patrick.net

tatupu70 says

We're talking about wealth disparity. Not monopoly power or market share. Try
again.

Wealth disparity is the result of market power if you blame market for creating disparity. If you want to ascribe wealth and power disparity to political power, then you and I are in agreement.

tatupu70 says

Nope--it's true. It's 50% even in peacetime. In war time, it's much
higher.

Like I said, you are several years behind the curve. Social Security spending alone now is larger than military spending, so the latter can not possibly be 50% of government spending. You may be confusing budget vs. "discretinal" budget. In any case, the frequent bailouts are not even in the budget, but dawfs most items in the budget when it happens.

tatupu70 says

Reality
says

Once a century? How many centuries were there between 1987's to 1998? to
2000? to 2008? Do you socialists have amnesia or were you born yesterday? The
continued existence of the FED is due to the frequent need for bailouts.

Centuries generally refer to 100 year periods. ie, the 1800s, the 1900s, the
2000s, etc. I'm aware of the S&L crisis in the late 1980s and the recent
bailout. Are there others I'm missing?

Yes, you are having amnesia. Before the S&L crisis of the 1980's, there was the FannieMae bailout of the early 1970's along with Nixon default on the dollar in 1971 , perpetuation of the post-WWII military industrial complex in the 1950's in order to let the munition makers service debts taken on during the war, massive bank bailout in the 1930's with FDR default on the dollar, FED bailout of Florida land speculation bubble burst in the mid-1920's.

After the S&L crisis of the 1980's, the first massive bailout was the early 1990's Mexican debt default and Argetine default (FED and the US government using Mexico and Argentine as device for funneling taxpayer money to major US banks that have lent too much money to those countries); then Russian default of in 1997, same scam; then 1998 "Asian contagion," same scam; then NASDAQ bubble and burst of 2000, the bailout of which led to the housing boom and bust of 2003-present.

As you can see, those frequent crises started gathering pace about a decade after the founding of the FED, and the pace is accelearating. The once a century thing that you refer to is the bust of central banking cycle itself.

People who like to jabber about states rights and secession, don't get that the rest of us picture them as confederates wanting a return to outright slavery.

tatupu70 says

The problem isn't inflation, it's the trend toward income/wealth inequality where the top 1% keep taking more and more.

A good part of the rich are the fraction of boomers who in fact saved for retirements and benefited from the asset inflation since 1980 - and happened to make the right decisions.

A good part of the poor are the millennials that has to pay inflated prices to get the basics of life: education and housing, with desperately un-inflated, limp, wages.

Heraclitusstudent says

good part of the rich are the fraction of boomers who in fact saved for retirements and benefited from the asset inflation since 1980 - and happened to make the right decisions.

A good part of the poor are the millennials that has to pay inflated prices to get the basics of life: education and housing, with desperately un-inflated, limp, wages.

Like I said--the rich are now taking all of the income/wealth and leaving none for the other 99%. During the 50s, 60s, 70s it wasn't as bad as it is now so the boomers are in better shape.

Heraclitusstudent says

and happened to make the right decisions.

LOL...pat yourself on the back...because you'll be dead in 30 years or worse, you'll lose your mental capacities and Obamacare will drain those moneybags dry and hand it out as high wages to newly minted immigrant-citizens who push your wheelchair around the Alzheimer's Ranch.

egads101 says

boomers who just worked and saved are not in the 1%.

Yep. The way I look at it, yes, I would rather have that money in the bank than be broke in retirement, but at the same time, that money really isn't going to buy you that much of a different lifestyle.

You'll still be spending most of your time in your home or apartment. You will still have the same non-trophy spouse. You will not be travelling or partying all the time, if at all. You're basically on a high feed maintenance diet fueled by your savings until they give out.

Really, some days it seems to me that in the battle of the Ants and the Grasshoppers the Grasshoppers won! Take a person who burned the candle at both ends from age 20 to 50. Had lots of unprotected sex. Didn't save a dime. Partied, drank and did light drugs. Now they're alone and broke. But guess what...either they'll die with a smile on their face. Or Obama will fund them into a medical care center where they can detox and then get out and get subsidy until the die.

Meanwhile the Ant is busy trying to protect his castle from Government and voracious Millennials who keep inventing "new technology" that makes all his investments obsolete!!

"And be very afraid." says the guy named APOCALYPSEFUCK. :p

Every sex-offender database, every prison inmate registry, and every local police station arrest book should have a field for realtor license no.

It's just common sense.

I sense a lot of hate for Realtors on this website. It's subtle, like an undertone...but it's there. :p

I'm having a hard time understanding how a realtor was not in prison.

This is a black eye for local law enforcement.

APOCALYPSEFUCK is Comptroller says

Yes, think about that the next time you are in a room alone with a REALTOR.

Yes be careful.... they are everywhere ....it happened in my town as well.

Achilli case live blog: Los Gatos murder-for-hire trial (2011)

On the fifth floor of Santa Clara County's Hall of Justice in San Jose, one of the most sensational local murder cases in recent memory is under way. It has it all: love, jealousy and a broad daylight shooting of a popular restaurateur. Mark Achilli was shot eight times in front of his Los Gatos condo in March 2008 and Paul Garcia (realtor), who bought Mountain Charley's and the 180 Restaurant & Lounge from Achilli, is accused of ordering his death and paying for it. Stay with me as I provide live details from the courtroom.

http://www.mercurynews.com/achilli-murder-case/ci_16258499

Vicente says

People who like to jabber about states rights and secession, don't get that the rest of us picture them as confederates wanting a return to outright slavery.

right.. equally returning to the horse and buggy..

Only traitors and slavers would write something like this...

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation." - Declaration of Independence

thomaswong.1986 says

right.. equally returning to the horse and buggy..

Right. I grew up with plenty of people consider themselves well-schooled on the Founders, and the Revolutionary War, and the War of Northern Agression. They all kinda look like this guy though:

Vicente says

They all kinda look like this guy though:

ALL OF THEM ? wishful thinking...all propaganda to twist the facts...

thomaswong.1986 says

ALL OF THEM ? wishful thinking...all propaganda to twist the facts...

Sometimes they dress better, sometimes they dress the ideology up in Glibertopianism or Randism. But they're still redneck racists inside. I swam in that pool over 30 years of my life. Klan marched down my street one night in the 70's trying to scare away the black family that moved in. I asked my Dad about calling the police and he said "what's the point, some of the police are under those sheets." Racists are still there though they are far more subtle about it these days.

Vicente says

Racists in the South are still there though they are far more subtle about it these days.

so your going to label EVERYONE of THEM who disagrees as some kind of white racists.. list like the Tea Party who infact also have Blacks, Latinos, and Asians.. Right !!!

just paid them all with one brush stroke ... no not this time !

thomaswong.1986 says

like the Tea Party who infact also have Blacks

Where's Colored Waldo.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/find-the-minority-at-the-tea-party-protest

John Bailo says

Meanwhile the Ant is busy trying to protect his castle from Government and voracious Millennials who keep inventing "new technology" that makes all his investments obsolete!!

more like it was the Ant (Boomers) who has been creating the new technology for the past 40 years which has provided solid investments for their retirement.. the Millennial are more on inventing new "Toys" over hyped and useless. I certainly agree on the Grosshoppers outcome.

Reality says

power is monetized so that everyone gets a chance to exercise power one small morsel at a time in the form of money.

Why my $1 is every bit as good as the $1 that the Koch Brothers hold. Sure they hold billions of them, but we're equal right? Everyone my Aunty Fanny.

http://www.lcurve.org/

APOCALYPSEFUCK is Comptroller says

REALTOR Arrested and Charged for Stabbing Boyfriend to Death

Methinks Apocalypsefuck has a Google news alert for the terms "realtor, arrested, murder".

Vicente says

Reality says

power is monetized so that everyone gets a chance to exercise power one small morsel at a time in the form of money.

Why my $1 is every bit as good as the $1 that the Koch Brothers hold. Sure they hold billions of them, but we're equal right? Everyone my Aunty Fanny.

Not just Koch brothers, even Warren Buffet would have gone bankrupt in a free market correction (when the smaller guys deemed his judgement wrong, many smaller players) if not for the government bailout via fiat money.

The real choice in human life is not whether you get to sit at the same table at Koch brothers and Warren Buffet according to your own whim (which would obviously be against the wishes of Koch brothers and Warren Buffet, as they probably do not wish to sit with millions of people at every meal) . . . but whether you prefer to have the power to decide whether you do business with Koch brothers vs. Warren Buffet (by patronizing their businesses vs. other businesses)

vs.

the government telling you that you have no choice but to deal with Koch brothers for oil and Warren Buffet for hamburgers, sugary soda water and insurance for the medical consequences of consuming the junk food that he is selling.

You may think the graph you drew lopsided, but $1, $10,000, $1,000,000 (all goals that you can realistically achieve) would look even more lopsided when set up against Infinity! That's what government fiat command economy would be, Infinity! and the purchasing power of you $1, $10,000, $1,000,000 would be zero without government bureaucrats consent. Fiat money system is just an shady way of getting there.

ThreeBays says

If you had to say, slow innovation by 10% in order to make it's cost sustainable then we should. Actually, it's not we should... we will have to. The US simply can't afford the rate of healthcare cost increases.

In a competitive free market place, Innovation is what drives down prices. The rapid rise of healthcare cost in the US is not due to innovation but due to government sanctioned and subsidized monopolies. How much innovation is in a $35 Tylenol pill in an emergency room? It doesn't even have a 3-cent RFID sticker on it, like most items priced over $10 do at Walmart.

ThreeBays says

the US has lower life expectancy than a dozen countries that have national health care).

Life expectancy statistic is largely determined by infant mortality nowadays. Countries like Cuba don't count a newborn as a person until the most risky first 10 months have passed. Many western European countries like UK, France and Germany have higher elective abortion rates than the US; that means their parents tend to redo when faced with a child with congenital problems that would lead to high infant mortality instead of counting on NICU like parents tend to do here in the US.

ThreeBays says

There is no free lunch. There are a finite amount of resources on Earth. The more we sink into never ending healthcare "innovation", the more we have to take away from other "healthy" things, like not being broke and depressed, eating good food, or vacationing or retirement.

Depending on what kind of research. In a competitive free market, corporations maximize profit by offering better value to customers in order to attract more customers. In a monopolistic market with massive government subsidy, the monopolists maximize profit by restricting supply and maximize payment from government.

Reality says

Wealth disparity is the result of market power if you blame market for creating disparity. If you want to ascribe wealth and power disparity to political power, then you and I are in agreement.

Perhaps. But my question was how does the free market reduce inequality? When has that happened?

Reality says

Social Security spending alone now is larger than military spending, so the latter can not possibly be 50% of government spending.

I was looking at the budget--Social Security is a trust fund and off-budget.

Reality says

After the S&L crisis of the 1980's, the first massive bailout was the early 1990's Mexican debt default and Argetine default (FED and the US government using Mexico and Argentine as device for funneling taxpayer money to major US banks that have lent too much money to those countries); then Russian default of in 1997, same scam; then 1998 "Asian contagion," same scam; then NASDAQ bubble and burst of 2000, the bailout of which led to the housing boom and bust of 2003-present.

It astounds me that you can attribute every bad decision made by the free market to the Federal Reserve.

bgamall4 says

Screw the UK, all that is left for regular people are boxes!

Finally, the cat master plan is coming to fruition. First they take over the Internet, then they impose their culture upon the human population. Soon, all humans will live like cats, act like cats, and submit to the supremacy of the feline culture. Resistance is futile!

Reality says

the government telling you that you have no choice but to deal with Koch brothers for oil and Warren Buffet for hamburgers, sugary soda water and insurance for the medical consequences of consuming the junk food that he is selling.

Why do you always make it one extreme vs. the other extreme? Isn't it possible to have a capitalist society with a strongly progressive tax system and tightly regulated?

The answer, of course, is yes. The US did it before Reagan and things worked quite well.

tatupu70 says

Why do you always make it one extreme vs. the other extreme? Isn't it possible to have a capitalist society with a strongly progressive tax system and tightly regulated?

The answer, of course, is yes. The US did it before Reagan and things worked quite well.

That must be why Carter lost in a landslide, that the US was doing so well before Reagan! LOL. The socialist brain is a wasteland taken over by amnesia. That's why they always insist on repeating the same mistakes that's been done over and over again in human history.

tatupu70 says

Reality says

Wealth disparity is the result of market power if you blame market for creating disparity. If you want to ascribe wealth and power disparity to political power, then you and I are in agreement.

Perhaps. But my question was how does the free market reduce inequality? When has that happened?

It happens every single time when someone buys goods and services from an upstart instead of from an "IBM." Private individuals do that far more frequently than government bureaucrats do! The risk/reward matrix is different for the two. The private individual reaps all the financial savings when the less substitute works out, the bureaucrat gets nothing when the substitute works out but would lose his job if it doesn't. That's why tax-and-spend is a quick way to market concentration! In 1982, all tax money spent on purchasing PC's would have gone to IBM, very little would have gone to the upstart called Compaq . . . whereas private business owners were the primary buyers of Compaq to save a thousand or so (when PC's cost $5k-10k). Tax-and-spend is how the medical system, the education system and the military industrial complex are working under. They are the most wasteful segments of our economy with some of the greatest market concentration in each market.

tatupu70 says

Reality says

Social Security spending alone now is larger than military spending, so the latter can not possibly be 50% of government spending.

I was looking at the budget--Social Security is a trust fund and off-budget.

The "trust fund" is a fraud. Like I suspected, you are just talking nonsense by drawing artificial lines that don't exist. Government spending is government spending.

tatupu70 says

Reality says

After the S&L crisis of the 1980's, the first massive bailout was the early 1990's Mexican debt default and Argetine default (FED and the US government using Mexico and Argentine as device for funneling taxpayer money to major US banks that have lent too much money to those countries); then Russian default of in 1997, same scam; then 1998 "Asian contagion," same scam; then NASDAQ bubble and burst of 2000, the bailout of which led to the housing boom and bust of 2003-present.

It astounds me that you can attribute every bad decision made by the free market to the Federal Reserve.

The existence of the central bank standing at the ready to bailout bad bets made by the big boys is the reason why they felt free to make those bets. You may be naive, the banksters are not.

Reality says

That must be why Carter lost in a landslide, that the US was doing so well before Reagan! LOL. The socialist brain is a wasteland taken over by amnesia. That's why they always insist on repeating the same mistakes that's been done over and over again in human history.

lol--your logic is impeccible as usual. How about you look at the 3 decades after WWII objectively. One President certainly does not trump 30 years worth of data.

Unless you are being disingenuous, of course.

Reality says

It happens every single time when someone buys goods and services from an upstart instead of from an "IBM." Private individuals do that far more frequently than government bureaucrats do! The risk/reward matrix is different for the two. The private individual reaps all the financial savings when the less substitute works out, the bureaucrat gets nothing when the substitute works out but would lose his job if it doesn't. That's why tax-and-spend is a quick way to market concentration! In 1982, all tax money spent on purchasing PC's would have gone to IBM, very little would have gone to the upstart called Compaq . . . whereas private business owners were the primary buyers of Compaq to save a thousand or so (when PC's cost $5k-10k). Tax-and-spend is how the medical system, the education system and the military industrial complex are working under. They are the most wasteful segments of our economy with some of the greatest market concentration in each market.

See, here's the thing. We can measure inequality. If your hypothesis was true, then you could easily see it in the data. As you are unwilling or unable to post the actual inequality data, I'm concluding that your theories are incorrect.

Reality says

The "trust fund" is a fraud. Like I suspected, you are just talking nonsense by drawing artificial lines that don't exist. Government spending is government spending.

OK--whatever you say.

http://www.ssa.gov/history/BudgetTreatment.html

Reality says

The existence of the central bank standing at the ready to bailout bad bets made by the big boys is the reason why they felt free to make those bets. You may be naive, the banksters are not.

Ah, the old moral hazard argument again. Banks don't care if they lose 99% of their assets as long as they don't go bankrupt, right? How naive of me.

tatupu70 says

Reality says

That must be why Carter lost in a landslide, that the US was doing so well before Reagan! LOL. The socialist brain is a wasteland taken over by amnesia. That's why they always insist on repeating the same mistakes that's been done over and over again in human history.

lol--your logic is impeccible as usual. How about you look at the 3 decades after WWII objectively. One President certainly does not trump 30 years worth of data.

Unless you are being disingenuous, of course.

How good was it under Johnson or Nixon or Ford?
The one and half decade after WWII was due to exceptional circumstances: the rest of the world had their industrial capacity largely destroyed! Even JFK in the early 1960's started to realize the need to reduce taxes and jump start our economic competitiveness as the rest of the world recovered from WWII. Of course, the banksters preferred the War-and-Butter LBJ instead in order to rack up government deficit, which is just another way of saying the banksters get a percentage cut on all societal production via government taxes collected to service government debt created out of thin air.

tatupu70 says

See, here's the thing. We can measure inequality. If your hypothesis was true, then you could easily see it in the data. As you are unwilling or unable to post the actual inequality data, I'm concluding that your theories are incorrect.

No, inequality is not measurable. Don't tell me for a moment you were equally valued on the dating market when you were 20 years old as a pretty girl of that age. What you can measure is nominal income and nominal asset, neither of which is true reflection of real power and wealth. If you don't believe me, try to go to a popular club, and see how much you have to pay to cut the line vs. a pretty girl of 20 years old just by showing up. The pretty 20yr old may have no nominal income or nominal asset, but she has enormous power over men.

Likewise, the Kims of North Korea and the soviet bosses may not have/had much nominal salary, but they have/had enormous power, including power over life vs. death of most of their countrymen. None of that show up in your obsession over inconsequential numbers. That's how the socialist paradise have nominally low inequality. In reality, the feudal privileges that the elites have in those societies are far greater than our elites have in a monetized economy: you can approach Koch brothers near their residence in NYC; whereas if you try the same to the Kims in Pyneong, you'd be shot in an instant on the spot.

tatupu70 says

Reality says

That must be why Carter lost in a landslide, that the US was doing so well before Reagan! LOL. The socialist brain is a wasteland taken over by amnesia. That's why they always insist on repeating the same mistakes that's been done over and over again in human history.

That's funnny. Typical right winger. Not sure itf this one is stupid as he portrays himselto be, or just a lying spreader of propaganda. MY guess is that even he knows that the inflation of the 70 was almost totally independent of the President's policies.

Who knows, its possible that he's even smart enough to understand that it was Carter who appointed Volker as Fed chair, who proceeded to tighten credit until inflation was stopped. When it was finally stopped, with interest rates at all time highs (prime rate over 20%) that set the stage for interest rates falling like a rock and the mother of all booms that Reagan was fortunate enough to preside over.

I'm guessing that even Reality (ironic name) can comprehend reality, he's simultaneously stupid enough to believe the lies he tells himself, like so many fox bot dimbulbs.

Carter was sort of the opposite of Bush. He would iniate long term policies to save the economy, even if in the short term they hurt him politically. COntrast that with GWBs giving the SS surplus to the rich in the form of tax cuts and spending precious capital and lives on a war that we didn't need to fight (but both policies made him look good or so he thought, in the short run).

Reality says

No, inequality is not measurable

I think that pretty much says it all.

tatupu70 says

Reality says

The existence of the central bank standing at the ready to bailout bad bets made by the big boys is the reason why they felt free to make those bets. You may be naive, the banksters are not.

Ah, the old moral hazard argument again. Banks don't care if they lose 99% of their assets as long as they don't go bankrupt, right? How naive of me.

Banks do not care or think or eat or talk. The banksters do. If you were a Lehman executive with $1B under management, gambling $50B on a coin flip against an executive managing also $1B at another big firm is highly profitable: if you win you get to collect $49B from the taxpayers even if your counterparty never had any hope of paying up $50B from his $1B account; if you lose, you go work for him and split his $50B profit ($49B of which being from taxpayers) with him. That's how central bank bailout works. Banks and corporations are only legal fictions operated by and for the benefit of specific individuals.

tatupu70 says

Reality says

No, inequality is not measurable

I think that pretty much says it all.

What you end up measuring is only a fraction of wealth and power for any individual. That fractional ratio changes dramatically depends on the personal circumstances as well as the social circumstances. The power and wealth of a middle aged millionare or billionare is in his asset holdings, but they are a tiny fraction of the 7 billion people in the world. The power and wealth of a pretty young thing is mostly in her looks. The power and wealth of someone living off social security is in that safety net. The power and wealth of a bureaucrat in a socialist economy is in his bureaucratic power.

Don't be blinded by a leaf and miss the forest.

Reality says

That's how the socialist paradise have nominally low inequality. In reality, the feudal privileges that the elites have in those societies are far greater than our elites have in a monetized economy: you can approach Koch brothers near their residence in NYC; whereas if you try the same to the Kims in Pyneong, you'd be shot in an instant on the spot.

I missed the part where someone is saying we need to be like North Korea.

marcus says

Reality says

That's how the socialist paradise have nominally low inequality. In reality, the feudal privileges that the elites have in those societies are far greater than our elites have in a monetized economy: you can approach Koch brothers near their residence in NYC; whereas if you try the same to the Kims in Pyneong, you'd be shot in an instant on the spot.

I missed the part where someone is saying we need to be like North Korea.

Many of your ilk are enamored by the low nominal "wealth disparity" in other countries. North Korea has one of the lowest nominal "wealth disparities"; the Kims officially don't own anything and have very little official salary. The non-monetized raw political power is their real wealth and power in those societies (and to a lesser degree in many socializing western countries). Free market economies just have more transparency, hence visible nominal "wealth disparity," which many fools are railing against, preferring jumping from the luke warm pot into the fire itself.

Reality says

Many of your ilk are enamored by the low nominal "wealth disparity" in other countries.

Yes. Did you see the in depth piece BBill posted about Norway the other day ?

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20110201/in-norway-start-ups-say-ja-to-socialism.html

Well worth reading. Not that you're looking to be better informed. You only want to learn things that support the lies you tell yourself and others.

If you do read it in it entirety, you will find that it doesn't totally diss the U.S>, and it's sure to inform you of some details even that you can incorporate in the somewhat limited prism through which you view reality.

I still get a kick out of that name.

marcus says

That's funnny. Typical right winger. Not sure itf this one is stupid as he portrays himselto be, or just a lying spreader of propaganda. MY guess is that even he knows that the inflation of the 70 was almost totally independent of the President's policies.

Notice, I did not blame Carter. Ironically, it was Tatupu70 who described Carter as one failure out of 3 post-WWII decades . . . whereas I pointed out the systematic failure showing up during LBJ, Nixon and Ford administrations. I pointed out the landslide defeat for incumbent in 1980 election because Tatupu70 claimed the US was doing so great before Reagan came to office as a result of that election.

marcus says

Reality says

Many of your ilk are enamored by the low nominal "wealth disparity" in other countries.

Yes. Did you see the in depth piece BBill posted about Norway the other day ?

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20110201/in-norway-start-ups-say-ja-to-socialism.html

Well worth reading. Not that you're looking to be better informed. You only want to learn things that support the lies you tell yourself and others.

If you do read it in it entirety, you will find that it doesn't totally diss the U.S>, and it's sure to inform you of some details even that you can incorporate in to your (through a prism) view of reality.

I still get a kick out of that name.

Typical propaganda piece for the gullible and mathematically inept. A 44 million company with only 150 employees paying the owner less than $200k (derived from 50+% tax and his total personal tax being just over $100k) . . . while blowing $100+k on a single party! Do we have a Dennis Koslowski- class tax avoider/evader here? Was the party thrown for his wife's birthday? and did it have vodka served from the penis of the ice sculpture David? Do we really want to look into under which name that Porsche is held? How can a person making only $100k after-tax afford a $100k car on top of other trappings of wealth?

The man is just pulling a "Warrent Buffet": praising socialistic tax system (probably benefiting from government spending) while avoiding paying taxes himself.

BTW, this story also illustrates my point about simple statistics fail to reflect the real wealth and power. If anyone is dumb enough to think this Norwegian man with 150 employees only has the power and wealth of a master plumber or dentist making $200k a year, he'd be a fool . . . yet that's how the statistical lie would say.