Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
lmcat...
It never ceases to amaze me why the rank and file union members of these unions do not revolt and retake control of the unions from the radical left.
In the first session of the 2013 Congress, the first legislation enacted and signed by a newly elected conservative Congress and President should be to pass a nationwide right to work law to make eunuchs out of the unions.
mlsoft
lmcat...
Frankly, that result suits me just fine. Hosting the soccer World Cup would only entail it being financed by more public debt, and it would invite bringing unwanted and unneeded trouble into our country.
mlsoft
geo...
The answer to at least two of our problems begin with similar steps -- both should begin by doing nothing.
For the economy, we have to demand that there be no new taxes until there has been a major decrease in spending and that any additional revenue is to be used solely to reduce the deficit. Moreover, any new programs must be paid for by spending cuts in other areas. If we were to raise taxes now, not only would it greatly harm the economy, but the supposed additional revenue that a tax increase might bring in would just be wastefully spent on other things by a still out of control Congress. This mindset has to be changed before we even consider tax increases.
The first response to the illegal immigration is similar -- nothing should be done until the border is sealed off completely. Then, and only then can we look for other solutions to the problem, one of which has to be harshly cracking down on those who employ illegals.
Conservatives in Congress cannot back down on these two starting points for two of our most pressing problems.
mlsoft
lmcat...
The Lord willing, two years from now we will shed ourselves of the cancer of obama and his radical socialist minions. Should that be the case, obama's executive order sealing all of his personal records should be repealed by either a similar executive order or by an act of Congress, and thus allowing us to see what has been hidden all these years. He will fight to keep as much of the information under wraps as possible using the privacy act, but there are many things that would not be covered by that act.
mlsoft
extel...
Concerning barney frank and airport screenings -- would they use a male or a female to pat him down?? They normally use persons of the same sex, but ole barney might like to be groped by a strange man.
mlsoft
RDG...
h24ever...
josey...
Look for the lame duck session of congress to attempt to jam through a bailout bill for states and municipalities that are either democratically controlled or which have large union factions to benefit from such a bill. There is a good chance they will be successful, and it will be their last chance to do so.
mlsoft
chris...
Mark Cuban had some ideas that made him rich -- hey, that is what capitalism is all about. You may not like the way he did it, or the frivolity of his products, but he started companies, built them up, and sold them -- not to gullible individuals, but mostly to equally gullible companies. And he was smart enough to diversify his holdings after the sale to protect himself. Give the guy credit -- he made himself one of the mega-rich by his own work.
And do you not think that the folks who paid high prices for stocks that were nothing but air deserve some of the blame for their economic downfall?? Their decisions were based on greed, pure and simple.
What in the world is the difference between selling the dot com companies stocks to the public and the government and its union cronies getting ready to sell GM stock to the public. GM, as currently structured is not now a viable company and it never will be one. It is owned and run by a combination of the government (using the company to advance its left wing agenda for vastly overly expensive "green" cars that the public does not now and never will want) and the same unions that were such a large part of the causes that drove GM to bankruptcy in the first place. GM will always be on the government dole -- it will be one of the bailouts that never end. Yet the Government is now trying to foist the stock onto a gullible public to place into retirement funds and 401k's. Please -- I ask again -- what is the difference??? Fraud is fraud, no matter who does it.
mlsoft
extel...
The answer is yes -- a single payer system, run by the government and financed on the backs of the US taxpayer is exactly what obama and his fellow radical liberals in congress want. obama has explicitly expressed his desire for exactly that kind of system, and the obamacare bill guarantees such a system will be its end result. Without stating it, the bill forces a single payer system on all Americans.
The certain result of having such a system is that the American nation will quickly become far more bankrupt than it now is -- bankrupt to the point that recovery is not possible.
mlsoft
chris...
RDG...
RDG...
I agree -- in the past, McConnell has been part of the problem in Washington, and he is unlikely to be part of the solution. Folks, especially republicans, tend to forget that republicans like McConnell helped create the mess we now find ourselves in. Obama and his radical socialist friends did not invent foolish spending in Washington, they just found a way to multiply it on an exponential scale.
We need to cleanse ourselves from all of the entrenched politicians that stand in the way of trying to reinvent our leadership before the nation succumbs to destruction.
mlsoft
benz...
obama has managed to openly display for the whole world to see just how utterly incompetent he is. In South Korea, for example, the Bush administration had already negotiated a trade agreement and all obama had to do was to come in, sign it, and get his picture taken. Instead, without giving the South Koreans any advanced notice to prepare for and examine the new subjects he wanted to introduce and without conducting any prior diplomacy or negotiations, obama blind sided the South Koreans with changes he wanted to make to the trade agreement -- and those changes were designed to be a payoff to his union supporters.
Only a completely naive and self absorbed amateur would act in such an ignorant and foolish manner.
It is a long established (and wise) practice that all negations for such summits are finalized before the trip ever takes place. When the President actually arrives, all that remains to be done is a little dog and pony show that looks vaguely like the President did the negotiations, and then amid some pomp and circumstance the two sides sign the trade agreement. In reality, it is all merely a formality which provides the President a good photo-op for him to get some (in obama's case) much needed credibility on the world stage.
mlsoft
h24ever...
veloyt...
h24ever...
Yes, we had to read books etc. and then pass a quiz on them. But what we read were never 2500 pages long and made up of complicated legalese language. Who could pass such a quiz on that type of a 2000 - 3000 page bill??
The first need is to pass bills that are much less complicated, written in plain English, and stripped of the hundreds (or thousands) of hidden regulations and taxes that the obama administration and their radical liberal cohorts in congress have become famous for.
Then, and only then, will our representatives (and the people) be able to read and understand the bills.
mlsoft
RDG...
Although I think reid may well get the union backed Paycheck Fairness Bill passed in the lame duck session, there could be a ray of light down the road. While conservatives could do nothing to repeal such a law until (hopefully) a conservative is elected president in the next election, the correct route for conservatives to take at that point would be to pass a National Right to Work Act, which would cripple both union power and union finances.
What a wonderful piece of legislation that would be, and its passage would be far more likely if reid is successful.
mlsoft
ng...
The worst danger to our economic future is over the next month or so during the "lame duck" session. I fully expect the liberal democrats in the House to attempt to ram through a bailout for at least some of the states who have committed economic suicide, such as California, Illinois, etc.
Since all appropriations bills must originate in the house, the liberal dems only hope to do this in order to save the entrenched democrats who run those states and the public employee unions whose money from dues goes straight to the democratic party is to do it now, while the radical left dems still control the House. This may the the crowning glory and exit song of comrade pilosi.
mlsoft
extel...
The GOP mantra should be "we have met the enemy and we are it". The establishment Republicans are as much a part of the problem as the democrats -- and in a way, they are even more of a problem. At least the democrats do not (for the most part) disguise themselves as conservatives looking to do the good for their country. Establishment republicans do that though, and they will be harder for the conservative movement to root out.
I hope and pray that they are successful at doing so, and that they continue to root out liberals across the nation, be they democrats or republicans.
Mostly, I hope and pray that the newly elected true conservatives stay true to their calling and are not corrupted by Washington politics.
mlsoft
intheclouds...
I believe that Newt is the best qualified prospect for the Presidency of the United States based on his experience and his wide ranging knowledge and understanding of both domestic and foreign issues. It is such a shame that through his moral flaws he has rendered himself virtually unelectable.
What a waste.
mlsoft
ordinary...
ordinary...
Good post...
mlsoft
extel...
tailgater...
h24ever...
While I have stated here often that I do not think Palin was or is now qualified to be President, I have never changed my mind that she is far more qualified than obama. I believed that during the last Presidential election and I believe that remains the case even now, after he has spent 2 years in the job.
obama has demonstrated so often during the past two years just how unqualified he is for the job that I do not see how it could even be a question.
mlsoft
ng...
Or, as the head of the German Central Bank said this morning, "the Fed does not have a clue" what they are doing.
Pretty telling, and absolutely correct.
mlsoft
ng...
Yep -- tell me again that it is nonsense when the market collapses -- which will most probably happen.
The idea that it is a good thing to let folks invest their retirement money in stocks is predicated on the theory that over the long term, stocks always go up. In just the past few years, we have proved that theory to be "nonsense" -- just ask all the folks who were decimated in the market during the market collapse of the early 2000's then again in just the past few years -- they are not even close to being even and probably will never get there. The DJ is still down 20% from its highs, and the NASDAQ is still at just one half of where it was.
There is a very high probability that a worse collapse is coming.
mlsoft
intheclouds...
High to hyper inflation is coming -- that was already a certainty because of the incredible spending habits of the past decade, and now the lunacy of monetizing the National debt is like putting a rocket booster on it. The question is whether the massive inflation hits us quickly or if we will endure a protracted round of deflation first. Even if we get the deflation, it is likely to be accompanied by commodity inflation which is guaranteed because of the de facto devaluation of the $US. Actually, deflation accompanied by commodity dollar devaluation induced inflation would be the worst and most painful scenario possible.
It will also be painful and unpleasant to take the medicine required to straighten the nation out. Very painful for a lot of folks who are used to a high standard of living based on the constant spending of taxpayers' money that we do not have, especially the coddled and catered to public employee sector.
Either way, it will not be pleasant.
mlsoft
ng...
veloyt...
Good post, and an accurate take on QE2, which is a disaster intended to stop deflation by quickly creating new asset bubbles. One problem is that few folks understand that only investments such as gold will protect them longer term, but the real problem is that in a global economy, much of the QE2 proceeds will go overseas to create asset bubbles there rather than here. It will be a massive outflow of $US taxpayer dollars from the US to foreign economies.
mlsoft
h24ever...
logman...
What an unbelievably silly move for obama -- he is as tone deaf as they come and has learned nothing from either the economy or the recent elections.
mlsoft
ng...
I am speaking as an experienced Wall Street broker. Based on that experience, my conclusion is that the privatization of retirement accounts will not provide a reliable place for folks to invest their retirement funds. At some point in the future, it will be a disaster.
In the short term, the markets are likely to rise for two reasons. First, the actions of what is popularly called the PPT will prevent any market decline, and second, the monetization of the public debt (QE2) will by its very nature foster new bubbles which will almost certainly include the stock markets.
Unfortunately, QE2 also guarantees that the purchasing power (relative value) of the $US will decline sharply. The FED is in a panic over the probability that the economy will enter into a deflationary era unseen since the Great Depression. This comes at a time when the Fed has already spent all its ammunition, the tools normally available to it to fight inflation and deflation, and has nothing left in its tool box to attempt to prevent deflation. Once it has begun, deflation is much more difficult to stop than inflation, so the Fed is attempting to be proactive by monetizing the debt, an action which is inherently destructive to the $US, and one which is unlikely to be of any longer term help in fighting deflation.
The problem is that all the Fed can do is to make money available to the economy but for that money to actually enter the economy, businesses must borrow money from the banks, and in today's recessionary environment coupled with an anti-business government in Washington, businesses are not willing to take on new debt until the economy actually creates new demand for goods and services. Experience tells us that QE2 will not likely create jobs or re-energize the economy -- it will only create new bubbles that they hope will provide a source of money for the consumer to continue to spend money.
There is a slight chance that the strategy might work as it did in the late 90's, but we are probably past the point where new bubbles will help, especially since in a global economy much of QE2 bubbles will be siphoned off to create bubbles outside of the US economy. That will not help us at all, even though we will be paying for it. That is why European and other markets are up so sharply today.
The best bet for folks to invest their money for retirement is to buy gold, which will protect them from the now certain decline in the $US, but investment in gold is prohibited in most retirement funds. Short term, stock market investments will probably do well as the markets struggle to equalize the decline of the dollar, but at some point the stock market will be a disaster, a devastating blow to everyone's retirement account who is exposed to the markets.
I see no good answer except to buy gold or to a lesser extent, silver and other commodities and land.
mlsoft
lx...
For once, I agree with you here 100%. The election of reid smells from beginning to end, and it needs to be investigated and prosecuted. The problem, of course that the very people who are the guilty parties in the corrupt election are the same ones who would be in charge of an investigation on both the local and the federal levels. In the end, nothing will be done.
mlsoft
ONEBGG...
h24ever...
imcat...
ng...
Yep, one of the more interesting sidelights about the results of yesterday's election will be that the new conservative majority in the House will not agree to a bailout of the various state and local governments that have bankrupted themselves though foolish spending practices, especially the lavish coddling of the public sector unions to gain and retain the political dominance of the democratic party. Hopefully, a conservative majority in the House will mean that California, among others, will have to learn to manage their own finances, even if that includes bankruptcy.
This is one area where I expect the union dominance of the Democratic party will insist that the lame duck session of the Congress "perform their perverted duty" under the radical liberal agenda and pass a massive federal bailout for California and other states in similar straights. I fully expect them to pass such a bill despite the clear statement the American people against both bailouts and the radical liberal agenda as espoused by obama and his congressional compatriots, pilosi and reid.
The conservatives will not be able to even exert any influence on such a move much less block its implementation. But they will be able to expose the dangers of it, and fan the public flames of anger against the Liberal Dems. Luckily, once the new conservative majority is installed, the Constitution demands that all spending bills must originate in the House, so if we were to only control one house in Congress, the House is the one we would choose.
May the newly elected conservatives stay true to the hopes of those who elected them and never compromise their principles for political expedience.
mlsoft
ng...
The lower standard of living is coming either way, but the decline in the standard of living will be much greater if we do not change our horrendous national spending habits, instigated by and participated in by both parties.
mlsoft