President Barack Obama - Term 1 and 2 Thread

[slucero]

Did you even read the article?

It is saying RAISING THE DEBT CEILING is a bigger issue and will cause a bigger financial crisis then the "fiscal cliff".

Do you not see how shutting down the government, essentially defaulting on our debt, would throw this nation into a depression? Republicans should stop playing politics with this and just do it..This shouldn't even be an issue.

The U.S. has been only servicing the interest on its debt for a long time.. and as long as it can continue debasing its currency, it also is diluting the debt nominally as a percentage of its GDP, which continues to allow the U.S. to only service the interest on said debt. Hence, there will be no default.

Nominally, we are not in recession, but simply using the Clinton era measurement methodologies for most econ indicators, it is easy to see that the economy has been in recession for awhile now. It's only the change in measurement methodology that has created what we see nominally.

Certainly shutting the government down would affect the markets from a sentiment standpoint. But because the current nominality of the markets does not reflect true economic reality (meaning the numbers are skewed) most know that the underlying fundamentals are weak/false. Traders have know this for awhile now, it's why they simply trading on sentiment, or are on the sidelines. There are too many variables distorting the markets' pricing mechanism.

The biggest problem facing this country (heck the world) is the original one - the weight of consumer and sovereign debt.. its why:

• total sovereign debt has risen from 70 Trillion to $240 Trillion in the last 6 years.. and
• U.S. consumer debt is at it's all time high ( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/0 ... 60457.html ) borrowing more for this last Xmas season than ever, yet the retail reporting reflected the worst numbers since 2008.

The measurement methodologies will continue to be "updated" so nominally, the numbers at a minimum can be said to be holding steady, but there will be no real economic growth until there is debt de-leveraging, which will create the space for some sustainable growth in consumer spending.

It is why central banks worldwide, including the Fed, are monetizing as much consumer debt as they can, but it will not be fast enough to keep pace with the rate of debt service on the ever growing pile of what is sovereign debt..

The debt ceiling will be raised.

So I suppose "the cliffnotes" version of this would be were still screwing ourselves.

Actually its more like some are like this:



and some are like this:




all the while electing Republocrats/Demicans who wind up proving this:

[Memorex]

We have not evolved to the point where most people's penises can reach their asses yet.

Um, speak for yourself.

[Monker]

Raising the debt ceiling into infinity is almost as ridiculous as proposing that perpetual motion is possible. Apparently one is not possible and the other will have dire consequences. Proof that people simply don't care about the people who come after them, in fact, some of them are of the ilk of "who gives a shit what happens after I die". There are unborn people who will still have to clean up this mess. Not really fair to them, is it?

Having a 'debt ceiling' at all is ridiculous. It's pointless. If you want to control the budget, then control the budget. The debt ceiling does NOT do that, never has, never will.

[slucero]

This is a good lay persons explanation on the debt conundrum..

http://www.economicreason.com/usdollarc ... ill-it-go/

[Memorex]

Health insurance companies across the country are seeking and winning double-digit increases in premiums for some customers, even though one of the biggest objectives of the Obama administration’s health care law was to stem the rapid rise in insurance costs for consumers.
Particularly vulnerable to the high rates are small businesses and people who do not have employer-provided insurance and must buy it on their own.

A new government actuarial study finds that as a result of the law, health care spending will be $478 billion higher over the next decade than it would have otherwise been had no law been passed. Furthermore, as a result of the health care law, about 50 cents of every dollar of health care spending in the United States will be financed by government by 2021,according to the report from the actuary’s office at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, unveiled today in the journal Health Affairs.

The White House is weighing a far broader and more comprehensive approach to curbing the nation’s gun violence than simply reinstating an expired ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition, according to multiple people involved in the administration’s discussions. …None of which would have stopped the Newtown atrocity.

Gun sales in California are booming. More than 600,000 were sold in 2011. However by last year, sales had jumped to 817,000. That's an increase of 36 percent. But we noticed the number of people wounded by gunfire is dropping.

In 2012, 532 people were murdered in the city of Chicago, according to statistics compiled by the Crime in Chicago website. The number of people murdered the year before was 441… Through December 25, 2012, there were 2,670 people were shot in Chicago last year. That’s also an increase from the year before, when 2,217 people were shot in Chicago that year.
In all, it means that on average almost 1.5 people were murdered in Chicago each day last year, while on average 7.3 people were shot each day.

Well this can’t be true at all, because Illinois already bans concealed carry (and open carry in most instances) and Chicago demands that gun owners get a Firearm Permit, and register EACH gun with the CPD. With such strict gun laws, who in the world is still shooting each other 7.3 times per day?

Welfare recipients took out cash at bars, liquor stores, X-rated video shops, hookah parlors and even strip clubs — where they presumably spent their taxpayer money on lap dances rather than diapers, a Post investigation found.

That early winter break you've been getting at the gasoline pump? It's beginning to show signs of cracking.
Gasoline prices remain below $3 a gallon in at least 50% or more outlets in 14 states. But the national average has crept up three cents to $3.30 a gallon the past week and 8 cents since hitting a 2012 low of $3.22 in mid-December.

It's likely to get worse in the coming weeks. Crude oil prices are up about $10 a gallon the past month, with benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude closing at $93.09 a barrel Friday, finishing the week up 2.5%.

"The celebration is over,'

President Barack Obama said he’s willing to consider more spending cuts to lower the deficit, as long as they’re coupled with more tax reforms.

The "fiscal cliff" clash in Washington may leave middle- and lower-income Americans paying more in taxes while preserving a range of tax breaks for various industries and businesses.

Appearing on CNBC on Friday, President Barack Obama’s Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said “millions of jobs” were saved when Congress extended unemployment benefits in the “fiscal cliff” deal.
“What I think about is those two million people that would have lost their unemployment insurance. Because think about it, all that money that goes out in terms of what is being spent by that unemployment check, helps to generate $2 back into the community. So small businesses, everyone continues to keep their jobs,” Solis said.

“Just by the movement that the president made, we saved millions and millions of jobs.”

You can’t make this stuff up.

“According to the government, another 350,000 Americans left the labor force, and when you keep pretending that huge chunks of workers ‘disappear’ each month it is easy to get the ‘unemployment rate’ to go down,”wrote economy blogger Michael Snyder, who acknowledges that the number of Americans “not in the labor force” has grown by almost 8.5 million since the Obama administration began.

“But the mainstream media is just eating up this ‘good news.’ They are very excited that the ‘unemployment rate’ has fallen from its peak of 10.0 percent in October 2009

On Friday’s “NewsHour” on PBS, during his weekly political analysis segment with syndicated columnist Mark Shields, New York Times columnist David Brooks offered a bleak take on the fiscal cliff deal that made its way through Congress earlier in the week.

Brooks argued the deal does little to cut federal spending and sets the stage for more budget fights in the future.

“I think we are immeasurably worse off. I think it was a complete failure,” Brooks said. “Listen, what did we want out of this? The president wanted a balanced deal with some tax increases and some spending cuts. We didn’t get a balanced deal. There were no real spending cuts.”

Obama’s Senior Advisors: http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/8341728444/ Amazing diversity.

Americans around the nation were shocked Friday as they heard about H.J.Res. 15. H.J.Res 15 proposes an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the Twenty-second Amendment. This would remove the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President.Rep. José Serrano (D- NY15) introduced the controversial joint resolution on Friday, the second day of the 2013 legislative session.

Under Obama and his Attorney General Eric Holder, warrantless wiretapping and monitoring of American's electronic communications is "sharply on the rise."

"The number of authorizations the Justice Department received to use these devices on individuals' email and network data increased 361% between 2009 and 2011," the ACLU said.

President Barack Obama has signed into law a five-year extension of the U.S. government's authority to monitor the overseas activity of suspected foreign spies and terrorists.
The warrantless intercept program would have expired at the end of 2012 without the president's approval. The renewal bill won final passage in the Senate on Friday.
Known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the law allows the government to monitor overseas phone calls and emails without obtaining a court order for each intercept.

Harold Hongju Koh has become a symbol of national security policies that many feel are not significantly different than those of the Bush administration that he once criticized.

As dean of Yale Law School, Harold Hongju Koh was among the fiercest critics of PresidentGeorge W. Bush's "war on terror," arguing that his administration had trampled the Constitution and tarnished America's international standing by claiming the power to capture "enemy combatants" abroad and hold them without charges at the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The next administration must "restore the rule of law in the national security arena," end "excessive government secrecy" and set aside the "claims of unfettered executive power," Koh told a House panel in 2008.

But as the State Department's legal advisor in that new administration, Koh helped set out a legal justification for policies that include a ramped-up use of unmanned drones to attack and kill suspected terrorists in Pakistan as well as inYemen and Somalia, far from the combat zone in Afghanistan. Thousands have died, and the targets have included U.S. citizens who were seen as inspiring attacks against Americans.

On Capitol Hill, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) led a House Judiciary Committee discussion that demanded more transparency from President Barack Obama over how his administration carries out the targeted killing of suspected terrorists using drone aircraft, an increasingly likely tactic in America’s war on terror that has left a substantial death toll that includes perhaps hundreds of civilians, including women, children and US civilians.

Funny graph for those that think Obama and Bush are different. Silly people. http://www.propublica.org/special/obama-vs-bush-on-national-security-timeline

President Obama closed the CIA's 'Black Sites' - secret prisons located abroad, where terror suspects were subjected to interrogation techniques that would not be legal in the United States.
Despite the closure of these facilities, the administration's use of extraordinary rendition has outsourced human rights abuse to other countries. Will we ever get rid of torture?

The more things change....

[Memorex]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/8340670983/in/photostream/

So, uh, listen. I'll be the bad guy on spending, you be the bad guy on taxes. Let's keep the Americans fighting among themselves and we'll create some fear and some comfort. Make sure I get my pork and I'll make sure you get your pork. We'll take turns on the New York Times Best Seller list when this is all over.

Anyone want an apple?

Either that or each of them are looking at another thinking, "You motherfucker!"

[slucero]

interesting revelation on the Benghazi raid....

Clinton Publicly Linked Benghazi to Video Before Woods and Doherty Were Killed
http://cnsnews.com/blog/terence-p-jeffr ... ere-killed


On the night of Sept. 11, 2012 — before former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were killed by a terrorist mortar strike — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released a public statement linking the attack against the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, with an anti-Muslim video, which she referred to as "inflammatory material posted on the Internet."

Clinton's statement, still posted on State's website, is dated Sept. 11, 2012, and headlined: "Statement on the Attack in Benghazi."

The statement first notes that a State Department officer had been killed in Benghazi — an apparent reference to Information Management Officer Sean Smith, whose body had been recovered at the U.S. mission in Benghazi by U.S. security officers by about 5:30 p.m. Washington, D.C., time on Sept. 11 — or 11:30 p.m. Benghazi time.

The statement then talks about Clinton's communications that night with Libya's president and refers to what Clinton calls "inflammatory material posted on the Internet."

"I condemn in the strongest terms the attack on our mission in Benghazi today," Clinton said in the statement. "As we work to secure our personnel and facilities, we have confirmed that one of our State Department officers was killed. We are heartbroken by this terrible loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and those who have suffered in this attack.

"This evening, I called Libyan President Magariaf to coordinate additional support to protect Americans in Libya," Clinton continued. "President Magariaf expressed his condemnation and condolences and pledged his government's full cooperation.

"Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet," Clinton said. "The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. But let me be clear: There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind."

"In light of the events of today, the United States government is working with partner countries around the world to protect our personnel, our missions, and American citizens worldwide," Clinton's statement concluded.

On Jan. 8, I contacted the State Department press office three times by telephone and once by email to ask when exactly on Sept. 11, 2012, the department released this statement by Clinton.

"I just want to know at what time on Sept. 11, 2012, this statement was released," I asked in an email that I sent at 2:20 p.m. Eastern time after my second phone inquiry.

I was later told that a group that answers questions on Benghazi for the State Department was working on an answer for me.

However, the Associated Press first published a story quoting Clinton's statement at 10:58 p.m. Eastern time on Sept. 11.

The AP released a story that night datelined Cairo, written by Maggie Michael and Sarah El Deeb, and carrying the headline, "American killed in Libya protest over film." The story noted that Clinton had confirmed that "one State Department officer had been killed in the protest at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi." It also quoted directly from Clinton's statement: "Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet."

The Associated Press' Media Relations office confirmed to me that the AP first published its version of this story quoting Clinton's statement at 10:58 p.m. Eastern time on Sept. 11.

A CIA timeline of the Benghazi events provided by a senior U.S. intelligence official, the Senate Homeland Security Committee's report on Benghazi and the State Department's own Accountability Review Board Report all indicate that Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were killed at the U.S. "Annex" in Benghazi sometime between about 5:14 a.m. and 5:26 a.m. Benghazi time on Sept. 12. That would be between 11:14 p.m. and 11:26 p.m. on Sept. 11 in Washington, D.C. — or at least 16 minutes after the AP reported Clinton's statement.

The CIA timeline indicates that a security team sent to the rescue by the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli got to the Benghazi Annex about 5:15 a.m. Benghazi time. "They arrive with Libyan support at the Annex by 5:15 a.m., just before the mortar rounds begin to hit the Annex," says this timeline. "The two security officers (Woods and Doherty) were killed when they took direct mortar fire as they engaged the enemy. That attack lasted only 11 minutes then also dissipated."

The State Department ARB report provided additional details, but also set the time of the attack that killed Woods and Doherty at approximately 5:15 a.m. Benghazi time.

"The seven-person response team from Embassy Tripoli arrived in Benghazi to lend support," said the ARB report. "It arrived at the Annex about 0500 local. Less than 15 minutes later, the Annex came under mortar and RPG attack, with five mortar rounds impacting close together in under 90 seconds. Three rounds hit the roof of an Annex building, killing security officers Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty."

On Dec. 31, Senate Homeland Security Chairman Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Maine, published their own report on Benghazi. This report confirmed both that Woods and Doherty were killed between 5:14 a.m. and 5:26 a.m. Benghazi time on Sept. 12 and that Benghazi was six hours ahead of Washington, D.C.

"American government officials outside of Benghazi learned of the attack shortly after it started at 3:40 p.m. EST (9:40 p.m. Benghazi time)," said the Lieberman-Collins report. "DS (diplomatic security) agents, in addition to notifying personnel at the Annex, immediately alerted officials at the U.S Embassy in Tripoli and the Department of State Headquarters in Washington, D.C."

"The team from Tripoli finally cleared the airport and arrived at the Annex at approximately 5:04 a.m., about 10 minutes before a new assault by the terrorist began, involving mortar rounds fired at the Annex," said the report. "The attack concluded at approximately 5:26 a.m., leaving Annex security team members Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty dead and two others wounded."

[Memorex]

Until they fix this:

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2013/01/09/disturbing-school-bus-stop-brawls-caught-on-camera/

Let us law-abiding citizens have our defense. You see so much more of this, it seems.

[Boomchild]

So the other night I paid a visit to my local Wendy's and customers were getting frustrated due to the fact that they were super slow in getting out their orders. It wasn't even that busy. People started to voice their dis pleasure which got the attention of the manager. So what does this have to do with this tread right? The manager in his apology for the slow service explained it was due to the new healthcare act and the end result being that the company has cut back the hours of it's employees. That way they do not have to provide health insurance for those employees and avoid dealing with the new rules and regulations of Obamacare. Such a positive impact this "affordable healthcare act" is producing isn't it?

[slucero]

How ironic... straight from the former "Socialism Central"

Obama's Soviet Mistake
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/column ... mistake-0/
19.11.2012

By Xavier Lerma

Putin in 2009 outlined his strategy for economic success. Alas, poor Obama did the opposite but nevertheless was re-elected. Bye, bye Miss American Pie. The Communists have won in America with Obama but failed miserably in Russia with Zyuganov who only received 17% of the vote. Vladimir Putin was re-elected as President keeping the NWO order out of Russia while America continues to repeat the Soviet mistake.

After Obama was elected in his first term as president the then Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin gave a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January of 2009. Ignored by the West as usual, Putin gave insightful and helpful advice to help the world economy and saying the world should avoid the Soviet mistake.

Recently, Obama has been re-elected for a 2nd term by an illiterate society and he is ready to continue his lies of less taxes while he raises them. He gives speeches of peace and love in the world while he promotes wars as he did in Egypt, Libya and Syria. He plans his next war is with Iran as he fires or demotes his generals who get in the way.

Putin said regarding the military,

"...instead of solving the problem, militarization pushes it to a deeper level. It draws away from the economy immense financial and material resources, which could have been used much more efficiently elsewhere."

Well, any normal individual understands that as true but liberalism is a psychosis . O'bomber even keeps the war going along the Mexican border with projects like "fast and furious" and there is still no sign of ending it. He is a Communist without question promoting the Communist Manifesto without calling it so. How shrewd he is in America. His cult of personality mesmerizes those who cannot go beyond their ignorance. They will continue to follow him like those fools who still praise Lenin and Stalin in Russia. Obama's fools and Stalin's fools share the same drink of illusion.

Reading Putin's speech without knowing the author, one would think it was written by Reagan or another conservative in America. The speech promotes smaller government and less taxes. It comes as no surprise to those who know Putin as a conservative. Vladimir Putin went on to say:

"...we are reducing taxes on production, investing money in the economy. We are optimizing state expenses.

The second possible mistake would be excessive interference into the economic life of the country and the absolute faith into the all-mightiness of the state.

There are no grounds to suggest that by putting the responsibility over to the state, one can achieve better results.

Unreasonable expansion of the budget deficit, accumulation of the national debt - are as destructive as an adventurous stock market game.

During the time of the Soviet Union the role of the state in economy was made absolute, which eventually lead to the total non-competitiveness of the economy. That lesson cost us very dearly. I am sure no one would want history to repeat itself."


President Vladimir Putin could never have imagined anyone so ignorant or so willing to destroy their people like Obama much less seeing millions vote for someone like Obama. They read history in America don't they? Alas, the schools in the U.S. were conquered by the Communists long ago and history was revised thus paving the way for their Communist presidents. Obama has bailed out those businesses that voted for him and increased the debt to over 16 trillion with an ever increasing unemployment rate especially among blacks and other minorities. All the while promoting his agenda.

"We must seek support in the moral values that have ensured the progress of our civilization. Honesty and hard work, responsibility and faith in our strength are bound to bring us success."- Vladimir Putin

The red, white and blue still flies happily but only in Russia. Russia still has St George defeating the Dragon with the symbol of the cross on its' flag. The ACLU and other atheist groups in America would never allow the US flag with such religious symbols. Lawsuits a plenty against religious freedom and expression in the land of the free. Christianity in the U.S. is under attack as it was during the early period of the Soviet Union when religious symbols were against the law.

Let's give American voters the benefit of the doubt and say it was all voter fraud and not ignorance or stupidity in electing a man who does not even know what to do and refuses help from Russia when there was an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Instead we'll say it's true that the Communists usage of electronic voting was just a plan to manipulate the vote. Soros and his ownership of the company that counts the US votes in Spain helped put their puppet in power in the White House. According to the Huffington Post, residents in all 50 states have filed petitions to secede from the Unites States. We'll say that these Americans are hostages to the Communists in power. How long will their government reign tyranny upon them?

Russia lost its' civil war with the Reds and millions suffered torture and death for almost 75 years under the tyranny of the United Soviet Socialist Republic. Russians survived with a new and stronger faith in God and ever growing Christian Church. The question is how long will the once "Land of the Free" remain the United Socialist States of America? Their suffering has only begun. Bye bye Miss American Pie! You know the song you hippies. Sing it! Don't you remember? The 1971 hit song by American song writer Don McLean:


"And, as I watched him on the stage my hands were clenched in fists of rage.
No angel born in Hell could break that Satan's spell
And, as the flames climbed high into the night to light the sacrificial rite, I saw...
Satan laughing with delight the day the music died
He was singing, bye bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good ol' boys were drinking whiskey and rye, singing...
This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die


So, the question remains:

How long will America suffer and to what depths?

[Rick]

[Gin and Tonic Sky]

How ironic... straight from the former "Socialism Central"

Obama's Soviet Mistake
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/column ... mistake-0/
19.11.2012

By Xavier Lerma

Putin in 2009 outlined his strategy for economic success. Alas, poor Obama did the opposite but nevertheless was re-elected. Bye, bye Miss American Pie. The Communists have won in America with Obama but failed miserably in Russia with Zyuganov who only received 17% of the vote. Vladimir Putin was re-elected as President keeping the NWO order out of Russia while America continues to repeat the Soviet mistake.

After Obama was elected in his first term as president the then Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin gave a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January of 2009. Ignored by the West as usual, Putin gave insightful and helpful advice to help the world economy and saying the world should avoid the Soviet mistake.

Recently, Obama has been re-elected for a 2nd term by an illiterate society and he is ready to continue his lies of less taxes while he raises them. He gives speeches of peace and love in the world while he promotes wars as he did in Egypt, Libya and Syria. He plans his next war is with Iran as he fires or demotes his generals who get in the way.

Putin said regarding the military,

"...instead of solving the problem, militarization pushes it to a deeper level. It draws away from the economy immense financial and material resources, which could have been used much more efficiently elsewhere."

Well, any normal individual understands that as true but liberalism is a psychosis . O'bomber even keeps the war going along the Mexican border with projects like "fast and furious" and there is still no sign of ending it. He is a Communist without question promoting the Communist Manifesto without calling it so. How shrewd he is in America. His cult of personality mesmerizes those who cannot go beyond their ignorance. They will continue to follow him like those fools who still praise Lenin and Stalin in Russia. Obama's fools and Stalin's fools share the same drink of illusion.

Reading Putin's speech without knowing the author, one would think it was written by Reagan or another conservative in America. The speech promotes smaller government and less taxes. It comes as no surprise to those who know Putin as a conservative. Vladimir Putin went on to say:

"...we are reducing taxes on production, investing money in the economy. We are optimizing state expenses.

The second possible mistake would be excessive interference into the economic life of the country and the absolute faith into the all-mightiness of the state.

There are no grounds to suggest that by putting the responsibility over to the state, one can achieve better results.

Unreasonable expansion of the budget deficit, accumulation of the national debt - are as destructive as an adventurous stock market game.

During the time of the Soviet Union the role of the state in economy was made absolute, which eventually lead to the total non-competitiveness of the economy. That lesson cost us very dearly. I am sure no one would want history to repeat itself."


President Vladimir Putin could never have imagined anyone so ignorant or so willing to destroy their people like Obama much less seeing millions vote for someone like Obama. They read history in America don't they? Alas, the schools in the U.S. were conquered by the Communists long ago and history was revised thus paving the way for their Communist presidents. Obama has bailed out those businesses that voted for him and increased the debt to over 16 trillion with an ever increasing unemployment rate especially among blacks and other minorities. All the while promoting his agenda.

"We must seek support in the moral values that have ensured the progress of our civilization. Honesty and hard work, responsibility and faith in our strength are bound to bring us success."- Vladimir Putin

The red, white and blue still flies happily but only in Russia. Russia still has St George defeating the Dragon with the symbol of the cross on its' flag. The ACLU and other atheist groups in America would never allow the US flag with such religious symbols. Lawsuits a plenty against religious freedom and expression in the land of the free. Christianity in the U.S. is under attack as it was during the early period of the Soviet Union when religious symbols were against the law.

Let's give American voters the benefit of the doubt and say it was all voter fraud and not ignorance or stupidity in electing a man who does not even know what to do and refuses help from Russia when there was an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Instead we'll say it's true that the Communists usage of electronic voting was just a plan to manipulate the vote. Soros and his ownership of the company that counts the US votes in Spain helped put their puppet in power in the White House. According to the Huffington Post, residents in all 50 states have filed petitions to secede from the Unites States. We'll say that these Americans are hostages to the Communists in power. How long will their government reign tyranny upon them?

Russia lost its' civil war with the Reds and millions suffered torture and death for almost 75 years under the tyranny of the United Soviet Socialist Republic. Russians survived with a new and stronger faith in God and ever growing Christian Church. The question is how long will the once "Land of the Free" remain the United Socialist States of America? Their suffering has only begun. Bye bye Miss American Pie! You know the song you hippies. Sing it! Don't you remember? The 1971 hit song by American song writer Don McLean:


"And, as I watched him on the stage my hands were clenched in fists of rage.
No angel born in Hell could break that Satan's spell
And, as the flames climbed high into the night to light the sacrificial rite, I saw...
Satan laughing with delight the day the music died
He was singing, bye bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good ol' boys were drinking whiskey and rye, singing...
This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die


So, the question remains:

How long will America suffer and to what depths?

As a libertarian, I am no supporter of Obama of course . But come on- the author's casting Putin and the current Russian government as defenders of small government free markets, religious liberty, and peaceful foreign policy. Russia's free market is corporatism, corruption, and crony capitalism, its opposition to US foreign policy is not based on some moral embrace the non aggression principle and peaceful nonintervention but Russia's own self interest . Furthermore Putin through his stooge archbishop Kuril, is instituting a State Russian Orthodox religion that is increasingly persecuting orthodox Russians who dont buy into it and others (e.g Pussy Riot's two year jail sentence) . I am ROTFLMAO here.

I kind of doubt that the author writing out of concern in what is going on in America. Hes making fun of it, and trying to get conservative American readers, to believe his propaganda about Russia.

[slucero]

As a libertarian, I am no supporter of Obama of course . But come on- the author's casting Putin and the current Russian government as defenders of small government free markets, religious liberty, and peaceful foreign policy. Russia's free market is corporatism, corruption, and crony capitalism, its opposition to US foreign policy is not based on some moral embrace the non aggression principle and peaceful nonintervention but Russia's own self interest . Furthermore Putin through his stooge archbishop Kuril, is instituting a State Russian Orthodox religion that is increasingly persecuting orthodox Russians who dont buy into it and others (e.g Pussy Riot's two year jail sentence) . I am ROTFLMAO here.

I kind of doubt that the author writing out of concern in what is going on in America. Hes making fun of it, and trying to get conservative American readers, to believe his propaganda about Russia.

That's what I found ironic.. that the same virtues used to define America are being used to define Putin's Russia....

[The Sushi Hunter]

It's getting very suspicious.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-0 ... ush-agenda

[Memorex]

http://dailycaller.com/2013/01/18/obama ... ns-to-sec/

Ridiculous.

[Seven Wishes2]

In the past few weeks, I have seen a number of increasingly myopic posts suggesting President Obama staged the Sandy Hook tragedy and is a Hitler-esque dictator-in-chief. Not only is this offensive, it's unnerving. The internet has empowered gerrymandering extremists a voice to the point where truth becomes fiction and lies reality. Why bother with facts anymore?

During the Clinton administration, this type of discourse was limited to the predictable color-by-numbers petulance of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh and the inevitable invocation of the specter of Jimmy Carter. Now the proliferation of blogs and reactivist op-ed propaganda has helped foster a broken system. This dogmatically resolute neo-conservative faction has the full attention of the Republican party, even if in reality there has been a paradigm cultural shift in America the past ten years.

Mitt Romney, for example, attempted to portray himself as unambiguously populist, yet pandered to the far right in both the primaries and the general election. To that effect, the dwindling ultra-conservative movement - which was once characterized by political and social isolationism - still has the reins. Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal was spot on in characterizing Paul Ryan as Sisyphus in his speech at the RNC convention in Charlotte this week. Unless the GOP learns which battles to fight and which to avoid altogether, their hold on the House will be threatened in 2014.

[The Sushi Hunter]

Where did you read this about Sandy Hook and Obama? I've not heard that one before.

While you were at it, why did you purposely leave out the libs blaming Bush for 9-11? So far I've not seen any bumper stickers blaming Obama for Sandy Hook like I did see Bush being blamed for 9-11.

In the past few weeks, I have seen a number of increasingly myopic posts suggesting President Obama staged the Sandy Hook tragedy and is a Hitler-esque dictator-in-chief. Not only is this offensive, it's unnerving. The internet has empowered gerrymandering extremists a voice to the point where truth becomes fiction and lies reality. Why bother with facts anymore?

During the Clinton administration, this type of discourse was limited to the predictable color-by-numbers petulance of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh and the inevitable invocation of the specter of Jimmy Carter. Now the proliferation of blogs and reactivist op-ed propaganda has helped foster a broken system. This dogmatically resolute neo-conservative faction has the full attention of the Republican party, even if in reality there has been a paradigm cultural shift in America the past ten years.

Mitt Romney, for example, attempted to portray himself as unambiguously populist, yet pandered to the far right in both the primaries and the general election. To that effect, the dwindling ultra-conservative movement - which was once characterized by political and social isolationism - still has the reins. Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal was spot on in characterizing Paul Ryan as Sisyphus in his speech at the RNC convention in Charlotte this week. Unless the GOP learns which battles to fight and which to avoid altogether, their hold on the House will be threatened in 2014.

[Boomchild]

In the past few weeks, I have seen a number of increasingly myopic posts suggesting President Obama staged the Sandy Hook tragedy and is a Hitler-esque dictator-in-chief. Not only is this offensive, it's unnerving.

Offensive, unnerving? I guess that depends on who you support and what you believe is currently going on. That said I do not believe that B.O. staged Sandy Hook. But, he certainly used it to push his anti-gun agenda. I also feel that B.O. does show dictator like actions that could be compared to Hitler. I don't mean that in the genocide sense. But, in wanting to control the lives of a country's citizens.

[steveo777]

In the past few weeks, I have seen a number of increasingly myopic posts suggesting President Obama staged the Sandy Hook tragedy and is a Hitler-esque dictator-in-chief. Not only is this offensive, it's unnerving.

Offensive, unnerving? I guess that depends on who you support and what you believe is currently going on. That said I do not believe that B.O. staged Sandy Hook. But, he certainly used it to push his anti-gun agenda. I also feel that B.O. does show dictator like actions that could be compared to Hitler. I don't mean that in the genocide sense. But, in wanting to control the lives of a country's citizens.

But he knows where his bread is buttered and politically it comes largely from the lower eschelons of society.....the ones that want a hand out and don't mind spending the government into debt that our kids, grandkids and great grandkids will not be able to repay. He is their kind of president and he caters to them. An illegal immigrant has better medical and dental care than one who pays for his own insurance. It's free if they can't afford to pay. We spend billions just to make sure that there are people who can translate and require that important notices and documents are printed in Spanish. Yet, we don't do this for every other nationality, as they are expected to adapt. I do not hate these people but I hate how our government enables and tries to convince us that this is all acceptable and we citizens must pay for their ride. How come there is not more outrage? We have little by little been spoon fed these programs, resulting in desensitizing most average citizens. There is no impact on the average Joe, in his or her mind. Obama care, once in full swing, might wake a few people up.

[The Sushi Hunter]

In the past few weeks, I have seen a number of increasingly myopic posts suggesting President Obama staged the Sandy Hook tragedy and is a Hitler-esque dictator-in-chief. Not only is this offensive, it's unnerving.

Offensive, unnerving? I guess that depends on who you support and what you believe is currently going on. That said I do not believe that B.O. staged Sandy Hook. But, he certainly used it to push his anti-gun agenda. I also feel that B.O. does show dictator like actions that could be compared to Hitler. I don't mean that in the genocide sense. But, in wanting to control the lives of a country's citizens.

But he knows where his bread is buttered and politically it comes largely from the lower eschelons of society.....the ones that want a hand out and don't mind spending the government into debt that our kids, grandkids and great grandkids will not be able to repay. He is their kind of president and he caters to them. An illegal immigrant has better medical and dental care than one who pays for his own insurance. It's free if they can't afford to pay. We spend billions just to make sure that there are people who can translate and require that important notices and documents are printed in Spanish. Yet, we don't do this for every other nationality, as they are expected to adapt. I do not hate these people but I hate how our government enables and tries to convince us that this is all acceptable and we citizens must pay for their ride. How come there is not more outrage? We have little by little been spoon fed these programs, resulting in desensitizing most average citizens. There is no impact on the average Joe, in his or her mind. Obama care, once in full swing, might wake a few people up.

Obamacare is nothing but a money making scheme, a lot like some of the life insurance schemes that are out there. The Dems need to pay “x” amount of tax payer money to support their healthcare agenda for immigrants and non-motivated individuals in America. Not only are the Dems raising taxes to help fund this agenda, Obamacare creates this new “tax” to help foot the bill. So basically if you don’t get health insurance, you pay a penalty, that penalty goes towards supporting the immigrants and non-motivated individuals health care expenses.

Mark my words! This is going to end up just like local and federal tax where each person/household will have to pay so much in health care per year. For example, say a person pays only $600 per year for their health care, Obamacare will say, you should be paying $1,000 per year for health care according to a chart much like the federal tax chart we already look at when doing our taxes now, so you will then owe the difference of $400 to be paid along with your federal and state taxes. Now that the government is involved with it, they can set the payment standards to anything they wish. So it won’t matter if you get cheaper insurance through whatever company, you will need to pay the difference of what you saved to the government. And the government can raise the standards to whatever they wish, how often they wish.

Let’s just see if any of this materializes.

[Seven Wishes2]

Heath care has been a money-making ponzi scheme since its inception.

Funny how a Republican idea, that was passed as an alternative to a single-payor option plan with the insistence of the GOP, is suddenly part of some nefarious Democratic plan to take over the world and strip every American of his or her God-given rights. Funny.

[slucero]

Raising the debt ceiling into infinity is almost as ridiculous as proposing that perpetual motion is possible. Apparently one is not possible and the other will have dire consequences. Proof that people simply don't care about the people who come after them, in fact, some of them are of the ilk of "who gives a shit what happens after I die". There are unborn people who will still have to clean up this mess. Not really fair to them, is it?

As long as the Fed continues propping up the economy by buying bad assets and bonds, there is no need to worry about the debt ceiling... essentially the "Fed will cover the spread"... But the simple fact is, the FED can NOT just 'exit' at all any more than a comatose life support patient can just be unplugged...there's no way out and they know it.

The Fed's job is not to stop the collapse, but to protect, preserve and prolong the veracity of the banking system as long as possible. It's why the Trillions in Fed relief (bailouts) went to the banks and not the debt ridden consumers who are the real engine of the economy.

The Fed is trapped, forced to buy US debt (bonds) and toxic assets in ever larger amounts, of which the byproduct is the flooding of the U.S. economy with currency and a stock market DOW number that goes parabolic. This lures back investors and causes them to dump their US dollars for stocks as a way of retaining value. Except those investors aren't chasing a growing economy, they are just protecting their money by chasing the upside of a rising DOW number.


Eventually the economy simply "chokes" on the excess currency in the system, and we have a currency crisis.

[The Sushi Hunter]

Heath care has been a money-making ponzi scheme since its inception.

Funny how a Republican idea, that was passed as an alternative to a single-payor option plan with the insistence of the GOP, is suddenly part of some nefarious Democratic plan to take over the world and strip every American of his or her God-given rights. Funny.

It's not called Obamacare for nothing. It's Obama's dream baby and all the hard stroking dems are backing it.

[Seven Wishes2]

No, it's not. His plan called for a single-payor alternative and more Medicare oversight. This was, and always has been, Newt's brainchild.

[Boomchild]

Raising the debt ceiling into infinity is almost as ridiculous as proposing that perpetual motion is possible. Apparently one is not possible and the other will have dire consequences. Proof that people simply don't care about the people who come after them, in fact, some of them are of the ilk of "who gives a shit what happens after I die". There are unborn people who will still have to clean up this mess. Not really fair to them, is it?

As long as the Fed continues propping up the economy by buying bad assets and bonds, there is no need to worry about the debt ceiling... essentially the "Fed will cover the spread"... But the simple fact is, the FED can NOT just 'exit' at all any more than a comatose life support patient can just be unplugged...there's no way out and they know it.

The Fed's job is not to stop the collapse, but to protect, preserve and prolong the veracity of the banking system as long as possible. It's why the Trillions in Fed relief (bailouts) went to the banks and not the debt ridden consumers who are the real engine of the economy.

The Fed is trapped, forced to buy US debt (bonds) and toxic assets in ever larger amounts, of which the byproduct is the flooding of the U.S. economy with currency and a stock market DOW number that goes parabolic. This lures back investors and causes them to dump their US dollars for stocks as a way of retaining value. Except those investors aren't chasing a growing economy, they are just protecting their money by chasing the upside of a rising DOW number.



Eventually the economy simply "chokes" on the excess currency in the system, and we have a currency crisis.

I always looked at it as the Fed just treading water to put off as long as possible the collapse of the U.S. dollar and the economy with it. The scary fact is that this will not only impact the U.S. but the entire world economy.

[slucero]

Raising the debt ceiling into infinity is almost as ridiculous as proposing that perpetual motion is possible. Apparently one is not possible and the other will have dire consequences. Proof that people simply don't care about the people who come after them, in fact, some of them are of the ilk of "who gives a shit what happens after I die". There are unborn people who will still have to clean up this mess. Not really fair to them, is it?

As long as the Fed continues propping up the economy by buying bad assets and bonds, there is no need to worry about the debt ceiling... essentially the "Fed will cover the spread"... But the simple fact is, the FED can NOT just 'exit' at all any more than a comatose life support patient can just be unplugged...there's no way out and they know it.

The Fed's job is not to stop the collapse, but to protect, preserve and prolong the veracity of the banking system as long as possible. It's why the Trillions in Fed relief (bailouts) went to the banks and not the debt ridden consumers who are the real engine of the economy.

The Fed is trapped, forced to buy US debt (bonds) and toxic assets in ever larger amounts, of which the byproduct is the flooding of the U.S. economy with currency and a stock market DOW number that goes parabolic. This lures back investors and causes them to dump their US dollars for stocks as a way of retaining value. Except those investors aren't chasing a growing economy, they are just protecting their money by chasing the upside of a rising DOW number.



Eventually the economy simply "chokes" on the excess currency in the system, and we have a currency crisis.

I always looked at it as the Fed just treading water to put off as long as possible the collapse of the U.S. dollar and the economy with it. The scary fact is that this will not only impact the U.S. but the entire world economy.

Not really...

What will happen is other countries will simply stop using the USD as their reserve currency.. and switch to other, stronger currencies and/or commodities.. this is already being done by the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India,China)... the likely conclusion will be a move to a "basket" of currencies and/or commodities which would actually be better on a global basis..

What it WILL mean for the US is a major loss of purchasing power... and a massive change in our standard of living.

[Boomchild]

Not really...

What will happen is other countries will simply stop using the USD as their reserve currency.. and switch to other, stronger currencies and/or commodities.. this is already being done by the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India,China)... the likely conclusion will be a move to a "basket" of currencies and/or commodities which would actually be better on a global basis..

What it WILL mean for the US is a major loss of purchasing power... and a massive change in our standard of living.

This remains to be seen. We shall see.

[slucero]

Not really...

What will happen is other countries will simply stop using the USD as their reserve currency.. and switch to other, stronger currencies and/or commodities.. this is already being done by the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India,China)... the likely conclusion will be a move to a "basket" of currencies and/or commodities which would actually be better on a global basis..

What it WILL mean for the US is a major loss of purchasing power... and a massive change in our standard of living.

This remains to be seen. We shall see.

Both are already happening... there is no "remains to be seen"...


BRICS agree to local currency credits to ease dollar dependency
http://rt.com/business/news/brics-curre ... -deal-755/


The loss of purchasing power is already showing up in prices in the US... go to Walmart.. prices are rising... Walmarts own CEO admitted that in 2011
http://www.moneynews.com/Economy/Wal-Ma ... /id/391315



Today's GDP number vs. the run up in the DOW further illustrates just how disconnected the US economy is from the stock market...

GDP for Q3 was 3.1, for Q4 its -0.1
DOW is at 13,950, the last time it was this high was Oct. 31st 2007, yet trading volume is HALF of what it was in 2007.

The difference?

Fed Balance Sheet
2007 - $800 billion
2013 - $2.8 trillion
2015 - $6 trillion

Trillions of Fed dollars in the banks, which the banks recycle through their stock trading desks into the stock market... it's the greatest money laundering scheme in history.

[Boomchild]

Both are already happening... there is no "remains to be seen"...

I meant on how it will effect the rest of the world economy.

[slucero]

Both are already happening... there is no "remains to be seen"...

I meant on how it will effect the rest of the world economy.

The Fed has been pushing Trillions of US dollars to overseas central banks for the last 5 years, diluting (by increasing) the pool of USD worldwide. This helps maintain the US purchasing power... and it's causing massive inflation in the underdeveloped countries...