patrick.net

theoakman says

I just find it funny that he finds the need to convince the world he does.

I find it desperate that you find the need to convince the world that PK does not shovel snow (he does) and therefore he must be wrong about EVERYTHING.

Seriously, is this the best you've got? Some right-wing kooks are beyond pathetic.

justme says

theoakman says

I just find it funny that he finds the need to convince the world he does.

I find it desperate that you find the need to convince the world that PK does not shovel snow (he does) and therefore he must be wrong about EVERYTHING.

Seriously, is this the best you've got? Some right-wing kooks are beyond pathetic.

lol. I posted an anecdote. I find it funny that you somehow equate to a random message board posting as trying to convince the world. I love how a random comment about him pretending to shovel snow just turned me into a right wing fanatic. That's the problem with this dialog. Its gone beyond stupid.

humanity says

theoakman says

I just find it funny that he finds the need to convince the world he does.

I lived more than half my life around snow. Just because a truck came and plowed his driveway doesn't mean he didn't do quite a bit of additional shoveling himself, even if there wasn't more snow falling after the plow came.

I'm not trying to defend him. IT's possibly you're right, but it's a really bizarre claim to make. A stretch really. It's true he doesn't look like a very athletic guy. So even just a minor cleaning up of what the plow did (with a shovel), maybe doing walk ways that the plow didn't get, would be a big job for a 60 year old, non-athletic, relatively out of shape guy.

You guys seriously are reading way too in depth to this. Here's his pic and his blog post. It shows his wife standing at the end of the driveway and he basically insinuates how hard it was. I had driven by about two hours prior to this post. Ironically, I was hoping to plow some people's driveways for cash. His neighborhood can be $80 a driveway cuz some of them are insanely long.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/shovel-ready/

The chances of a 60 year old millionaire in Princeton doing any manual labor is about 0%. Anyone who thinks otherwise has obviously never been to Princeton.

theoakman says

It shows his wife standing at the end of the driveway and he basically insinuates how hard it was.

Paul Krugman was not insinuating anything. The ENTIRE blog post consisted of the following:

Title: Shovel-ready
Photo:
Text: But not very stimulating.

So Paul Krugman was posting a joke about "shovel-ready" national stimulus projects. Only the most acute sufferer of Republican Derangement Syndrome would try to twist this joke into some personal failing on Krugman's part.

I'm glad you posted the link, people can see for themselves

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/shovel-ready/

justme says

theoakman says

It shows his wife standing at the end of the driveway and he basically insinuates how hard it was.

Paul Krugman was not insinuating anything. The entire blog post consisted of the following:

Title: Shovel-ready

Photo:

Text: But not very stimulating.

So Paul Krugman was posting a joke about "shovel-ready" national stimulus projects. Only the most acute sufferer of Republican Derangement Syndrome would try to twist this joke into some personal failing on Krugman's part.

I'm glad you posted the link, people can see for themselves

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/shovel-ready/

lol, when you post a pic of someone posing at the end of an empty driveway, justme says

theoakman says

It shows his wife standing at the end of the driveway and he basically insinuates how hard it was.

Paul Krugman was not insinuating anything. The entire blog post consisted of the following:

Title: Shovel-ready

Photo:

Text: But not very stimulating.

So Paul Krugman was posting a joke about "shovel-ready" national stimulus projects. Only the most acute sufferer of Republican Derangement Syndrome would try to twist this joke into some personal failing on Krugman's part.

I'm glad you posted the link, people can see for themselves

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/shovel-ready/

lol, he snapped a pic of his wife standing at the end of a driveway that a truck cleared. And you are turning this into a right wing argument. Like I said...beyond stupid.

theoakman says

Like I said...beyond stupid.

Not really. You're political and or economic theory beliefs and your opinion in general of Krugman, influenced your coming up with this:

theoakman says

My favorite part of his blog is whenever it snows. I actually live about 3/4 of a mile away from him in Princeton. His house is huge (especially for not having any kids). But anyway, whenever it snows, he pays some guy to plow it for him and then he goes and snaps a photo of him with his shovel at the end of the driveway and posts it up on his blog saying how exhausted he is shoveling snow.

They should redistribute Krugman's wealth amongst the middle-class as part of his "mea-culpa" bailout-retribution and give away his house to some serious squatters. Now that would finally be a real stimulus for the economy!

marcus says

theoakman says

Like I said...beyond stupid.

Not really. You're political and or economic theory beliefs and your opinion in general of Krugman, influenced your coming up with this:

theoakman says

My favorite part of his blog is whenever it snows. I actually live about 3/4 of a mile away from him in Princeton. His house is huge (especially for not having any kids). But anyway, whenever it snows, he pays some guy to plow it for him and then he goes and snaps a photo of him with his shovel at the end of the driveway and posts it up on his blog saying how exhausted he is shoveling snow.

Haha, yeah, I made this up...because obviously, some joker pretending he shovels snow discredits everything he's ever said... you guys are pretty funny in that you can turn an anecdote about shoveling snow into a liberal vs. conservative argument. Here's a little tidbit for ya buddy, I've never voted Republican in my life.

theoakman says

Haha, yeah, I made this up...because obviously, some joker pretending he shovels snow discredits everything he's ever said...

Yes in indeed, you did make it up. And now you should be quietly ashamed of yourself. You have demonstrated the ability to generate an astounding amount of lies per post. Just amazing.

Honestly, gang, who really gives a good goddamn whether that bearded little gerbil shoveled his own pussy-ass'd driveway or not? His shit sucks. Did Krugman tell you two years ago to buy in Victor Valley? Adelanto???

So F that guy. Stick with Jody's economic clairvoyance, and it'll be blue skies.

Yea I'm rolling with uncle jody

Screw aunt paul and those sweaters and her cats. Krgman paid that snow removal service with his own gotdam hardearned cash, if he wants to pose in front of it afterwards so to appear capable of carrying the shovel down the driveway, have at it

mell says

They should redistribute Krugman's wealth amongst the middle-class as part of his "mea-culpa" bailout-retribution and give away his house to some serious squatters. Now that would finally be a real stimulus for the economy!

Ooooh, yes! And Al Gore lives in a big house so global warming must be a hoax!

I don't know exactly what is wrong with Krugman other than a lot.

indigenous says

I don't know exactly what is wrong with Krugman other than a lot.

Brilliant insight

tatupu70 says

indigenous says

I don't know exactly what is wrong with Krugman other than a lot.

Brilliant insight

Thank you

indigenous says

I don't know exactly what is wrong with Krugman other than a lot.

How about this? Krugman is beyond economic repairable ?

adarmiento says

indigenous says

I don't know exactly what is wrong with Krugman other than a lot.

How about this? Krugman is beyond economic repairable ?

Or FUBAR

finehoe says

mell says

They should redistribute Krugman's wealth amongst the middle-class as part of his "mea-culpa" bailout-retribution and give away his house to some serious squatters. Now that would finally be a real stimulus for the economy!

Ooooh, yes! And Al Gore lives in a big house so global warming must be a hoax!

Not necessarily, but it would certainly help his cause if he would live in a more modest house and not jet around so much. Same goes for Krugman.

robertoaribas says

I should sell my old necklace and wedding band from back in the day

A fallen Catholic who used to wear gold chains...you've lead an interesting life, Herr Roberto.

nw888 says

I'm not advocating a gold standard, but when he compares the Euro to a gold standard, I can't help but ask myself this:

Actually PK's point was that the Euro is a de-facto gold standard for the individual countries on it, neither Greece nor Italy can print euros like they printed their former national currencies.

This is what PK said at 1:45:

"If you're a country like Portugal or Greece . . ."

By that measure, isn't the relationship of the USA to its states, the same as the Eurozone to its countries?

Isn't the USA on a "gold standard" right now too?

No, since we have a more unified national government. Again, that is Krugman's point, that Europe has a monetary union without (strong-enough) a political union.

From the perspective of Sacramento, the USD is equivalent to a gold standard, but they've got around that in the past by printing warrants, LOL.

robertoaribas says

I should sell my old necklace and wedding band from back in the day... where the hell are they? i better sell them before they drop!

Rob, keep at least 10% of your savings in gold, and/or silver. It is a good hedge.

indigenous says

Some say the price is manipulated

Good point. I track the ETF called GLD. It is suppose to be an indicator of the price of an ounce of gold as it claims to hold an amount of gold in a vault. So you divide GLD's market capitalization by this claimed number of ounces of gold to figure out the $ per ounce of gold sitting in GLD's vault.

Now perhaps GLD is being manipulated.

I mean that is like accusing the federal government manipulating the unemployment data to get close to the magic 6.5% unemployment rate in order to get the Federal Reserve off the hook for the quantitative easing and Treasury Notes buying.

I wonder how big of a factor asian and latin american money is in California Real Estate.

indigenous says

Once Benny raises the interest rate the bubble is over.

Historically, the Federal Reserve doesn't raise rates until after the economy has already improved--it's a lagging indicator of economic activity. And, as such, the effect of rate increases will be offset by the effect of wage inflation.

tatupu70 says

indigenous says

Once Benny raises the interest rate the bubble is over.

Historically, the Federal Reserve doesn't raise rates until after the economy has already improved--it's a lagging indicator of economic activity. And, as such, the effect of rate increases will be offset by the effect of wage inflation.

The way they cook the books that could be anytime. Unemployment by the way they used to keep track is 11%

indigenous says

You would consider what Benny is doing to be moral?

Am I to understand that you consider the tea in China to be too expensive then?

robertoaribas says

we've had 3+ years of economic and employment improvement. It hasn't been sudden, it hasn't been fast but it has been real. In fact, the government deficit is falling quite fast, due more to economic improvement than the sequester.

claiming otherwise is just plain silly.

That is not what I hear from college graduates, construction workers, under employed part time workers, etc

indigenous says

No the basic premise is that small business creates jobs even the POTUS know this. If small business is down so are jobs. Just a fact.

fyi--your graph wasn't "small businesses", it was self-employed. Those are NOT the same thing.

tatupu70 says

indigenous says

No the basic premise is that small business creates jobs even the POTUS know this. If small business is down so are jobs. Just a fact.

fyi--your graph wasn't "small businesses", it was self-employed. Those are NOT the same thing.

Ok, learn me how that is so.

IT is sad that we don't yet have as many people employed as in 2007.

http://data.bls.gov/pdq/SurveyOutputServlet?request_action=wh&graph_name=CE_cesbref1

At least when we get a little further in to boomers retiring, you could have a graph like this and it would be much more positive than this is.

Also, it may soon be going the other way, based on a lot of the economic prognosticators.

indigenous says

Ok, learn me how that is so.

Self employed, includes all private contractors (consultants and such).

MAny small businesses owners would be incorporated, with their corporation or paying themselves a salary and would not be considered self employed (even though they are in a way).

In the United States, any person is considered self-employed for tax purposes if that person is running a business as a sole proprietorship, independent contractor, as a member of a partnership, or as a member of a limited liability company that does not elect to be treated as a corporation. In addition to income taxes, these individuals must pay Social Security and Medicare taxes in the form of a SECA (Self-Employment Contributions Act) tax.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-employment

Many small businesses, especially the kind that have employees, are incorporated.

robertoaribas says

If you really think that, give up you are a clueless nitwit then!

Oh dear hang my head in despair.

2 points, the job numbers are bullshit created by politicians

ALL new jobs are created by small business. This is a fundamental of housing sales. It IS the reason for the great depression it IS the reason that this "recovery" is a mirage.

APOCALYPSEFUCK is Shostakovich says

Paul Krugman needs a savage, debilitating kick RIGHT IN THE VAGINA!

Everyone knows that!

Which mean you can kick him anywhere as he are one

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=iBX

kinda interesting.

blue is jobs, more or less

red is age 25-54 population, which actually has gone down as there were more people born in the late 50s than the early 1980s . . .

My xls of US births by year shows there were 42M births 1955-64 and ~35M 1975-1984.

The baby boom echo was starting to arrive in the late 1980s (remember 'thirtysomething'?)

1973-75 was actually the post-boomer low point at ~3.2M, births rose continuously YOY until 1991, which matched an average baby boom year from the 1950s (4.1M).

tatupu70 says

Your graph does an OK job of capturing small business creation. But it does a horrible job of capturing small business hiring.

OK so my graph is under reporting job creation by small business, so what, if anything that further shows my point.

indigenous says

OK so my graph is under reporting job creation by small business, so what, if
anything that further shows my point.

huh? Your point was that small businesses weren't hiring. I showed that your evidence severely under reports hiring. How does that further show your point?

tatupu70 says

indigenous says

OK so my graph is under reporting job creation by small business, so what, if

anything that further shows my point.

huh? Your point was that small businesses weren't hiring. I showed that your evidence severely under reports hiring. How does that further show your point?

My point was that all new jobs are created by small business. The graph indicates that small business is languishing ergo job creation is languishing.

This strikes at the very core of why the economy is languishing and why the POTUS has to create the illusion that it is not, just as FDR did the same.

indigenous says

The graph indicates that small business is languishing ergo job creation is
languishing.

But that's the point. The graph doesn't indicate that.

tatupu70 says

indigenous says

The graph indicates that small business is languishing ergo job creation is

languishing.

But that's the point. The graph doesn't indicate that.

By virtue of the fact that self employed is different than small business?

indigenous says

By virtue of the fact that self employed is different than small
business?

Yep--

From your earlier post, you're defining small business as less than 500 people, it appears. So, at MOST, 1 out of the 500 people would show up as "self employed". You would be missing 499 out of the 500 people.