bills_fan

Great question, and I wish I knew. What I do know is that the US has shifted much of its recent borrowings to the short end of the curve (10 years or less). If we get a big spike in interest rates....

Anyone who voted for President Obama has permanently lost the right to b*tch over his policies. For the most part, he has stayed relatively true to his early, leftist campaign.

Don't forget the VAT tax they will pull when crap-and-trade fails. A small part of me hope it all passes, bring it all on, just so people can see how royally f*cked up the US economy will get. Then, I rememebr its Washington and these things never go away, so I continue to hope against their passage.

Removing the "lottery" aspect of it by redirecting punative damages from the plaintiff to a fund designed to remedy whatever problem was inflicted through R&D would solve much of the problem.

No, not really. But I see no reason for involvement by the Federal government in whether a driver is talking/texting on a cell phone.

I don't disagree with anything you wrote, and believe it ought to be in driver training materials. But I just don't think the Federal government ought to be involved here at all (and that includes most motor vehicle laws).

Because the trial lawyers bar are big Democratic donors.

Tell Pauli and Jamie I said hello.

Good call on Nelson Blue (although not your link), I'm pretty good friends with the owner and one of the bartenders. Stone Street is an excellent call, you really can't go wrong with any of the places. I'd also recommend the following... http://www.trinityplacenyc.com/ http://www.batterygardens.com/ Or, if you are looking for a very nice meal.... http://www.delmonicosny.com/

I continue to believe we are in the eye of the economic hurricane right now and that the rosy forecasts will not come to pass without going through a very severe disruption. My reasons are enumerated in this chart, unemployment which will exacerate that chart (and the current 30% interest rates banks are charging on credit cards), and commercial real estate. I hope I'm wrong, but I think there are many more CITs out there and there will not be market or government solutions for all of them.

Don't have to convince me of the virtue of term limits. I'm all for them. Let these jokers go out and find real jobs...if anyone will hire them. I'd really like to see what Maxine Waters ended up doing if she had to look for a real job.

Debt financing only makes sense, in almost any circumstance, if you use the debt to purchase something that will help generate a higher rate of return than the interest service cost on the debt. I'm not seeing anything here like the TVA, interstate system etc. that will assist in productivity. All I see are costs.

Odd, I always thought that the reason the Dpression was so severe was the monetary policy contraction by the Federal Reserve and the protectionism epitomized by such misguided laws as Smoot Hawley. As for fiscal policy, they did the best the could with what tools were available. I would argue that they also violated the Constitution repeatedly.

I feel that way about NYC, wouldn't live anywhere else. But damn, it could be better if we just got rid of the politicians.

Makes me nostalgic for 1996, when Bill Clinton said "the era of big government is over."

It makes me want to vomit. Its simply disgusting.

I'm not seeing a ton of infrastructure. If there was, at least they would have something to show for the stimulus that could contribute to GDP in the future....better roads/transit leads to more efficiency as workers can get farther in a more time efficient manner etc. There is some infrastructure, sure, but not nearly what may be needed. I could get behind infrastructure spending that would lead to future efficiencies (e.g. Tennessee River Valley Authority). There is also a large amount of lending for crap. That will hurt.

Thats my thought. He'll serve 12-18 months, end up in a halfway house for a few months and be done serving in less than 2 years. COuld have been much worse. Hopefully, its a wake-up for him.

Tough to really deficit spend when noone trusts your currency and you have to keep buying dollars to support your currency.

Really? I'm not so sure I buy it. From what I have read, China is basically going on a domestic, debt-fueled spending spree. Of course, as the US consumer well-knows, debt will eventually have to be paid back....with interest. I don't think China is using that debt to generate products/services that will eventually contribute more to China's GDP, rather they are speculating on stock, at the casino etc. This article paints a pretty decent picture of what is happening in China from the ground level. You could be right in that the Chinese stimulus is working, but I have my doubts in its sustainability and the debt hangover they will experience will be rough.

John First off, sorry about your son's injury. I wish him a speedy recovery. It was njsue, not Lori, who was ripped about the homework. You are not being singled out negatively in this thread at all. What SDS is saying is that everyone here is trying to help you out, constructively, without being the usual wise a$$. It would not be that way for most posters, they would get wise a$$ comments in response to what they perceive is a serious life question. The denial thing, from reading this thread, is that people are saying forget the stupid football and focus on grades and education. Football may help 99% of the high school players have a little fun and get laid, but it won't help you out in later life. You need to have grades/education to move onto bigger and better things and that should be the focus. Your initial post focused on you (not your son) and...sorry, it came across as a bit Al Bundy-ish, focused on high school football to the detriment of the rest of life.

Interesting theory, I'd love to see some numbers that back it up. I read that the average person consumes 80-90% of the health care services they use in the last year of their life. I'm not sure if its true, but it does raise an interesting point.

This is actually a myth. Smokers die younger and quicker than the general population. If everyone quit smoking, healthcare costs would rise significantly as folks who would have ordinarily died at a younger age, rather quickly from lung cancer, live much longer and consume more health care services.

St. Elmo's Fire

Was it just lack of preparation or do you think she became defensive after the MSM decided to treat her like a pinata? Personally, I think she is pretty damn saavy to have gotten where she did. You expect politicians to be roasted during a national campaign, but what the MSM did to her was shameful and disrespectful, IMHO.