patrick.net

tatapu ... pk ....

Feb 26, 2008 Democratic Debate in Cleveland:

OBAMA: No, there is a difference. I do provide a mandate for children, because we have created programs in which we can have greater assurance that those children will be covered at an affordable price. BUT WE DON’T WANT TO PUT ADULTS IN A SITUATION IN WHICH, ON THE FRONT END, WE ARE MANDATING THEM, WE ARE FORCING THEM TO PURCHASE INSURANCE, AND IF THE SUBSIDIES ARE INADEQUATE, THE BURDEN IS ON THEM, AND THEY WILL BE PENALIZED. And that is what Sen. Clinton’s plan does.

Obama Lies about 5 days to Review Healthcare Bill

Obama Lied about giving the public 5 days to look at the health care bill before signing it.

Moving to a different point, how about the lack of effective policy response to unemployment? He's not doing so good on that issue, number 1 issue in my mind. This from Robert Reich in the Business Insider:

We’re not in a double-dip recession yet. We’re in a one and a half dip recession.

Consumer confidence is down. Retail sales are down. Home sales are down. Permits for single-family starts are down. The average work week is down. The only things not down are inventories – unsold stuff is piling up in warehouses and inventories of unsold homes are rising – and defaults on loans.

The 1.5 dip recession should be causing alarm bells to ring all over official Washington. It should cause deficit hawks to stop squawking about future debt, blue-dog Democrats to stop acting like Republicans, and mainstream Democrats to get some backbone.

The 1.5 dip recession should cause the President to demand a large-scale national jobs program including a new WPA that gets millions of Americans back to work even if government has to pay their wages directly. Included would be zero-interest loans to strapped states and locales, so they didn’t have to cut vital services and raise taxes. They could repay when the economy picked up and revenues came in. The national jobs program would also include a one-year payroll tax holiday on the first $20,000 of income.

The President should stop talking and acting on anything else – not the deficit, not energy, not the environment, not immigration, not implementing the health care law, not education. He should make the whole upcoming mid-term election a national referendum on putting Americans back to work, and his jobs bill. Are you for it or against it?

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/lets-call-it-a-one-and-a-half-dip-recession-2010-7#ixzz0uRqGrnEe

January 24, 2008

Barack Obama claimed he "barely knew" Toney Rezko.

Having a hard time keeping track of the facts? Here are eight things to know:

1. They met in 1990. Obama was a student at Harvard Law School and got an unsolicited job offer from Rezko, then a low-income housing developer in Chicago. Obama turned it down.

2. Obama took a job in 1993 with a small Chicago law firm, Davis Miner Barnhill, that represents developers -- primarily not-for-profit groups -- building low-income housing with government funds.

3. One of the firm's not-for-profit clients -- the Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corp., co-founded by Obama's then-boss Allison Davis -- was partners with Rezko's company in a 1995 deal to convert an abandoned nursing home at 61st and Drexel into low-income apartments. Altogether, Obama spent 32 hours on the project, according to the firm. Only five hours of that came after Rezko and WPIC became partners, the firm says. The rest of the future senator's time was helping WPIC strike the deal with Rezko. Rezko's company, Rezmar Corp., also partnered with the firm's clients in four later deals -- none of which involved Obama, according to the firm. In each deal, Rezmar "made the decisions for the joint venture," says William Miceli, an attorney with the firm.

4. In 1995, Obama began campaigning for a seat in the Illinois Senate. Among his earliest supporters: Rezko. Two Rezko companies donated a total of $2,000. Obama was elected in 1996 -- representing a district that included 11 of Rezko's 30 low-income housing projects.

5. Rezko's low-income housing empire began crumbling in 2001, when his company stopped making mortgage payments on the old nursing home that had been converted into apartments. The state foreclosed on the building -- which was in Obama's Illinois Senate district.

6. In 2003, Obama announced he was running for the U.S. Senate, and Rezko -- a member of his campaign finance committee -- held a lavish fund-raiser June 27, 2003, at his Wilmette mansion.

7. A few months after Obama became a U.S. senator, he and Rezko's wife, Rita, bought adjacent pieces of property from a doctor in Chicago's Kenwood neighborhood -- a deal that has dogged Obama the last two years. The doctor sold the mansion to Obama for $1.65 million -- $300,000 below the asking price. Rezko's wife paid full price -- $625,000 -- for the adjacent vacant lot. The deals closed in June 2005. Six months later, Obama paid Rezko's wife $104,500 for a strip of her land, so he could have a bigger yard. At the time, it had been widely reported that Tony Rezko was under federal investigation. Questioned later about the timing of the Rezko deal, Obama called it "boneheaded" because people might think the Rezkos had done him a favor.

8. Eight months later -- in October 2006 -- Rezko was indicted on charges he solicited kickbacks from companies seeking state pension business under his friend Gov. Blagojevich. Federal prosecutors maintain that $10,000 from the alleged kickback scheme was donated to Obama's run for the U.S. Senate. Obama has given the money to charity.

cdw7503 says

If you think housing prices will be coming back to 06′ levels then you are living in a dream world. The housing boom which caused the high prices happened because of extremely loose loan underwriting standards and foolish borrowers who took loans out they couldn’t pay. Borrowers are still foolish, but underwriting standards are now at the opposite extreme.

I agree housing prices will not go back to the previously unthinkable highs of the first half of this decade, but I dislike all the talk about foolish borrowers. Where is the accountability of the banking industry, they are the ones who essentially offered a hang mans rope to people who couldn't afford the homes that they bought and now all I hear about are these dumb borrowers. The banking system is to blame for the housing crash not the people. They have come up with cleaver ways to tempt buyers into buying home they couldn't pay for, look at the alt-a mortgages and the ARM that are about to reset. In the places that been hit the worst you might be looking at 6-10 years before prices go to a place where owners can make money on RE again.

RayAmerica says

Feb 26, 2008 Democratic Debate in Cleveland:
OBAMA: No, there is a difference. I do provide a mandate for children, because we have created programs in which we can have greater assurance that those children will be covered at an affordable price. BUT WE DON’T WANT TO PUT ADULTS IN A SITUATION IN WHICH, ON THE FRONT END, WE ARE MANDATING THEM, WE ARE FORCING THEM TO PURCHASE INSURANCE, AND IF THE SUBSIDIES ARE INADEQUATE, THE BURDEN IS ON THEM, AND THEY WILL BE PENALIZED. And that is what Sen. Clinton’s plan does.

I'll remind you that the healthcare plan that finally passed Congress was VASTLY different than the plan Obama proposed during his Presidential run. Not because he wanted things different, but because idiots in Congress were bought and paid for by the healthcare industry.

So your quote can't be compared to the actual healthcare bill that passed as you are trying to do...

Moving to a different point, how about the lack of effective policy response to unemployment?

what can he do that isn't teh socialism? Other than cut taxes, which didn't work so good 2001-2008 of course.

The core problem of the economy is that the lower four and a half quintiles used the Home ATM to boost consumption 2004-2006.

Here's a pretty graph that I'm proud of:

Non-wealthy people are stuck with a $4T debt overhang from that bubble still.

There are no easy answers. Dismantling the Federal Government appeals to some people, but to paraphrase President Eisenhower, these people are idiots.

We could cut the Federal governement spending in half, down to $1.8T (what Clinton passed to Bush, btw), but $1.8T isn't just being consumed in a fire, that's millions of paychecks involved, either directly or indirectly.

$1.8T is twenty million jobs at $90,000 per, so the actual footprint is more like forty or fifty million given the median salary and the velocity of money multiplier. So large that I really can't comprehend the scale of this.

We're not in Kansas any more.

RayAmerica says

tatupu70 says

How about this. Post a quote from Obama that you think shows him as a liar. Not a link to a video. An actual quote.

I sincerely feel the need to apologize. I originally thought it would take, as I said, “a couple of hours” to document a list (along with links) of Obama’s lies. It actually only took about 5 minutes. Please accept my apology. If you’d like more, I probably can provide it when I have more time to kill. Enjoy.

http://obamalies.net/list-of-lies

Did you read it ? CBOETrader, did you read these ? SO many terrible lies there. I could find a couple that might be lies, in the sense that he couldn't do what he thought he could. But jeez Ray, are you trying hard to give us pro-Obama propaganda, or is that just the unintended consequence.

@ray
"Barack Obama claimed he “barely knew” Toney Rezko."

Seriously? How would you define barely knew? Do you barely know your neighbors? Can you tell me their names? Can you tell me where they work? Can you tell me when they got married? What kind of investments are they in? You've got about 5-8 "neighbors" in all likelihood. A couple beside you, a couple on the other side of the street. How well do you know each of them? You sure as hell know them really well, I already know that because you are NEIGHBORS, which means you know everything about them. You're around them every day, you sleep within 500 feet of them every day!

How about your boss? His wife's name? What kind of activities does the wife like to do? Where does she buy her food? What can you tell me about her? You work with your boss, surely you know all this stuff! You can't claim barely know him, because that is an obvious lie on your part!

I'll call you a liar if you can't answer all of those questions, because you can't claim you barely knew your neighbors, they are your neighbors!

Word games, nothing more. Taking 2 words and expanding them like you know exactly what they mean and then creating these "facts" to prove those 2 words are lies. I've just shown you, you can be next to someone, work with them and barely know them. It's a huge and open ended phrase.

@jljoshlee3
Energy/Environment can generate a lot of jobs in itself. People working on installing, building, and designing new products. There aren't many new areas that we can explore and expand on easily, this seems to be a pretty good area to actually work on. Digging ditches gets old pretty quick. Building new bridges works for awhile. Building a new industry, like the internet, will create lots of new jobs. Not only jobs, but it will put the US on track to being a leader in those areas. Other countries such as China are destroying themselves with pollution currently. They're going to have to resolve their problems shortly, and if the US is there with the products and the know how, they will be the people making the sales. So it's a win/win there. Lots of opportunities. Jobs in all categories. From inception, design, manufacturing, installation. Digging a ditch has far fewer people involved, and mostly low paying jobs. There isn't a hope they're going to figure out how to dig a ditch better. At least with what he's pushing there is a chance.

Everything he is currently working on seems to have some potential to create jobs. Education, immigration, and health care all seem to have lots of potential for possible growth. Although alternative energy and environment really seem to be the best bets for future growth.

I think he's starting to really figure out how political politics is at his level. He's no longer trying to bring everyone into the room and say lets all work on this, and create a utopia government, he's getting agreement and consensus in his ranks and pushing things through, no matter how unpopular they are. When he tried to get everyone to play along, they just dragged their feet, like every government has done.

thomas.wong1986 says

pkennedy says

Once a company goes public, it has a huge liability on it’s hands. It’s an accounting and legal nightmare to keep a public company going.

Rubish! I done three public offerings. What you have today are chicken shit retarded MBA types who rushed into the valley over the past 10 years and dont know squat how to run public or private companies. You have old times like Andy Grove from Intel saying the same. Liability is the same both private or public. Shareholder can be the public or private placement, its the same.
The crux is we are back to mid 90s type economy rather than peak at 2000.

Disgree,

Companies don't go public because cost/benefit is not there. In 2000, Facebook would sure be listed. In 2010, they are not for cost/benefit reasons.

Costs go way up going public. Having been involved firsthand with VISA, it requires restatements of income statements, back filing, Hire staff for financial reporting, systems capability, SOX procedures, 3x more audit scrutiny from more sources and exponentially more professional fees, listing fees, SEC exposure, CEO, CFO, COO devoting time to non-productive conference and analysis calls, investor relations staff, shareholder meetings and communications and dozens of other costs associated with going public. What do you get, higher underwriting cost eaten up by Goldman Sachs and selling more company for way less money than in the 1990's and it is a recipe for why companies choose not to go public.

Having said that, there were close to 6000 companies listed on the nasdaq in 2000 vs 2934 today, so it is not a silicon valley issue, it's just that there are less public companies today for various reasons (liquidations, Mergers and less IPO replacement). That is somewhat probamatic but half the story. However, the public companies today are a lot bigger and in many lines of business. Intel has companies making flash chips and not processors, Seagate has companies that don't make hardrives and eBay has companies in payment processing and not auctions. It's just an evolution and I would not link the demise of silicon valley based just on the shrinking of the absolute amount listed.

SF ace says

In 2000, Facebook would sure be listed. In 2010, they are not for cost/benefit reasons.

Well, that and all the dumb money chasing dotcoms then.

SF ace says

Costs go way up going public. Having been involved firsthand with VISA, it requires restatements of income statements, back filing, Hire staff for financial reporting, systems capability, SOX procedures, 3x more audit scrutiny from more sources and exponentially more professional fees, listing fees, SEC exposure, CEO, CFO, COO devoting time to non-productive conference and analysis calls, investor relations staff, shareholder meetings and communications and dozens of other costs associated with going public. What do you get, higher underwriting cost eaten up by Goldman Sachs and selling more company for way less money than in the 1990’s and it is a recipe for why companies choose not to go public.

Congrats, you listed why many local SV companies are ill prepared for IPO, regardless if they are profitable or not. Few are! A successful IPO will have already in place for several years, properly stated audited Financials in GAAP format, with internal controls in place to pass SOX testing. Its not rocket science, this should already be in place. Staffing may be lean but its not a issue if you staff it with veterns and grow headcount wisely (few do!). The rest regarding current filings (S-1 reg, prospectus) are a no brainer and they fall right in place. Ongoing regulator compliance isnt a problem either. Thats how we did it back in the 90s, passed Audits and SEC review.

At the end of the day, we do need to see higher listings of public SV companies anyway you cut it. Otherwise, investment dollars will not flow into tech fueling growth and incomes.

This is NOT good...Another one bites the dust in a different way! Maybe?

Thursday, July 15, 2010
VeriSign mulls headquarters move to Northern Virginia from California
Washington Business Journal - by Sarah Krouse

The Symantec deal is expected to close later this month or early next month

RayAmerica says

Nomograph says

AM talk radio junkie, all you seem to have is empty anger- and hatred-based arguments.

I can’t think of a more perfect definition of ellie “I never, ever insult anyone” mae. Apparently she listens to lots and lots of talk radio.

I think it's cute how you think about me all the time, rayray. But I prefer grownups.

pkennedy says

@ray
“Barack Obama claimed he “barely knew” Toney Rezko.”
Seriously? How would you define barely knew? Do you barely know your neighbors? Can you tell me their names? Can you tell me where they work? Can you tell me when they got married? What kind of investments are they in? You’ve got about 5-8 “neighbors” in all likelihood. A couple beside you, a couple on the other side of the street. How well do you know each of them? You sure as hell know them really well, I already know that because you are NEIGHBORS, which means you know everything about them. You’re around them every day, you sleep within 500 feet of them every day!

Amazing example of the liberal convoluted thought process. Leave it to one of these Obamabots to make a connection between YOUR neighbors and Obama's Crook-Friend that he "barely knows." Too bad the evidence proves that the corrupt Chicago Politician Obama knew this crook very, very well and benefited from his friendship with him.

RayAmerica says

Too bad the evidence proves that the corrupt Chicago Politician Obama knew this crook very, very well and benefited from his friendship with him.

How do you figure? I see no such evidence. Your earlier post showed nothing of the sort.

> Amazing example of the liberal convoluted thought process. Leave it to one
> of these Obamabots to make a connection

Oh good god giggles, okay fine, your logic is crushing. I think it was the 43rd or 43th time you said "Obamabot" that really clued me in: I am a fool.

All the facts and all of the logic, all the articles and context that has been brought to bear on this point is simply swept away in face of this crushing weight of yours, this power with words you bring to the table... though it escaped me for a while because of the dexterity and subtlety of the points you make you've convinced me with the clear truth and simple goodness of your arguments and it has indeed won out in the end.

So yes I see now its true, Obama is basically the source of all woes facing the US today. He is an evil, a scourge unlike any other faced by the country ever before, he is a menace. Never has there been and possibly (OMG, hopefully) ever will be again such an insidious (dare I say it a Darth Insidious) force undermining the great goodness that existed here before this pale rider came skimming into town.

My lord, how could I not have seen it? It took the great power of your arguments to bring it tol ight and how I now long for what I now realize was the pure and undiluted goodness of the Bush years - the years where men were men, and truth was simple and pure. Like you.

Thank you for continuing this good fight and staying the course with the great logic and intelligence of your arguments. We need more men like you sir, to help us through this darkness.

tatupu70 says

How do you figure? I see no such evidence. Your earlier post showed nothing of the sort.

But he found his talking points on the Internets and all, so they must be true. Right Rayray?

@Troy,
that graph and your comments are simple - direct - and one of your best short-shot entires ever. I agree 100%.

simchaland says

But he found his talking points on the Internets and all, so they must be true. Right Rayray?

I would be totally and completely shocked if you ever posted even a half truth regarding your little messiah. Just keep on drinking your Kool-Aid and everything will work out for you.

Giggles, I've got it - you're actually not a human being, you're an automated Turing program. You've deceived me.

simchaland says

But he found his talking points on the Internets and all, so they must be true. Right Rayray?

It's not internets - it's interwebs. It's a series of tubes connected by nets that travel through the air. Duh.

Although alternative energy and environment really seem to be the best bets for future growth.
Id' throw efficiency measures in there too as it actually puts money in peoples pockets. I was reading about thermal air conditioners in the latest Economist -- who knew? The Germans have already designed a system small enough to meet the heating and cooling needs of two homes.

elliemae says

simchaland says

But he found his talking points on the Internets and all, so they must be true. Right Rayray?

It’s not internets - it’s interwebs. It’s a series of tubes connected by nets that travel through the air. Duh.

Dang, I can't even get that right. I must be just a dumb lefty because Rayray is all smart n' such. He finds all of this truth out there on the interwebs so it must be true. I don't understand what he means by "Just keep on drinking your Kool-Aid." I haven't had Kool-Aid since I was a little kid. I prefer water these days or unsweetened iced tea. Oh and I eat arugula.

And this really has me confused:

RayAmerica says

I would be totally and completely shocked if you ever posted even a half truth regarding your little messiah.

Doesn't he know that we Jews are still waiting for Moshiach (The REAL Messiah)? How can I have a Messiah when the Messiah hasn't come yet?

I'm so confused.

Once again, Simcha - you're wrong. Incorrect. Not right. Rayray referred to our "little messiah." I do believe that he was talking about Homer Simpson.

RayAmerica says

Just keep on drinking your Kool-Aid and everything will work out for you.

I'm proud to say that I drink koolaid:

Frog In A Blender
Drink Type: Cocktail - F
Ingredients
3 oz. Orange Drink - (more Orange Drink drinks)
2 oz. Kool-Aid Berry Blue - (more Kool-Aid drinks)
1 1/2 oz. Spiced Rum - (more Spiced Rum drinks)

Instructions
Stir and serve in a highball glass over ice. Decorate with a slice of orange.

In fact, there are 54 bar drinks that contain koolaid. I shall start to do my research tonight, care to join me?

http://www.barnonedrinks.com/drinks/by_ingredient/k/kool-aid-603.html

elliemae says

I’m proud to say that I drink koolaid:

Frog In A Blender
Drink Type: Cocktail - F

Ellie May, I pictured you as a little older. Are you a college student, in a sorority ? Or maybe a "little sister" to some frat boys ? (btw, I was never in a frat, but visited enough to know a lot about them).

I recentlly celebrated the 28th anniversary of my 21st birthday... I just figured that, since I've been accused of drinking the obama koolaid, I might as well try it. I haven't had any in the house since the kids were little.

elliemae says

I recentlly celebrated the 28th anniversary of my 21st birthday… I just figured that, since I’ve been accused of drinking the obama koolaid, I might as well try it. I haven’t had any in the house since the kids were little.

Dang, you're older than me. Who knew?
elliemae says

In fact, there are 54 bar drinks that contain koolaid. I shall start to do my research tonight, care to join me?

Well, if I've gotta drink Kool-Aid, I definitely want it with alcohol in it. So, sure, I'll join ya. Maybe we could find the Obama Kool-Aid cocktail that Rayray is talking about. It might be tasty.

simchaland says

Dang, you’re older than me. Who knew?

There's dirt in my yard that's younger than I am, but I'm cool with that.

.simchaland says

Maybe we could find the Obama Kool-Aid cocktail that Rayray is talking about. It might be tasty.

Someone needs to invent Obama koolaid, I'll bet it tastes great for 8 years, but that rayray would find it hard to swallow.

I stumbled across this rather old, but somewhat, brilliant (I’m forced to admit it) post regarding Obama’s broken promises. It seems rather apropos to post it again.

RayAmerica says:

NAFTA has been a disastrous trade agreement that has decimated the American worker. Barak Obama the Candidate promised to make “renegotiating NAFTA as a top priority.” Obama the President stated within the first several months that he had no intention of reworking NAFTA. Obama the Candidate promised to “never sign any bill that contained earmarks.” This promise has been broken as well. Obama the Candidate promised to “balance the budget in my first term.” He is on pace to outspend all other presidents combined. This is looking more and more like business as usual from just another politician. So much for hope & change.

RayAmerica says

NAFTA has been a disastrous trade agreement that has decimated the American worker. Barak Obama the Candidate promised to make “renegotiating NAFTA as a top priority.” Obama the President stated within the first several months that he had no intention of reworking NAFTA. Obama the Candidate promised to “never sign any bill that contained earmarks.” This promise has been broken as well. Obama the Candidate promised to “balance the budget in my first term.” He is on pace to outspend all other presidents combined. This is looking more and more like business as usual from just another politician. So much for hope & change.

Brilliant! Thanks for posting it.

did you forget to change your identity before patting yourself on the back?

tatupu70 says

did you forget to change your identity before patting yourself on the back?

I'm willing to bet he has many identities. One of them may even be human, but he hasn't shown that one yet.

a spear to the heart, with a bow on the staff, does not make it a present.

tatupu70 says

did you forget to change your identity before patting yourself on the back?

Nope. He think the post made by him is so great, and he thought it's even better after drinking the koolaid cocktail presented by ellie. :)

elliemae says

I’m willing to bet he has many identities. One of them may even be human, but he hasn’t shown that one yet.

And one of them might be, let me guess, Brad Pitt? :)

Obama Koolaid would be sweet then it will change and get sour.
Hope this helps.

Bush flavored Koolaid would be pop rocks and soda.
Hope that clears things up.

Nomo, I want to invest in Abengoa, S.A., a technology company.

I want to do so in a medium-safe manner. Not full gamble, but not full safe either. Just medium.

Would you (or some other savy poster) mind tossing out some input, please?

Nomograph says

Stoned and stupid is no way to go through life, son.

But I'll bet it's loads of fun.

Bap33 says

a spear to the heart, with a bow on the staff, does not make it a present.

Sure it does. Perhaps not a present that the average person would want, but rayray is well below average.

I should have used "gift" instead? Anyways, you know what I was trying to say. lol

Yea, it works both ways. :)