Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Record Debt

Bush surprised us all with a $490b deficit for 2008, well above his projections. He tries to downplay it by stating that it is "only" 3.3% of GDP.

However, overall debt levels paint a more stark picture:

National Debt/GDP
1980: 32.59% (909.0/2789.5)
1992: 63.14% (4001.8/6337.7)
2000: 57.02% (5628.7/9871.2)
2008: 74.46% (10,573.5/14,201)*


*Tables B-1 and B-78 of the President's Economic Report for 2008, the June 2008 report of the President's Council of Economic Advisors.

Notice how the Reagan/Bush years turned a 33% debt into a 63% debt? It ticked down slightly under Clinton, but skyrocketed to where our debt is 3/4 of our output.

These figures don't include entitlements, which are going to bust our budgets very soon. Instead of helping us prepare for the Baby Boomer retirements, Bush has sold us down the river for a phony war and enrichment of the already rich.

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Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Misery Index

In the 1970s, economists introduced "The Misery Index". It was a way to measure how Stagflation was putting the squeeze on American families. Since we appear in the mood for 1970s retro chic, let's reintroduce the Misery Index:

2(Unemployment rate) + Inflation Rate = Current Misery levels

Right now we are at 5.5% unemployment and the CPI is 7.9%.

2(5.5) + 7.9 = 18.9% Misery

This is our benchmark, let's see where it goes from there.

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Saturday, July 19, 2008

Mahnahmahnah!

Doo doo da doo doo

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Turn about is fair play




Maybe they could have included Cindy's "Everyman" moment about buying a private jet, because it's the only way to get around Arizona.

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Sunday, July 13, 2008

10 Questions for Tim Gunn

Intelligent conversation on fashion.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

A reader writes in:

A reader, Ston, had this to say about John McCain:

"One thing you don't hear from McCain is the fact that he has a 19-20 year old son who has done an Iraq tour as a Marine, and another son at Annapolis who is almost certain to be deployed to the region. That's a bit of class that Obama would do well to emulate.""

I have a different take on McCain’s failure to mention his family. Think back over the years that McCain has been a public figure, have you ever seen him once look at his wife with anything bordering on affection? Have you seen them ever walking hand in hand, or laughing with each other? Or do you see him hurriedly walking, mumbling to himself, trying to keep up with his young staffers while Cindy is relegated to walking serenely several steps behind as if it were China of the 1800's and she was supposed to walk 4 paces back? The reason you never hear about John McCain’s family is because in his mind, there is himself, his ambitions and not much left over. During his Senate Tenure he spends the week in Washington, and when he does fly back to AZ on certain weekends, there are usually fundraisers and events to attend leaving little to no time with the family. Meanwhile Cindy and the kids live in AZ full time. What family man would continue to live like that for decades? Not only missing the maturing of his children but also the company of the woman he supposedly loves?

My father, a diehard Republican, even more conservative than myself says he will have a difficult time bringing himself to vote for McCain because "I don't like the way he treats Cindy" This has nothing to do with the story about the name he supposedly called her. My father is shocked, not only by what I mentioned in this letter, but more importantly, that a husband could be so oblivious to his wife that he would not notice the fact that she had been in pain to the extent that she had developed a fairly long term addiction to drugs. He said that the fact that her drug addiction had to be pointed out to McCain by another family member shows somebody too self absorbed to be either a good husband or president, he said that by themselves, he could ignore the accusations of dumping the first wife because she had lost her looks and cheating on her with Cindy, not appearing to now care for Cindy, Calling Cindy a horrible name in front of reporters, Not noticing her Drug dependency, but when taken together they paint the picture=2 0of a frighteningly unaware self absorbed man who only cares for things or people in how they will aid his ambitions. My father is a lifetime republican and in his 70's right in McCain's demo. He said he doesn't think he can bring himself to vote Obama because he is too liberal, but thinks he may just sit this one out for the first time ever.

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Thursday, July 10, 2008

When?

Bring them home, NOW!

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Bush Surveys Damage He Has Wrought

I heard he's so upset that he pretended to give up golf!


Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

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Wednesday, July 02, 2008

WP Smears Obama

Read this article and tell me what exactly Obama did wrong? They are implying corruption because he got a lower mortgage rate than "the average borrower", saving a whopping $300/month on a $1 million home.

The article even states that he had retired his student debts and gotten enough royalties from his book sales to buy the home with cash.

To me, this smells like a smear campaign by the WP. I got a lower mortgage rate than "the average borrower". Does that make me corrupt, or does my credit score not count for anything?

Post Yellow Journalism

Is this just an attempt to equate McCain's property tax evasion with Obama getting a good deal on a mortgage?

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