy hostage over a problem that can be addressed a few years from now. Those who are pushing the line of having to cut a deal on entitlements now are the partisan hacks. Btw, thought I posted a response to your healthcare question, but guess not. I think we have the system assbackwards in that we don't do preventative, rather we try to find a magic pill or operate when a festering issue finally explodes. I think so many health problems are related to the ****ty diet that pervades our culture. Obesity and diabetes are epidemics. Everyone knows the rising costs are not sustainable, and changes are being made, but more to do.

Yes, Latvia, the country where people are pouring into to jump on their growth train...oops! Check that, it seems everyone is leaving...http://www.france24.com/en/20120522-latvia-emigration-population-brain-drain-economy

You don't need to start thinking about it for another few years since it's a problem that needs to be addressed beginning in about 10 years. If you really tried to listen to the discussion, you would've heard all of them talk about the dysfunction in DC and all of them agree that DC CAN'T seem to solve 2 issues at once. He understands you CAN do both, but DC seems incapable of chewing and walking at the same time. Btw, as everyone also seems to agree on, the main driver of those really, really large FUTURE deficits are health-related costs. That's what will need to be fixed. PK also said that the future deficits were projected based on the assumption that costs will continue to rise as they have been, and that's why he mentioned the uncertainties in the futre.

As our favorite villian pointed out, the stimulus was too small, and I'll add that the focus was on bailouts more than stimulus. I see the markets are really worried about that... It raises an interesting issue that I read about during the election, that the administration accelerated defense expenditures in Q3 to prop up the growth number (unexpected 3.1%) before the election--and these numbers confirm it. Surprised none of the wackas jumped on this? The numbers are always seasonally adjusted.

Apparently Magox can only focus on one thing too. It's a pretty simple argument: we should focus on the unemployment short term thingy now; then worry about the Medicare long term thingy in a few years, since it's the FUTURE increase in costs and spending, not today's costs and spending, which create a deficit in the future. Btw, the deficit as a % of GDP has been trending down since 2009, and will reach a sustainable level in another year (unless of course the tax increases and coming spending cuts push us back into recession).

within the next month...just sayin...

I won't be surprised if mv is done, again...

I'm sure some of this can be attributed to "draft games." If marrone/hackett really want him, and they know all there is to know about him, best to sow the seeds of confusion... Personally, Nassib seems to be more a 2nd round talent, and I'd hate to see us "waste" our 1st on him.

An argument from one of your own why hyperinflation most likely won't happen. http://www.cnbc.com/id/42978843/The_Errors_of_Inflation_Hawks_Part_III

I know, I know...guns don't shoot dicks, dicks do. Or something like that....

Or maybe it's population control? http://mobile.rawstory.com/therawstory/#!/entry/trinidad-and-tobago-security-guard-accidentally-shoots-off-his-penis,50fec520d7fc7b5670fddd40

Bush bad.

Good CNN/SI article on the front page with some insight on Marrone and STs. Apparently Marrone coordinated ST last year at Syracuse. He stated that he is going to be involved in all phases of the game, acting more like CEO. He obviously wants people he is comfortable with. It's a lot easier to tell someone you want changes if you know them and are comfortable with them.

I'm not privvy to any numbers, so I'm only going on what was said by Whalen and Ritholtz, who I don't think have an agenda. They argue that the derivatives trade is what is propping up the big 4. If you have numbers to counter that, I'm all ears. I'm also surprised that you would not believe that the fact that BofA is backstopped by the FDIC, including their d-trade, does not lead to a moral hazzard problem...?