Recent comments

  • Without a collapse (due to regime overthrow, Mercantile Meltdown, water, or finance), China's GDP will double within 7 years at a 10 percent growth rate. I try to visualize the Port of Long Beach with the diesel and coal (it drifts across the Pacific) pollution. With luck, U.S. GDP will take 15 to 26 years to double at a 3 to 4 percent growth rate (CBO HooHa).. The world has to want the power shift to happen and let this happen. The geopolitical consequences are enormous. There is no historical guarantee for republics or democracies over totalitarian states, no matter what the chauvinists tell you. Sparta won the War against Athens.A generation late, Alexander the Great ascended.

    How will oligarchy break the sea change to America? Likely from offshore folks like Rogers, the CEO of Cyprus Semiconductor, moving production to Taiwan, then mainland China, made the shift quietly 20 years ago. Nobody stopped Rogers. When China wins, the living on U.S shores will not make a whimper, know or care.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Reply to: IMF - "Essential" China Allow Currency to Appreciate   14 years 10 months ago
    EPer:
  • According to the CIA Factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/20...) the combined GDP (Purchasing Power Parity) of the US, European Union, Japan, India and Russia is $38.4 trillion dollars. The world GDP is $70 trillion. Thus, these five GDP’s constitute 54% of the world GDP.

    China’s GDP (PPP) is $8.7 trillion, 12% of the world GDP.

    How can it be that “the world is out of balance and the China Yuan currency peg is a major reason why”? Where are the numbers and graphs said to be are an essential part of this blog’s presentations? When it comes to China articles there is a curious lack of them accompanied by valid logical statistical inferences.

    Keep in mind quoting the IMF on China is like quoting the UN on Iran, one has to take into consideration the enormous disproportionate influence that the US has in both organizations. That’s why numbers, graphs and statistical logic must accompany the rhetoric of political economy discourse

    Reply to: IMF - "Essential" China Allow Currency to Appreciate   14 years 10 months ago
    EPer:
  • "Not one [teachers] union has allowed a pay cut", wrote anonymous drive-by. In the second-largest school district in the nation (Los Angeles), the teachers' union voted to approve furlough days in order to save the jobs of colleagues. As already pointed out, furlough days are pay cuts by another name.

    Disagreement is one thing and is to be expected here, but I find this blatantly counter-factual ranting disheartening.

    Reply to: State budget crisis about to become a "catastrophe"   14 years 10 months ago
    EPer:
  • Capital Controls and what you should know. I'm in de Google webmaster tools because I'm doing "some stuff" trying to get things straightened out as I tackle the upgrades...

    So anywho they have different analyzes and I saw this is #3 and it's not that old! People clearly are interested in this information.

    What I was surprised about, because it seems no one comments, on all of my little EI analysis, where i graph out and dig around in the gov. data and stats....those are being linked all over hell too.

    That's good, sometimes is hard to get any feedback thinking it's just comments and they don't comment but they sure are using the material on their own sites, including MSM.

    Reply to: Capital controls and what you should know   14 years 10 months ago
    EPer:
  • When this happens its a crisis of unimaginable proportion yet while the middle class was being gutted by Reagan, Clinton, Bush and now Obama it was, you know the way things are.

    Its not about cutting anyones paycheck as a solution.

    Its about a reaction to the economy and a lack of tax income after decades of government policy that has stripped away an entire sector of the US economy. No one seemed to have a problem with that while it actually happened. Now the game has changed because society has lost some of its ability to pay its own bills via the tax process. This could not be more clear than it is right now.

    Where do you expect the money to come from? Thats a simple question if answered. The unemployed? Those underwater with their mortgages? The underemployed? The wealthy that we can't even charge with obvious crimes? (I voted Carter, Mondale, Dukakis, Clinton, Clinton, Gore, Kerry and Obama before you state I elected people who are killing my living even though Clinton did do that) States and municipalities are raising taxes through huge fee increases and the like so that they do not show up as income tax increase but they have the same effect. My state is struggling with balancing their budget and one solution is to kill state aid to cities and towns. Gee what happens when that bumps into education mandates? Property taxes skyrocket. Sure RI taxes for RI money not New Jersey taxes for New Jersey money but the percentage increases are going to be significant.

    I would be fine with education cost increases tied to the CPI. How would that suit you? They get every penny of increases as determined by government stats no questions asked. Beyond that means education spending is rising faster than the rest of the economy which should not happen.

    That would give every school system in the country a 2.7% increase for this year based on last. Of course based on 2008 they should have gotten a 0.1% increase.

    Most school budgets would consider being locked into the CPI as suicidal as it would not even cover the medical cost increases.

    New school Budget Could Raise Local Taxes by 9.5%

    Reply to: State budget crisis about to become a "catastrophe"   14 years 10 months ago
    EPer:
  • Nothing has been done - NOTHING to protect private sector workers union or not all those jobs are being moved a little slower now because most of the damage has been done.

    No doubt. I feel ya'. You have a legit complaint.
    But I think you are working at this from the wrong angle. Cutting the salaries of other working class slobs solves nothing. In fact, it creates other serious problems, like gutting the education of the next generation. That's not something that can be ignored.

    Why don't we look at solutions first? That's what I am saying.

    Reply to: State budget crisis about to become a "catastrophe"   14 years 10 months ago
    EPer:
  • I knew that was going to happen when I saw Obama's cabinet.
    As for offshoring of jobs, you are preaching to the choir. I'm totally with you on this.

    However, that's a whole different issue. We are talking about cutting the salaries of middle-class school teachers here.
    Let me propose something that I think we might be able to agree on: Instead of starting with cutting the wages of working class Americans, how about we start with saving money from doing things like a) declaring victory ending incredibly expensive and useless foreign wars, b) not subsidizing the same Wall Street banks that stole from us, c) declaring victory and ending the unwinnable war on some drugs, d) doing something progressive like taxing capital gains at the same rate as income, e) raising the cap on social security taxes to higher incomes so it doesn't go broke.

    Can we agree on at least some of these things?
    I also think that we need to get rid of NAFTA, CAFTA, get out of the WTO, and revoke China's MFN status. But those things would only see results after a period of time.

    My solutions would save trillions of dollars and raise trillions of dollars more. Your solution would be measured in the hundreds of millions and still wouldn't get us anywhere because it would continue the whittling down of the middle class.
    That's what I mean about perspective. It's sort of like the people that blame our troubles on immigrants. I'm sure that there are some issues with immigrants that are real, but in comparison to what truly ails this nation, immigration is a distraction that the wealthy elite use to divide us.

    Reply to: State budget crisis about to become a "catastrophe"   14 years 10 months ago
    EPer:
  • He's extremely pro tech labor and has worked with Bernie Sanders as well as Durbin, Dorgan. This is why I don't care for that across the board partisanship. There are a few who do cross over sometimes and I"m seeing claims (Ed show is beyond belief partisan hack! Sorry!) that the $50 billion isn't a problem and as you know, all over the financial sites, wanting real reform, we'll all saying stop too big to fail by breaking them up, this $50 billion stinks like permanent bail out and a set up to have it all happen again.

    Reply to: What's Happening with Financial Reform Legislation?   14 years 10 months ago
    EPer:
  • This bill appears to have more support on both sides than I would have imagined.

    Imagine a populist outrage being supported on both sides?

    Reply to: What's Happening with Financial Reform Legislation?   14 years 10 months ago
    EPer:
  • You haven't attacked me personally. But you seem to draw conclusions that are not factually correct to me. So, I wonder what it is about you that I'm missing. Also, the friends I mentioned in Princeton, they weren't the super rich. Hell, they were not rich at all, but they valued what the Princeton community had to offer and were willing to support it. But the old wealth was there and they contributed their fair share too. There just wasn't a lot of class conflict evident in Princeton, and that is worth exploring further if we hope to maintain America in any sense that all classes can recognize.

    Reply to: State budget crisis about to become a "catastrophe"   14 years 10 months ago
    EPer:
  • I am glad for the super wealthy in New Jersey who can afford to pay those taxes. If I lived there my daily and hourly rate would be much higher so I could play in that game also. Wow whats your next question - what do I do? Too bad I'm not the subject here much as you seem to want to focus on me personally.

    I am wondering why you are allowed to address me directly in posts though and why you are allowed to ask me personal data etc?

    Have I attacked you personally? Or do you feel any opposing opinion is an attack?

    Reply to: State budget crisis about to become a "catastrophe"   14 years 10 months ago
    EPer:
  • Where is that so far?

    When did the tax breaks for companies sending jobs overseas get repealed?

    Not one single answer to the actual problem of funding more and more expensive education just whines about the problem and complaints towards any view that is okay with decreased spending.

    Reply to: State budget crisis about to become a "catastrophe"   14 years 10 months ago
    EPer:
  • I lived for 20 years in central NJ, just a few miles outside of Princeton. There were a lot of "old money" estates in and around Princeton and they were happy to pay their "bloated" tax assessments in order to maintain the bucolic nature of the area. IOW, they understood that everyone, all classes, needed to be able to live in the area to keep it alive and vibrant.

    Friends of ours lived in Princeton, in a 1200 sq.ft. shotgun style house embedded in an old residential neighborhood. Our friends referred to it as the "golden ghetto" because it went for 400k in 1998 and had about 30 sq ft of grass between the front porch and the sidewalk. But ya know Jim, it worked for them and for the very, very wealthy in Princeton. There was a sense of community and what makes it worthwhile that all shared.

    You seem very bitter Jim, but I am also very bitter. I just don't think we are bitter about the same thing. The tax weary voters of NJ are going to find out what happens to societies that run their communities like businesses. The cruel irony is that businesses OWN, and therefore control governments. Thus, they dictate how the rules are applied. Communities are just along for the ride and to pay the way of the plutocrats.

    (PS Jim - 7k property taxes are NOTHING in Somerset/Middlesex/Mercer/Hunterdon counties in NJ)

    Reply to: State budget crisis about to become a "catastrophe"   14 years 10 months ago
    EPer:
  • I suppose if you can't actually come up with an answer to the situation the best thing you can do is attack someone who says cut costs.

    You answered what you incorrectly read prior to this and now you skip directly to reaching for some basis for a personal attack apparently.

    Reply to: State budget crisis about to become a "catastrophe"   14 years 10 months ago
    EPer:
  • I have to admit, this post was really good! Thank you for the laughs!

    For starters, to blame Fox for Iraq, alone, is pretty funny! In that case, I'll blame Obama for Afghanistan; while he didn't start it, he does appear ready to take it further (or else run like a coward at a specified date).

    Secondly, how Fox, Rupert, and Sarah can convince CBS News, Gallup, CNN, NBC, Democracy Corps, and ABC to ALL modify their results so as to reflect a growing "rage" against the Fed Gov't is WAAAAY beyond me. Of course, if those same groups were to ONLY speak with conservatives and Independents, then yes, that would explain the anger. But of course those SAME polling groups "claim" to interview a particular percentage of conservatives, independents, and liberals. Then again, a perfect 1/3 of those same people who are interviewed could be lying and saying they are independents or liberals so as to throw off those same polling groups. But it's also possible that ALL the media is secretly against Obama and the Dems therefore they, themselves, are ALL lying about the results because of a HUUUUGE right-wing conspiracy that all of those same polling groups are members of.

    Either way, you win this argument. I can't possibly compete against someone that believes Fox, Rupert, and Sarah have that much power.

    Reply to: State budget crisis about to become a "catastrophe"   14 years 10 months ago
    EPer:
  • Whether someone with $15 million is in your neighborhood or not doesn't make a bit of difference. The extraction of wealth from rural areas to eastern banks is a story nearly two centuries old.

    Who is using a banker as a guideline for working class salaries?

    I'm not using a banker as a guideline for working class salaries. That is my point.

    I don't vote on banker salaries the last time I checked.

    On the contrary. You voted for the people who made certain that made sure those bankers could continue to receive those salaries.

    Reply to: State budget crisis about to become a "catastrophe"   14 years 10 months ago
    EPer:
  • Jim,

    I just reread the post and then each of your comments. I truly don't know what exactly is bugging you but I would like to know. Who are you and what is your situation? Do you have kids? What is your background? Is there any other part of the public sector, besides teachers, that you would like to comment on? It might help the rest of us understand where you are coming from. I mean, achieving a functioning society has its costs, and I don't think we want to see every fucking thing in America controlled and run by the private sector!?! But perhaps you do and I would be interested to know if that is the case.

    Reply to: State budget crisis about to become a "catastrophe"   14 years 10 months ago
    EPer:
  • A worthwhile hour and a half of William Black talking about what happened to us.

    The Great American Bank Robbery

    Reply to: "We've Known Since Enron" - Lehman Hearing Testimony   14 years 10 months ago
    EPer:
  • I have absolutely no issues whatsoever with teachers being paid a fair wage. I used to live in a county that was considered the wealthiest in the nation (per capita) - as well as the fastest growing. The teachers made a good income (compared to other local areas) and I fully supported it, BUT I did not support how the School District managed its funds. I had some insight because of the organisation I worked for - and the common rule was "spend it if we got it". That mentality existed because IF they didn't spend it, then their budget was cut the following year because they apparently had too much money on their hands.

    So let's make a basic analogy: Let's say the budget was $150M per year; then each year, for 10 years, their budget went up by 7.4%. After 10 years, their new budget was approximately: $307M (assuming I did the math right...)

    Then BOOM!

    Now, their newest available budget is $290M the following year because of the crash; then $270M, then $250M and so forth. As a result, they must cut $20M in ONE YEAR. How do they do that? A bailout or job cuts or raise taxes or misc cuts, etc? US Gov't is out of funds, so a bailout isn't possible unless you want to continue to destroy America's finances. Raising taxes is horrible for jobs, since no one has one anyway and is looking for one, so that leaves job cuts and misc cuts. Now, if the Unions will back pay cuts, then that will save tonnes of jobs - which is a great approach. If a teacher who makes $65K / year is now forced to make $61,750 - what is wrong with that? Does this put them into the poor-pot? NO, it doesn't. My point is simply that we ALL need to accept responsibility for this mess because WE ALL helped to elect the government officials and WE ALL celebrated when times were good, even though the occasional seer would come along and tell us a crash is coming.

    Did we listen? No, we were making too much money. Did we want to listen? No, because we didn't want to cut back NOR did we want to plan accordingly. But now we have to - and EVERYONE has to share in this mess. You and I both need to. As it appears, to admit "failure" is the only option left because we don't have the money to prop up the government anymore...and jobs are not coming. Therefore massive cuts are required in all areas of government. But as I said before - failure is a great thing! And once we're made stronger, accepted our faults and have corrected them - then we'll come back better than ever before.

    Reply to: State budget crisis about to become a "catastrophe"   14 years 10 months ago
    EPer:
  • Our ever expanding school budget where my nearly $7,000 a year in tax dollars plus a good portion of state taxes and some federal taxes goes to however is over $50 million a year.

    Who is using a banker as a guideline for working class salaries? I don't vote on banker salaries the last time I checked.

    Tax-weary N.J. voters reject record 59% of school budgets

    Anymore esoteric comparisons that are completely out of touch?

    Reply to: State budget crisis about to become a "catastrophe"   14 years 10 months ago
    EPer:

Pages