patrick.net

staynumz says

Not quite as insane as blaming boosh for katrina. And these are the same private companies that will handle our health care under the dems. Confidence inspiring?

We don't blame Bush for Katrina; he is to blame for appointing an incompetent to head FEMA, ignore the problems that occurred as a result of the poor response, and for congratulating the people responsible for the poor response while people were hungry, homeless, in horrible squalor in the convention center, and barely surviving. He is to blame for using the incident as a PR ploy rather than responding with the the people and supplies necessary to help during a horrible time in our lives. Your train of thought, if there is one, is hard to follow and you make no real sense. You should continue to do everything you can to stay numb - but share with us what you use to do so; if only we could follow suit we might be able to translate your posts into something understandable.

I really can't see how you can blame how "The administration" for swine flu shot shortages. I believe they attempted to give the companies that manufacture it as much time as possible. The problem with any kind of drug is it needs to be properly tested before being approved for distrubution. If someone you know is dying from a condition (weather it's a desease, virus, cancer, whatever) and they were developing a drug to cure it. You can bet you would be demanding they release it to your love one yesterday. Demanding every day what's the frigging hold up, why can you morons give us the drug already. If they were to bow to your pressure and just send you the drug and A. It doesn't work as promised, people could lose valueable time trying a fruitless treatment when there limited time could be spent trying something else, Or B. The drug give sides effect, perhaps even lethal ones. You would be the first one in line demanding the head of the A hole that shipped a drug without proper testing. You would want to sue them for every penny. Despite all the advances in computers, telecommunications, and other technology, the medical field of drug development hasn't advanced since the 1940's. It's the same method of give the drug to one group and give a fake drug to the other and compare the results after months of testing. We are too MTV, McDonald's instant gratification society. We want it NOW. Drug development doesn't work that way. Even when a drug does work, anything not synthedic takes time to cultivate it. If you can't mix chemicals A and B together to make the drug, throwing billions of dollars at a problem isn't going to make a culture develop any faster or a plant that your trying to havest an extract from grow any faster. Yes, the shortages suck, but it's not anything the Obama Administration did wrong, it's the nature of the beast.

@ staynumz No--the point is that making vaccines isn't an exact science. And from what I've read, this particular strain grew slowly. So, there really isn't any blame to go around...

Don't we still make Gatorade and instant Lipton chicken noodle soup? People don't die because they get the Flu, they die because they don't stay home and keep hydrated, and nutrition levels up. Instead they going out to Movie week end openings and fly across country and even the globe. They die because they failed to take care of them selves and the flu. And then whey they are to sick to gallivant about, They go home and try to sleep and starve their body of electrolytes, vitamin C and fresh fruits and a poultry stock soup. Not even as much as a Motrin to keep their fever down. Then whey it gets so high it's critical it's usually to late to call the ambulance or rush down to the emergency room.

staynumz says

I am blaming owebama for the way he handled the response to the swine flu vaccine.

Nomograph says

Don’t you *ever* get tired of being wrong? Don’t you *ever* question what you hear on AM talk radio?

I bow to thee, dear Nomo.

2nd class, right you are. Many posters don't understand deficit spending. Think of it as spending money you haven't earned yet. This is not a very good idea.

Posters could learn more by reading "Web of Debt", "Empire of Debt" or anything by Ron Paul. Happy Thanksgiving.

2ndClassCitizen says

Are you kidding me? I can’t think of a single thing the “politicians” have done right in the past 10 years. They certainly effed up the economy and haven’t done a thing to solve the growing problem with deficit spending

No arguing that we had 8 years of one of the crappiest Presidents ever. So, I would agree that we had 8 years of bad decisions. But if you'll remember the 8 years before Bush, there was a balanced budget. So, it's not really that long ago...

elvis says

Kevin, I completely disagree with your assertion that “There really isn’t that much of a quality of life difference based on the size of government or the tax base.

Try spending 5 minutes in another country. Have you ever even visited another wealthy country?

mwhodges.com is a link farm. I'd love to see how someone could claim that 45% of GDP is consumed by the government.

Kevin, how on earth can you say "I'd love to see how someone could claim 45% of the GDP is consumed by government?" Perhaps you didn't really read the information on mwhodges.com?

ITS SPELLED OUT IN PLAIN ENGLISH, COMPLETE WITH CHARTS, GRAPHS AND SOURCE'S OF DATA.

The data is from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Go back and really READ it this time, its so obvious even a cave man would understand it.

tatupu70 says

Or it could be that the politicians know more than you and are actually making the correct choices as we speak. J

Tatu, you said "Or it could be that the politicians know more than you and are actually making the correct choices as we speak."

So you agree with increased deficit spending? Bailouts etc?

Honest Abe says

Kevin, how on earth can you say “I’d love to see how someone could claim 45% of the GDP is consumed by government?” Perhaps you didn’t really read the information on mwhodges.com?
ITS SPELLED OUT IN PLAIN ENGLISH, COMPLETE WITH CHARTS, GRAPHS AND SOURCE’S OF DATA.
The data is from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Go back and really READ it this time, its so obvious even a cave man would understand it.

No, it's a link farm. Are you sure you're even aware of the site you're visiting?

OK, just google: the grandfather report.

I am John Galt.

hmmm ..... another bubble ..... maybe we will see "peek gold" huh? lol

when we see "peek corn" and "peek rice", we will not be happy.

Bubble or no, why would people prefer to buy coins over bullion? If you're going for collector's value, I guess it makes sense, but is there really any other reason to prefer the eagles over bars of the stuff?

staynumz says

And who gave this company the contract to make the vaccine? Wow, you are so easy.

Do you think making a flu vaccine is like injection molding a plastic toy for a McDonalds Happy Meal? And that there are thousands of companies capable of doing it? The "Feds" as you call them, just make up a couple of drawings and open it up for bids? Seriously--staynumz, give up this thread. It was ridiculous to begin with and with each post you make it worse....

Which will just drive home prices down further.

Wage inflation? hahahahahahaha

Just the latest installment of the that sucking sound coming to a wallet near you. It's the continuation of the biggest transfer of weath from the middle and lower classes to that top 1% ever. Just wait until the dollar isn't even worth it's value as a fire starter.

Wait... Since when is Fox Noise part of the main stream media?

It was and always will be a political propaganda arm of the extreme Right Wing of the Republican Party.

staynumz says

Nomograph says

staynumz says

The feds control who makes the vaccine’s.

The vaccine was developed and manufactured in France by Sanofi-Aventis, a French company. Don’t you *ever* get tired of being wrong? Don’t you *ever* question what you hear on AM talk radio?

And who gave this company the contract to make the vaccine? Wow, you are so easy.

It's all a conspiracy. I see clearly now.

Clearly, since it's a french company making the vaccine, it's a conspiracy by the french islamofascistliberalterrorists to take over the US and turn us all into gay french muslims.

errc says

name me one thing that ISN’T twice as expensive today as it was in 1999.

Are you kidding? I can't think of anything that has doubled in 10 years. Other than gas maybe.

tatupu70 says

errc says

name me one thing that ISN’T twice as expensive today as it was in 1999.

Are you kidding? I can’t think of anything that has doubled in 10 years. Other than gas maybe.

What about a 20 min phone call? I think that has gone up. :) I agree with you, I can't think of much that has increased in price over the past 10 years.

It doesn't matter. The segment I'm concerned with is the mid-high end in the bay area. No investors are going to buy in that segment, there's no way to make them cash flow positive. It's not even close.

Investors can buy all the low-end homes they want, I don't care, I'm not interested in those.

Massive dollar printing resumes...

CrazyMan says

It doesn’t matter. The segment I’m concerned with is the mid-high end in the bay area. No investors are going to buy in that segment, there’s no way to make them cash flow positive. It’s not even close.
Investors can buy all the low-end homes they want, I don’t care, I’m not interested in those.

It does matter and "Location Location" hasn't mattered in almost 10 years now.
Those hoitey toitey neighborhoods have foreclosed abandoned distressed properties just like all of the others. The up keep demand is still there, or the city fines the bank and the bank doesn't like that extra liability. The property just in state of being empty, drags the price on all other existing homes around them. The NAR doesn't like that nor does the neighbors. Cities lose taxes, politicians don't like that. Politically there must be a network, where houses can be scuttled at a great short term loss. That the banks make up for with math that shows long term savings. Yes there is these guys are the ones with cash on hand waiting for the banks phone calls to buy them up minutes after they hit the MLS list, if it makes it that far. People having Realtors that send them daily MLS feeds never see these houses. Or it very well may be that empty house you've been watching for months or years. And to your knowledge every one you know including you, have put offers on those houses, yet there it sat empty all of this time. Suddenly come into a new coat of paint, and a new for sale sign out front. They can afford to rent it out as long as it takes. It's not costing them any thing at this point. They own it out right, and cash isn't a problem. They've got hundreds of Scott Rothstein's out there finding suckers to invest money that in less than 7 degrees to Kevin Bacon, I'm sure ties back to funds used to secure these property. But to investigate Scott or Bernard, it's just lost and vanished Billions.

The weaker homes in every community is being sacrificed to save the long term value of the other existing properties.

I mean granted these aren't the best houses on the block.

Emoticons like :-) are supposed to convert to graphics on display. We shall see in this comment.

Underlining should be doable starting with <u> and ending with </u> like this

I didn't know editing a post will remove paragraph breaks. Have to try that out.

You definitely post a graphic in a reply.

Can't do too much about the Republicans except point out how they are being used by their billionaire masters for tax-evasion and Wall Street socialism. Not that I'm so fond of the Democrats either. Go Bull Moose!

Damn, emoticons definitely not working.

Underlining works though.

Tell me more -- I'll fix it all.

tatupu70 says

errc says

name me one thing that ISN’T twice as expensive today as it was in 1999.

Are you kidding? I can’t think of anything that has doubled in 10 years. Other than gas maybe.

oh, well i guess everything you purchase somehow decoupled from gas. where do you live? Gas has tripled here over the last 12 years. In the world i live in, everything everywhere revolves around petrol. oil has more then doubled(and thats with todays price where it has kinda leveled off).

Take a 20 dollar bill back to 1999 and buy a gallon of milk, a gallon of gas, a bottle of water, a pack of chokes, a meal for one, send a letter with a stamp, make a phone call, go to the movies,,,,,

Now take that 20 dollar bill down 2009 avenue, and you can't even cover HALF that list. How about housing costs? ask patrick

>>Take a 20 dollar bill back to 1999 and buy a gallon of milk, a gallon of gas, a bottle of water, a pack of chokes, a meal for one, send a letter with a stamp, make a phone call, go to the movies,,,,,

errc says

Take a 20 dollar bill back to 1999 and buy a gallon of milk, a gallon of gas, a bottle of water, a pack of chokes, a meal for one, send a letter with a stamp, make a phone call, go to the movies,,,,,

OK, here's a site that shows some of the prices in 1999.

http://www.1990sflashback.com/1999/Economy.asp

As you can see, milk was $3.32 and stamps were $.33. So, stamps have increased $.11 and milk has remained about the same. Obviously no price doubling there... Gallon of gas has gone from $1.17 to ~2.80ish depending on where you live. No surprise there.

movie ticket prices can be found here:
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/about/adjuster.htm
1999 ave. price was $5.08 and 2009 est ave. price is $7.18. Certainly not doubled.

I think you get the picture. Like I said--other than oil/gas, inflation hasn't been high over the last 10 years...

tatupu70,

I have done those kinds of analyses myself, ad naseum, to form an opinion about purchasing power. Looking at "stuff" and also discretionary expenses like flights, I got similar picture that you shared.

But that is not a complete picture. Please include, in your analysis, these expenses:

taxes, weighted to the tax jurisdictions where you live or spend;
medical expenses. This'd include the premiums you pay;
if you have kids or might have them, or if you plan to go back to school yourself- tuition;
(if you use it or plan to)- child care.

Then decide if the purchasing power of your dollars hasn't gone down all that much.

@sybrib--

I don't think taxes have increased in the last 10 years overall, but it is very situation dependent. But, I agree that child care and medical expenses have increased faster than inflation over the last decade. But there are also many expenses that haven't increased as fast as inflation. There will obviously be some higher than average, and some lower than average...

Quoting only those that increased faster and disregarding the others gives a distorted view.

staynumz says

Kevin says

Clearly, since it’s a french company making the vaccine, it’s a conspiracy by the french islamofascistliberalterrorists to take over the US and turn us all into gay french muslims.

The french do not have to help us with that. We already have the left in this country doing thier best to make men, less manly. Take you, for example. Just sayin.

Yea, numz. You appear less manly as a result of his posts... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/01/skokie-vaccinated-offers_n_375037.html http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/news/clayton_state_has_h1n1_vaccine_surplus_112409 http://blogs.journalism.wisc.edu/badgerreport/h1n1-vaccine-surplus http://cbs2.com/swineflu/Swine.Flu.Vaccine.2.1309346.html http://www.silobreaker.com/canadas-h1n1-vaccine-surplus-being-sent-abroad-5_2262716706797387818 http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/health&id=7119084 http://www.abc4.com/news/local/story/Thousands-line-up-for-H1N1-vaccine-in-Davis-County/hzo0RxEpv0-meZX6Bv2_-w.cspx

Nomograph says

none2 says

This is the most insane blog entry I’ve seen in a while.

Staynumz simply repeats what he heard on AM talk radio that day. He is not a man who thinks for himself.

thats odd, I felt that you and staynumz had similar arch-conservative ideas....along with BAP33...what gives? Have I mis-read your policy stances?

Nomograph says

Most people hold some beliefs that might be classified as conservative and some beliefs that might be classified as liberal. In other words, most folks aren’t married to an ideological stand.

Strictly speaking, does that mean that in some manner most people swing both ways? Ideologically, I mean...

tatupu70 says

Quoting only those that increased faster and disregarding the others gives a distorted view.

lol .. and THAT never happens here!! lmao. THought you'd laugh too.

Count me in.

You're a doctor, couldn't you make him your type? :)

Happiness and Family

great list
#10 is #1