patrick.net

If the Republicans won't fund the govt. now, just imagine what will happen on May 15th when the debt ceiling is reached. If the Republicans remain stubborn, we could be in a Great Depression on May 16th.

The best people talking about is to hold physical silver because when the Comex default, price will shoot up to the sky and none of those contracts traded will honor the delivery. While I accumulate physical gold with my cash, I trade silver ETF in my 401k and so far so good. I use couple technical indicators to trade and came across this one which is pretty helpful. Once you got the fundamental correct, the only thing you need to worry is to use technical to optimize your profit.

I don't think shorting China is a good idea, BTW shorting is not a good idea either because you can't fight against inflation over time. In other words, time is not on your side and China GDP eventually will break today's record multiple times or 10 or 20 times who knows; and that will smash you really bad.

The bill that Obama said he would veto would only fund the govt. for ONE WEEK. All it does is postpone a shutdown, not avoid it.

"Most of the policy issues have been dealt with and the big fight is about spending," Boehner said Friday afternoon.

Most? Planned Parenthood still the sticking point for TGOP eh?

Interesting, I was just reading some articles about the 1995 shutdowns. It is illegal for government workers to show up at the workplace when it's closed down. Many did anyway, and they had to resort to locking the doors. So much for the idea that Federal workers are all layabouts.

They're accusing each other now.
Repubs are telling the Dems: "You are willing to shut the government down just because of funding for Planned Parenthood?"
Dems are telling the Reoubs: "You are willing to shut the government down just because of funding for Planned Parenthood?"

The webs we weave...

Well the Dems have met more than halfway already. So that this point it seems pretty clear it's not about budget compromise.

Here's an idea, shutdown IS the actual GOP strategy for budget cuts. It's not really all about cuts, or they wouldn't care so much that it MUST come out of this one tiny agency. How long would they have to close the gov't down to get the 100 billion they claim to want to save?

Everyone in government backs back wages, except contractors who don't regain their wages.

If someone isn't working, then their work is piling up, and they'll need some overtime to catch up.

The savings won't come from shutting down the government.

$1.5 trillion deficit, most of it on pure waste.

Democrats are moaning and bitching over $30 billion in cuts.

GOP takes a stand on less than a billion or so because it somehow has to deal with abortions.

This just shows both parties are truly worthless and a budget/fiscal nightmare will happen by the end of the decade.

Look, I lean GOP but I'm not going to defend them anymore. This planned parenthood shit is ridiculous. I think democrats are slightly worse simply because they will just spend until we're absolutely broke and have a budgetary meltdown. However, clearly at this point, the GOP has no intelligent leadership and is not a viable alternative.

I'm rethinking this. Perhaps the GOP *needs* that Planned Parenthood win. Maybe it's more than just a negotiating token to trade for more cuts, perhaps they need a bone to throw to the Tea Party crowd, otherwise they lose face.

Looks like Obama's Birther strategy may pay off big time.

RayAmerica says

I thought the attackers on 9/11 came from Saudi Arabia?

leoj707 says

Some did that is true and a troubling and unanswered issue.

"... a troubling and unanswered issue?" LOL !!!

RayAmerica says

RayAmerica says

I thought the attackers on 9/11 came from Saudi Arabia?

leoj707 says

Some did that is true and a troubling and unanswered issue.

“… a troubling and unanswered issue?” LOL !!!

Sigh... is this you trying? Come on Ray you can do better than this, or can you?

While this is the kind of response I expect from you. I bet if you really dig deep you can do more than take a quote out of context and giggle, and instead craft a thoughtful response.

Come on give it a go, you have nothing to loose and everything to gain. Once you have learned to intelligently converse with others a whole world will open up to you. Not just online, but in your real life as well.

I am being blunt with you due to the nature of the internet. In RL I would probably just talk to you as little as possible.

Once, you lean the skills of civil discourse you will see a dramatic change in how people respond to you.

Your life changes now, reread this entire thread... get ready to post... OK, GO!

RayAmerica says

I thought the attackers on 9/11 came from Saudi Arabia?

Bingo! But Saudi Arabia is NEVER criticized in the US press. Seriously. Find me an example. Now why would that be?

RayAmerica says

I thought the attackers on 9/11 came from Saudi Arabia?

Bingo! But Saudi Arabia is NEVER criticized in the US press. Seriously. Find me an example. Now why would that be?

Yes, this is the troubling and unanswered issue.

Or perhaps I should say ignored issue.

leoj707 says

RayAmerica says

I thought the attackers on 9/11 came from Saudi Arabia?

Bingo! But Saudi Arabia is NEVER criticized in the US press. Seriously. Find me an example. Now why would that be?

Yes, this is the troubling and unanswered issue.
Or perhaps I should say ignored issue.
Cute Ganesha

Criticized for what? It's not like the Saudi government was involved in 9/11. Laden was an ENEMY of the Saudi regime post Desert Storm.

Vicente says

Well the Dems have met more than halfway already. So that this point it seems pretty clear it’s not about budget compromise.
Here’s an idea, shutdown IS the actual GOP strategy for budget cuts. It’s not really all about cuts, or they wouldn’t care so much that it MUST come out of this one tiny agency. How long would they have to close the gov’t down to get the 100 billion they claim to want to save?
“Eagles are dandified vultures” - Teddy Roosevelt

They're not that smart. I really think the level of partisanships and dumb emotions are so high in Washington it's pretty much come down to this petty shit.

The one thing I've learned from watching politicians, especially in terms of fiscal/budgetary measures (after watching the Tarp hearings), is that they really are just fucking stupid.

How about criticized for systematically teaching hatred of all non-Muslims?

Bin Laden was a pure product of Saudi education. Sure, he hated them too, but not as much as he hated us.

It's not about whats best for the nation, it's about shielding special interests from taxes. Both parties are very very guilty.

For the top 400 US taxpayers with highest adjusted income the tax rate fell from 30 to 17% in 2007, and to 23% from 29% for the top 1% of America. Many of them are paying 0% in taxes through loopholes. In 2010 11th Congress and Obama signed a legislation that kept taxes very very low.

If they cared to fix the budget, they would get together cut the loopholes and lower taxes for the middle class. But thats not the case and never will be the case. Right now it's just political games.

they already reached a deal, so shut down is off the table.

shrekgrinch says

why shouldn’t we just get rid of the non-essential stuff permanently then?

Air, without it you'll die in minutes
Water, you need it or you die in 3 days
Food, you need it or you'll die in weeks

That should clarify about prioritizing and planning a temporary shutdown. Nobody will die if the IRS delays auditing or sending you your refund for a week. Planes in the sky however might not be so fortunate if the traffic controllers just went home while they were in the air.

From Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_United_States_federal_budget

2012 Budget of the United States federal government
Submitted February 14, 2011
Submitted by Barack Obama
Submitted to 112th Congress
Total revenue $2.627 trillion (estimated)
Total expenditures $3.729 trillion (estimated)
Deficit $1.101 trillion (estimated)

From nytimes:
Deal at Last Minute Averts Shutdown; $38 Billion in Cuts to Spending This Year
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/09/us/politics/09fiscal.html?_r=1&hp

From me:

38b/3729b = 1 point 0 FUCKING percent (edit). Was this a major victory for the House? Was this worth vetoing? Remind me again why any of these assholes got elected???

shrekgrinch says

Uh, sorry..but EVERY case they decide not to hear falls under the category of ’something they just do not want to deal with’. Not my problem you have really poor reading comprehension skills there.

Come on shrek, are you bullshitting on purpose or do you really have such a limited understanding of our legal system that you would characterize the US Supreme Court’s choices in those terms.

And of course the shenanigans still stands, ah... sigh... one of the many points you will never address.

RayAmerica says

I thought the attackers on 9/11 came from Saudi Arabia?

Bingo! But Saudi Arabia is NEVER criticized in the US press. Seriously. Find me an example. Now why would that be?

There is a more suitable image to illustrate the relationship: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/04/obama_bows_down_to_saudi_king.html

We are addicted to Saudi drugs, if we whack our drug dealer we'll have to go cold turkey.

NOOOOPE!

How about criticized for systematically teaching hatred of all non-Muslims?
Bin Laden was a pure product of Saudi education. Sure, he hated them too, but not as much as he hated us.

Yeah, good point.

What a weird country. Run by the house of saud and their thousands spoiled brat princes who for the most part couldn't give a damn about Islam, but they have to pay tribute the the wahhabi clerics to keep power.

MarkInSF says

Criticized for what? It’s not like the Saudi government was involved in 9/11. Laden was an ENEMY of the Saudi regime post Desert Storm.

Perhaps they might be criticized just a little for being the biggest source of funding for terrorism for the last 30 years? Or perhaps for establishing and funding a world wide network of madras schools to teach islamic fundamentalism and hatred toward the west. Maybe just a little criticism you think? Wasn't one of the big reasons for going into Iraq and Afghanistan because they funded terrorists? Curious choices.

The house of saud will fall in the not to distant future. The demographics are unsupportable. Good riddance.

ChrisLA says

If they cared to fix the budget, they would get together cut the loopholes and lower taxes for the middle class. But thats not the case and never will be the case. Right now it’s just political games.

I for one think taxes should be set at what it takes to pay for government.

We don't need to "soak the rich", just tax everyone.

If we actually had to pay for our military adventures we'd get into a lot less of them, and if our taxes were broken down on our paychecks like our phone bill is that would be a very good thing.

The PTB don't do this because they know the game would be up.

Big-ticket items in the 2011 budget, with increases over 2007:

Defense $964.8B (+48%)
Welfare 283.8 (+58%)
Unemployment 134.8 (+284%)
Education 129.8 (+27%)
Transportation 94.5 (+30%)
Housing Assistance 69.4 (+75%)
Protection 60.7 (+47%)
Agriculture 32.8 (+41%)

Broken out into per-household numbers, that's

Defense $730/mo
Welfare $220/mo
Unemployment $100/mo
Education $100/mo
Transportation $70/mo
Housing Assistance $50/mo
Protection $45/mo
Agriculture $20/mo

So the big-ticket stuff is costing $1300/mo per household at the Federal level.

That's $7.50/hr from monthly wages just to break even.

Clearly we have a spending problem. But with corporate profits and cash-hoards, we probably need to start pushing taxation onto corporations more, to get them to pay more for the services they are consuming. All the above big-ticket items benefit corporations immensely so they should pay more for them, much more.

If I were King I'd cut military in half, covering 1/3 the deficit, and raise taxes on individuals to cover the other 1/3 and corporations for the last 1/3.

Corporations that don't like paying more taxes are welcome to move their operations elsewhere. If any actual capital is going unused as a result I'd nationalize it and show them what real state socialism looks like.

Troy says

If we actually had to pay for our military adventures we’d get into a lot less of them, and if our taxes were broken down on our paychecks like our phone bill is that would be a very good thing.

I think that is a brilliant idea, I've been thinking the same thing lately.

Why not simply break all the taxes down (like a phone bill) so that instead of a lump sum I get to see what every penny of it does. And overtime make programs live within their means or get cut. That would be beautiful.

Just to be clear I'm not advising soak the rich, (I don't subscribe to that). I'm simply saying it isn't fair that most of us get to pay taxes, and some get loopholes to not pay their share making the burden fall onto others.

thunder are you shorting anything specifically?

Regarding the actual spending agreement, letting the Republicans "win" this one is good I think.

Gives them some actual skin in the game for 2012.

If the economy bounces back, then cuts were good. If it doesn't, cuts were clearly bad.

The optics is pretty easy on this.

Of the hijackers on 9/11, all were from Saudi Arabia, with the exception of Fayez Banihammad, yet we attack Iraq & Afghanistan? Regarding Afghanistan, does anyone really know WHY we are there? Literally tens of thousands of innocent civilians (including children) have been killed, wounded and made into nomads because their villages and homes have been destroyed. Over 800 of our own troops have been killed. Not one army in history, beginning with Alexander the Great, has ever succeeded in Afghanistan. The CIA reports that there are only 200 al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Bin Laden is probably in southern Pakistan (if not already dead). Yet we not only remain in Afghanistan, but we are expanding our operations there … WHY??

I'm still choking on the day that I was going to buy Silver Wheaton $30 call options for a buck a piece. I was too tired and just went to bed and never bothered. Now that it's passed $45 I woulda turned my paycheck into a car. I'm going to start major profit taking on mining shares if Silver crosses $50.

Troy says

If the economy bounces back, then cuts were good. If it doesn’t, cuts were clearly bad.

The optics is pretty easy on this.

Right. Like they wouldn't put the entire right wing media and HUGE teabagger campaigns behind arguing that it was Obama's fault for his healthcare plan or changes in regulations for...whatever.

Wouldn't be surprised if there is a republican agenda right now (in some circles) that would like to take down the economy for exactly that reason. Take it down, blame Obama.

RayAmerica says

Of the hijackers on 9/11, all were from Saudi Arabia, with the exception of Fayez Banihammad,

I am not sure where you are getting your facts from Ray, oh... wait... I remember, you just make them up.

19 hijackers total:
Saudi = 15
UAE = 2 (FYI, Fayez Rashid Ahmad Banihammad, was one of these guys)
Lebanese = 1
Egyptian = 1

https://www.cia.gov/news-information/speeches-testimony/2002/DCI_18_June_testimony_new.pdf

RayAmerica says

Not one army in history, beginning with Alexander the Great, has ever succeeded in Afghanistan.

It depends on your definition of succeed. Actually Alexander did succeed in Afghanistan. He conquered them with a campaign from 330 to 327 BC and left an occupation in the area for several years. After his death the area became part of the empire of Seleucus Nicator. Dozens of rulers and empires have conquered Afghanistan over the last 2500 years. Like Alexander, when they died so did control of the country. Of course this conquest and reconquest is also true for almost every place in Asia and Europe so I guess pretty much everywhere in the old world could be called the graveyard of armies.

"Excuse me but when the government shuts down, what happens is that the Treasury and various laws determine what is ‘essential’ and what is ‘non-essential’ with the essential still provided and just the non-essential no longer provided. With me so far?"

A govt. shutdown resulting from the fialure to pass a budget is MUCH different from failing to raise the debt ceiling. In the case of the ceiling, if we don't raise it, the U.S. defaults on it's debt and cannot borrow any money. Spending would have to immediately be cut by over 40%. And the U.S. will lose it's AAA credit rating, which will result ina double dip worse than the first dip since interest rates will skyrocket.

I think it's the best time to buy and flip properties now.