the thing about the article that really caught my eye was the level of income the average household receives from the government:
one of my pet peeves are the totally misleading deficit charts that obumble supporters continually post fraudulently showing that obumble has increased the deficit much less than previous presidents. they usually show percentage increases in the debt under each president. they don't bother to mention that the base obumble started with is much much higher but the incredibly misleading thing is most show about 2 years of obumble debt compared to 8 years of previous presidents.
the above chart shows the increase in wealth redistribution under obumble in no uncertain terms. once the tap is turned on for recipients of government largess it is incredibly difficult to turn off.
is the economic situation going to get worse before it gets better?
who the fuck knows. anyone pretending to know is full of shit.
maybe being white isn't such a bad thing after all:
have i ever mentioned i love you sons of bitches?
51 comments:
The recent spike must be because of the increase in unemployment (and the benefits paid to the unemployed). The upward trend since 1980 is interesting - I would guess it reflects the ageing of the population. Looking forward to social security in Canada?
GB beat me to it, but it isn't appropriate to blame Obama for the increase in spending that results from laws long on the books that skyrocket when large numbers of people are unemployed and poor. Obama didn't create Medicaid or FUTA, nor did he destroy the economy and generate all of the new demand for those "entitlements".
On the other hand, he did push to cut SS taxes and extend unemployment benefits past the previous already generous limits. And his attempt to get medical spending under control by handing the system over to the insurance companies and mandating they get an extra 60M customers was totally ham-handed, and might be overturned by our supreme ct anyway.
We're definitely in a depression by any reasonable measure. GDP may not be shrinking, but when 10% of GDP it is being propped up by government deficit spending, it's hard to gloat over "slowly growing" at 2% a year.
gb - debating the reason behind numbers is a mug's game. the numbers are the numbers.
thims - in my books obumble is neither fish nor fowl. he paints himself as a populist yet he has presided over the largest transfer of wealth in history. whilst he waxes poetic about his fiscal policies his monetary policies are laissez-faire at best.
A recession occurs when your neighbor is out of work; a depression occurs when you're out of work. Obama is an election-stealing Republican in Democratic clothing. Romney is the same-- without the primary thefts. Yes, it is Twiddledee and Twiddledum.
bob - yes, i think the world would be a better place had hillary won the nomination. it's like dylan's maggie's farm; she's the brains behind pa.
I think you're basically correct in your assessment of our president. If Bush/Cheney was the fox guarding the hen house, Obama/Whasisname is like letting one of the hens do the job.
Womney would be worse, but that's damnation by faint praise.
One issue where we may disagree is this notion of wealth transfer you keep talking about. Corporate welfare numbers are orders of magnitude bigger.
SS and Medicare are in currently the black (in the sense that we take in more in payroll tax than those programs cost) and the regressive tax used to fund them is plundered to pay the rest of our spending, which is largely military and interest on our debt. Debt money is simply bullshit, providing a lucky elite with the largess of empire based on their being so wonderfully trustworthy (sic), and the boondoggle big-budget weapons projects, no-bid contracts, and private armies funded with public monies are the real wealth transfer.
Perhaps that's what you meant, but you're complaining about personal incomes in this blog post when that is a rounding error compared to the real crime.
thims - i'm not complaining about anything, merely pointing out a few facts. the current monetary policy and bernanke's quantitative easing are basically giving big business and bankers free money whilst giving middle class savers dick all on their money.
one of biggest disasters in your history in my opinion is making people manage their own retirement accounts. even your professional money managers are closer to being commissioned salesmen than astute investors looking after peoples best interests. if i were king the first thing i'd do is eliminate trailer fees.
The bottom line is that you're all fucking idiots, go wash the BMW.
the current monetary policy and bernanke's quantitative easing are basically giving big business and bankers free money whilst giving middle class savers dick all on their money
OK, maybe we are on the same page then.
My solution is to save seeds, land, hardware, tools, lead, and anything else with a long shelf life. Money is a suckers game, unless it is also a precious metal.
thims - did some douchebag just call us fucking idiots?
i've loved gold for as long as i can remember.
I'm on thimscool's page on saving things.
I do think this is a depression. Its just dressed up prettier... at a huge cost that is crippling us with debt. A system that was meant to be a temporary hand up not a life style that has run amok.
The reason that we don't see soup lines anymore is because there was no welfare, food stamps, or state sponsored health care.
Churches mostly were the ones handing out food to the really foodless people of that time. If you were poor, you might follow the crops and hope to be one of the lucky saps that could drop dead in a field picking peaches for pennies... with all the half rotten peaches you could eat.
All I can say is we in the 1% are much better off now than we were during ANY previous administration.
".....A system that was meant to be a temporary hand up not a life style that has run amok....."
From Social Safety Net to Social Lawn-Chair, eh? If these are the 'bread and circuses' the pedestrians need to acquiesce to our raping of them, then so be it - we get richer and buy our off-shore islands.
billy pilgrim said,
".....gb - debating the reason behind numbers is a mug's game. the numbers are the numbers....."
If by 'mug' you mean the innumerate masses you are correct - no amount of debating will engender understanding. For those of us who understand that 'numbers are numbers' there is no debate - only knowing glances and impish smiles.
aquarians - yes, us blue eyed sheikhs are doing very well thank you very much. now if someone could tell those fools at the united nations to leave us alone the world would continue unfolding as it should.
whom do you love?
silly - i hate to think what's going to happen with your debt when interest rates start to increase. in fact the whole world will be in for a rough ride when rates go up. spain and italy are good examples of rising interest rates when no one wants to buy their debt.
i don't think you're in a depression because you've had growth in your economy for the last year or so. take a look at greece and you'll see a depression with falling industrial output.
The UN has been 'bery, bery good to me'
Don't you be dissing my meal ticket.
Interest rates will NOT increase for a bery, bery long time.
I know this.
We in the 1% need them to stay low. And what we want/need, we get.
The Triad of Tribulation
I see leslie as one of those heavily-tattooed part-time bartenders at the Lit Lounge, NYC – you know the kinds who win beauty contests sponsored by low-end beers? Not actually dirty, but certainly lacking in moral hygiene.
I see BBC as one who partakes of these beers – and votes accordingly.
Thimscool, conversely, is different. I see him enjoying nowt but quality - reflecting his congenital air of aristocratic nonchalance. He tipples in exactly the same manner one would enjoy a fine usquebaugh, a Frank Zappa album or a visit from a friendly yet anxious ghost.
He drinks ‘Tactical Nuclear Penguin’ - from BrewDog - I reckon.
we in the 1% get what we want whether interest rates are high or low. we just redeploy our capital to more friendly jurisdictions who will gladly compensate us for any added interest expense.
bbc buys the cheapest beer he can find and thims checks all the expiry dates then buys whatever has the furthest expiry date. he then drinks the the stuff he bought 2 years ago that is now approaching the expiry date and congratulates himself on his excellent inventory management.
as for leslie, i'm still trying to figure out if she really has a 3 legged dog named obie.
Quite right. There's no point in getting exercised about how you have a fleet of yachts and Pilgrim has a BMW. I am happy to put my canoe on the jeep and spend a day consuming food finer than you'll ever taste while witnessing vistas that you would be incapable of appreciating.
It's all transient anyway, and I'm likely to outlive you old farts, so for you it's even more transient.
Quite right. There's no point in getting exercised about how you have a fleet of yachts and Pilgrim has a BMW. I am happy to put my canoe on the jeep and spend a day consuming food finer than you'll ever taste while witnessing vistas that you would be incapable of appreciating.
It's all transient anyway, and I'm likely to outlive you old farts, so for you it's even more transient.
But no, Pilgrim... one reason I'm not wealthy, in spite of a decent income, is that I like my consumables fine, fresh, and preferably local.
i don't have a bmw!
the lovely mrs myshkin has offered me a key to the bmw and given me carte blanche to drive it but not once have i driven it!
i'd like a 350z or 370z but i'm required to drive my parents around so i need a back seat. woe is me.
Why not lend the rents one of your limousines and drivers?
thimscool?
Need any help?
That meany billy pilgrim is picking on everyone today.
i put new road slicks on the iron maiden today.
if the weather is good tomorrow i'll head to the cemetery and see if it rolls further with the new tires. i start at the high point of the cemetery and coast down the winding roads. first i try not to use the breaks then when i reach the flat area i see how far i can coast.
it's amazing the difference a few pounds air pressure can make in this little exercise.
Sure ALTF. Help me out here.
Well at least you had a good song to lift up my spirits after those depressing financial numbers. I read somewhere today that 43 percent of US households receive some sort of government assistance. Scary. Enjoy the weekend you son of a bitch.
Why is it so hard to believe? I also have a 4-legged one named Jasper. Before Jasper I adopted Charlotte, a 12-year old blind dog who was rescued from Hurricane Katrina and never claimed and sat in a shelter for 2 years because no one would give her a home, and before that I had Django who was diabetic and needed 2 insulin injections daily.
Clearly I have caretaker issues.
Here's a tale that Canada probably never heard...
There was a school in New Orleans where people fleeing the storm were told they could safely leave their pets to be attended to on a higher floor. When the city flooded, the volunteers took off and days later a stressed out cop went in and used most of the animals for target practice, even the parrots. Charlotte (blind) had escaped her cage and was one of only a handful of dogs found alive on a different floor. She was paraded around The Today Show while the story was still attention-grabbing, and then she languished, unwanted, in the shelter.
I like animals. It's people I detest.
".....Clearly I have caretaker issues.....?
Or perhaps a Zoophilic predilection for health-challenged Canidae?
".....a stressed out cop went in and used most of the animals for target practice....."
What?
When there was city full of perfectly good African Americans?
What a cunt!
What's the fancy name for folks who get sexually aroused by the sight of an L.L. Bean shopping bag? Have you ever heard of this? Deviant or phenom?
Video upon request.
Beaners?
No. That's what Californians call Mexicans. Try again.
I know there are countless ways to compare deficits. How about what was the deficit when Obumble took office vs what is it now?
I use to work all over OKC, going to many convenience stores, nearly all of them. There were a few independently owned stores who's owners were Black, but most of them were owned by Asian people.
Looking at the chart it's like which came first the chicken or the egg?
Are Asians richer because they are more likely to open a run a business? Or are black less likely to open and run a business because they don't have as much money to start with?
I don't know the answer.
".....Are Asians richer because they are more likely to open a(nd) run a business?...."
The racist Caucasoids won'r hire us so we are forced to open a(nd) run a business.
And we thank that fucking white-assed god of yours for it!
Everyday!
Dearest leslie,
Beaners with sweaters?
Or is that what Californians call Canadians?
"Mexicans with sweaters" are what most Americans all Canadians.
Now....back to the matter at hand....? Or was it "hands"?
Fuck off, Leslie.
mf shife - i'm having an excellent weekend!
tex - the wealth gap may have something to do with extremes. the white people have some extremely rich specimens bringing up the average. i guess the black people need more basketball players to bring up their average.
leslie - which leg is obie missing?
aquarians - i think asians run little stores to launder all the money they make selling opium to white people.
Central and South Asians work the production end.
South East Asians arrange for the value-added chemistry and subsequent gross distribution.
The retail end is controlled by fat, white bikers and Law Enforcement folks on the take.
our fat white bikers have been losing a lot of market share lately.
To whom?
Never mind.
The upstanding Law Enforcement professionals - especially the RCMP - in British Columbia, right?
I won't be subjecting my wee hound to any lame jokes from you lead hoarders and turtle-boinking titlickers.
No, YOU fuck off before I tell these folks about the app created to block your ass.
It was/is a Java Applet that can be used to block anyone's scrawny Masshole arse.
And if you tell them I won't have to fuck off, no will I?
make that "now will I?"
I love teaching you new words, but "Masshole arse" is a tad redundant. Innit?
Obama was George W. Bush's third term. Romney will likely be his fourth. It's all bullshit, folks. They're selected, not elected.
".....but "Masshole arse" is a tad redundant. Innit?...."
Actually, it's a tautology. Is it not?
It is. As is specifying that something redundant is a tautology.
Not necessarily.
But fair enough.
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