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jv103 on 12 February 2009

How bad do you think it will get? The current bill basically reduces a lot of direct spending. I also heard that the U.S. lost 600,000 jobs last week. Almost as many as all of January. It's pretty depressing being that I live in California and without aid, several of my friends, teachers, will lose their jobs- increasing class sizes and probably having severe lasting effects decades from now (worsening California's already horrible public school system-blame prop 9 for getting the ball rolling).

What do you all think? Projections are fun...everyone's doing them? Do we reach 15% unemployment by the end of the year?

Unfortunately Banks own the world.

Banks worst things ever?



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akuma587 on 12 February 2009

15%? Nah, not that high. I don't think we will break 12%, and that is if things remain as bad as they are.



We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.  The only thing that really worried me was the ether.  There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke

It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...."  Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson

halogamer1989 on 13 February 2009

Banks are not the worst thing ever. The beginning has not even started as the porkulus bill will only put a few stones in a shell sized pothole.



akuma587 on 13 February 2009

Halogamer sounds like a broken record. He apparently only supports the government when there is an (R) next to the person in office. That's how REAL men love America, with conditions based on who is in power.



We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.  The only thing that really worried me was the ether.  There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke

It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...."  Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson

halogamer1989 on 13 February 2009
akuma587 said:
Halogamer sounds like a broken record. He apparently only supports the government when there is an (R) next to the person in office. That's how REAL men love America, with conditions based on who is in power.

Damn you sir!  I protest these accusations based on subtle inherent truths!  No, the real reason is this bill will inflate the dollar and banks will see more failures as hedge funds are just an impractical biz now.  Retail sales will drop leading to many big name Chapter 11s and consolidation.  This is natural however (as reconsolidation, mergers, and the like will proceed) and ppl don't need to listen to useless babble of the "capitalist sky is falling buy gold now and give it to the almighty Treasury Dept with Guilty Geithner at the helm."

 



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akuma587 on 13 February 2009

The dollar is deflating. Economists are more worried about this than the potential effect any stimulus will have on inflation. It would probably be a GOOD thing if the dollar started inflating again because it would mean that aggregate demand was picking up.

And if you were so worried about inflation, why weren't you riding Bush's ass for the last eight years for running deficits like a kid with a stolen credit card? That caused far more inflation than anything Obama has done or will do.

I do agree that there is a lot of bad blood in the banking system and some of them could probably go. But the cause of this recession has been abnormally targeted at banks, so going through with the TARP was a great idea (although certainly could have been better executed) on Bush's part. I stand by his decision. The banking sector is one thing you don't just let go by the wayside. That is how you cause a depression.

And once the economy starts to recover you will see bank socks soar. Ironically, we will probably end up making money off the TARP (offset to some degree by the interest on the money we had to borrow).



We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.  The only thing that really worried me was the ether.  There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke

It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...."  Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson

Moongoddess256 on 13 February 2009

I predicted a long time ago that the worst of the layoffs would be in january, meaning that february's increase in unemployment will be the worst. I'm waiting to see if I'm correct.



[2:08:58 am] Moongoddess256: being asian makes you naturally good at ddr
[2:09:22 am] gnizmo: its a weird genetic thing
[2:09:30 am] gnizmo: goes back to hunting giant crabs in feudal Japan

halogamer1989 on 13 February 2009
akuma587 said:
The dollar is deflating. Economists are more worried about this than the potential effect any stimulus will have on inflation. It would probably be a GOOD thing if the dollar started inflating again because it would mean that aggregate demand was picking up.

And if you were so worried about inflation, why weren't you riding Bush's ass for the last eight years for running deficits like a kid with a stolen credit card? That caused far more inflation than anything Obama has done or will do.

I do agree that there is a lot of bad blood in the banking system and some of them could probably go. But the cause of this recession has been abnormally targeted at banks, so going through with the TARP was a great idea (although certainly could have been better executed) on Bush's part. I stand by his decision. The banking sector is one thing you don't just let go by the wayside. That is how you cause a depression.

And once the economy starts to recover you will see bank socks soar. Ironically, we will probably end up making money off the TARP (offset to some degree by the interest on the money we had to borrow).

I disagree with former President Bush's increases in federal gov't.  Some was essential however b/c of 9/11 and incoherent intel structure.  I agreed with him on defense and moral values, not increases in spending.  The less gov't, the better.

 



jv103 on 13 February 2009

I doubt Homeland Security is necessary. We need another defense specialized branch, that wasn't necessary during the cold war?

Anyways I stand by my reasoning that banks are one of the worst things to happen. Especially the Oligopoly that we have. The government had no choice to bail out the banks. In fact, I think several of them probably threatened collapse and liquidation just to get government money because they were hurting.



akuma587 on 13 February 2009

I don't have a problem with Bush investing in national security, although he went completely overboard in terms of how he defined the scope of executive authority. Historians have already said that he has interpreted how broad the executive powers go more broadly than any President in history. It really backfired on him eventually.



We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.  The only thing that really worried me was the ether.  There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke

It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...."  Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson