bills_fan

Listen to DC Tom....good post.

I think you get views from multiple cross sections of the country, from people in different walks of life and a little perspective. Not a bad thing to step outside of your own little circle and ask for anonymous, outsider perspective.

You have no idea what you are talking about.

Who will they sell to...anyone who will buy. The what will they buy instead is commodities. You are right, there is no sovreign bond out there, which is why CHina is on record as calling for a world currency. If that happens, we are in trouble. I don't think it will, I think we will inflate for a while, but not enough to truly piss off the Chinese, then drain the system of capital. Gas will be $5.00 a gallon, gold $1400 an ounce, milk/bread/eggs 30% above our current price and our debt more manageable. We will start a wage/price sprial, then raise interest rates to correct it. Volcker showed you how to kill inflation, thats the model. The higher interest rate will appease the Chinese/Russians/Middle East and we will inflate out of the housing crisis.

If you are truly serious here, you MUST arm yourself. I know you may be against it, but you gotta do what you have to do. A shotgun and a pistol will make him think twice before coming over your place. Tell her you bought a couple of guns and let her break it to the SOB. Be prepared, son, be prepared. Also, please take a lesson in firing the things....they are not as easy as they look on TV.

Can't happen. Double the national debt every 8 years and nothing happens? What would you do if you were an investor? Obama is not offering spending cuts/balanced budget.

Of course, people will not accept a lower standard of living, so you have massive tax increases until we truly are a socialist country. Would you go to work, and work 12-15 hours a day, so you could take home a fraction of what you used to bring home? Neither would I, innovation would be dead, no incentive. Right now, I'm in the inflate your way out is the most likely scenario camp.

Well, there area few outcomes... 1- The US gets responsible, balances the budget and uses surplus from tax increases/tax revenues from economic growth to pay it off. 2- The US continues spending wildly, increasing the debt. Even with the existing $10.2 trillion we have a problem. A- More and more of the Federal budget each year is used to pay interest on the debt. That leaves less money for Medicare/Social Security/Military etc. Expect a far lower standard of living. B - Default. Global anarchy. 3- The Fed decides not to drain the M1 that it is greasing the economy with after the economy recovers. Due to a fractional banking system, inflation spikes wildly. Inflation helps those with fixed rate debt payments such as homeowners, people with student loans and the US Govt. Foreign debt holders realize the payments they receive on US debt are worth far less than when they bought it due to inflation. Dollar is debased and new world currency comes into effect. US is reduced to third world nation, albeit with best military technology. 4- Massive REAL economic expansion makes debt far less of a concern. As a % of GDP, debt becomes very low and not a worry. Increased revenues help US pay down debt.

I'm with the Chef. I understand trying to help a friend and all (and especially if there is a romantic interest there), but if this guy is that nuts, he really may end up getting a gun and coming after you. Based on his charges, he may take himself out of the picture very soon. Then she is free.

You're right, Iraq is not the only reason (although it is the major reason). I know we have to finish the job there...but damn our spending is so out of control. Bush is truly up there with the unholy trinity of worst US Presidents ever (Coolidge, Harding and Carter). The national debt will either stop the next US President's policies cold, or the Obama tax plan he already showed is only part 1 of 37 tax raises he will unveil.

He realizes that the spending from Iraq is the reason the national debt went from $4.9 tril when Clinton left to its present $10.2 tril disaster right? And if he continues spending like a 16 year old girl at the mall with Daddy's credit card, we're all !@#$ right?

Drink her skinny?

Dude...really...your Hot Pockets are ready. Appreciate the rivalry for what it was and what it will be again. Fins will be good again and soon. Pats are fading and Jest have no QB once Favre leaves. It will be Bills/Fins as the rivalry in the AFC again and sooner than you think. Rivalries go on again/off again in all sports...sometimes they burn hot, sometimes they cool down. Free agency has hurt the rivalry. But it is far from dead. I don't want to play CLE/PIT/CIN 2xs a year, I'm very happy Ralph fought to keep us in the AFCE, with our traditional AFL rivals. As far as sucking for 10 years...remember this game... http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...751C1A9649C8B63 And there is still hate on their side as well... http://www.finheaven.com/forums/f2/greates...ame-133070.html

I'm not sure it would be stale and they already are bureaucratic. Its true they did not stress test the models, but then they exacerbated the situation (see AIG).

I will say this once, the election has almost no bearing on what is happening on the Street right now. This is a cash crunch...pure and simple. Everyone is trying to sell whatever they can (oil contracts, stocks, gold etc.) to raise as much cash as possible.

I disagree. Dr. Z of SI, who I respect, says if a team really committed to the principals of the single wing it could do some real damage today. I tend to agree.

I agree, we need a third party arbiter, but these three agencies are so tainted and shameless, it won't be them. It will be a new entity or two. Completely disassociate from the past disasters. The fund managers may just have to deal with it, many of them will be casualties of war in the next 6 months. Those that remain will have to deal with new agencies, IMHO, that actually audit then rate appropriately. I can see some type of special status like nonprofit bestowed on the new agencies to remove the conflict of interest and get a truly independent agency.

Damn it, missed it. You see any of it? People I have spoken to are not even listening to Moody's anymore, they totally lost all credibility. S&P is not far behind. Contracts are being rewritten to remove reference to ratings downgrades as default events. Also, SEC is proposing rules to remove "investment grade rating" as a criteria for using S-3, I expect Finra will do the same with respect to QIUs. Soon, these loathsome entities will be irrelevant.

Have they had them for the ratings agencies yet? I would pay to see those.

I would count NH as a battleground state. Might even watch PA.

Single Malt Scotch.

LOL!! I have taken the train, but usually don't have the time it takes. Also, when they had a bar car that allowed smoking it was fun. Sit in a bar for x hours and arrive at your destination. Now, probably not so much.

Whats great about it is that people book up the regular seats, leaving the entire front of the plane open if you are willing to pay a little more. This is even a few days prior to takeoff. I love it, since I will pay for the convenience of being comfortable.

Tough choice...but might be worth it! Tell you wife's family to start selling a dry rub!

Sorry about your JetBlue experience. I fly a lot and the only airline I fly, whenever possible, is JetBlue. I love them. Direct flight from NYC to anywhere, I pay extra for the aisle seats in the front of the plane with more legroom, reasonable priced drinks in flight, great DirectTV in front of you (Godfather Parts I and II made a long flight to Seattle far easier to take) and generally very friendly service. I will pay xtra for an aisle seat to stretch out in, and refuse to queque up in line for a long time, hence I will never fly Southwest. When waiting for a plne, I am usually on the otehr side of security grabbing a smoke...JetBlue actually has a bar on the other side of security. I was told its a convenience to smokers and people waiting for others. They will continue to have this at the new terminal at JFK. My kind of airline.