Accusing.
POTUS is back on the attack-the-GOP trail -- looking again for a way to rally the retreating Democratic members of Congress who flee in panic and despair from the polls and the economy. Last week, you will recall, POTUS accused the Republicans of "making a stand on the backs of the little guy...." -- a familiar trope, something to do with spending another $33 billion on extended unemployment checks without offsetting the costs with cuts in the budget. Now POTUS chooses to make his weekly partisan attack while standing in front of a GM car in Detroit. This time he accuses the Republicans in the Senate again: "I'm calling on Republican leaders in the Senate to stop holding American small business hostage to politics...We can't afford the do nothing and partisan maneuvering..." What is choice about the POTUS rhetoric is that during his brief tenure in the Senate, he was a worthy partisan in joining slow-downs, and foot-dragging, and "partisan maneuvering." Also, who is the audience for this palaver? The Senate? Nah. The media? Nah. The Republican voters, the independent voters? Nah, nah. The audience is the Democratic Left, the part of it that listens.
POTUS the Bantamweight.
The peculiar coda in the POTUS attack palaver serves as a warning to future princes when in distress. Avoid the negative cliche. "I know that times are tough... We'll make it through again..." POTUS knows what? "Times are tough?" Does he mean the four straight quarters of growth he boasts of? What about the soaring 2.4% annualized growth? Or the stabilizing 9% jobless? Who is "we?" "Make it" where? Is this a pep talk? On the basis of his observations? His experience? His political acumen? POTUS risks sounding bantamweight. If this were an astrologer's lair, we could look at the stars for the moment. Does POTUS doubt himself? Is the prince weakened? Why did we listen then, since we do not much listen now? What do the stars say? Why is POTUS without adequate weight? The View? Anna Wintour's home to flirt with fashionistas? Trite, fleeting, mayflies in the July wind?
I don't believe your financial experts, John, when they say the recession is over. Recession is a stae of mind and I don't know a single person who doesn't think the country's going down the crapper. Everyone's waiting for November. Until then, nothing's going to happen. These stock market fluctuations are just statistical noise IMO.
By the way, on the topic of not believing experts per your guest last night, why don't you round up those fine gentlemen who were predicting gold at $2,000 an ounce by 12/31/10? In case nobody's noticed, gold has pretty much gone straight down since they made those predictions one Sunday night back in May, I believe.
Do not recall the gold bug riot, but they were thick in the Spring. Now the gloom of drift and sag. Smart money walking away form the table. Prepare the evacuation barges for the Democratic frosh. The Inquisition rises.
potus hears economists talk of confidence.
he thinks that just needs a few more rounds of a peppy "si se pueda".
his people are so clueless about what economic confidence means that they fail to warn him off.
each pep talk drives more listeners into despair because it proves dc doesn't have a clue.
where are the grown ups?
I don’t mind admitting I hate it when someone begins a comment with ‘I’. Nevertheless…
I find it fascinating that much of what I have been saying has come true - or, at least, there are now others out there saying the same thing. The latest example is Ernest Christian’s and Gary Robbins’ perspective entitled ‘Will Washington’s Failures Lead Second American Revolution?’ on INVESTORS.com.
The title caught my eye in that several interpretations are possible. The article did not disappoint in this regard. It did, however, gloss over the muck of revolution, touting the now entirely probable November midterm results as the cleanest of all the possible outcomes. Unlike our first revolution, however, the article acknowledges that it is unlikely to topple King Geobama (sic).
And this is precisely what I’ve been stressing as well: that the mistake we made back in November 2008 will yet cost us a great deal; that it will yet take several election cycles to turn the corner, much less recover. And even so, the die may already have been cast and the immediate benefit to us may well amount to no more than having become aware.
Neither is it appropriate to blame Obama for all our ills. Where we now find ourselves has been long in coming. In fact, we owe Barack Hussein Obama a debt gratitude for having uncovered the plot for us. McCain - like Bush - would likely have continued to keep us in the dark.
Cat Stevens wrote in “Tuesday’s Dead”: ‘If I make a mark in time - Then I can say the mark is mine - (When, in fact) I’m only the underline…’ Obama is and always has been ‘the underline’. He is not original; he is not historic (as he likes to boast). If he were, he would have the American people behind him. He does not. Therefore, his revolution is not a revolution. It was a coup. The revolution is yet to come, and it will be an American revolution.
http://peterkoelliker.blogspot.com/
http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/
I just remembered another lyric from Cat's song "Tuesday's Dead". It says, "What's my sex, what's my name, all in all it's all the same." In other words, there's no identity. Cat Stevens converted to Islam later in life and, ironically, took a new name. Diversity is not recognized in Islam. There is only Allah and there is Islam. All things 'other' are anti-Islam and considered heresy.
There is only one other group that thinks the same way. It is communism in which there is only the State. All serve the State. Both communism and Islam try hard to erase all identity. A claim to identity threatens both, and renders them illegitimate - particularly with regard to sex.
In Islam, the female is kept covered up and officially ignored. She does not exist. In communism the approach is the exact opposite. Communism - especially in the run-up to revolution - the credo reads: have all the sex you want, with anyone you want to have it with, and as often as you want. Think about it! This too serves to break down identity at its root. A population without identity is thought to be more servile, and more easily manipulated.
Compared to Silver and Platinum, Gold is over-priced. I think the fear-mongers selling gold on them internets is propping up the price of gold. All of South Africa is back to work now the "FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010" (c) FIFA 2010 is over.
To change the subject: Bill Clinton looked so trim and.....Presidential at the "Wedding of the Year" (Mazel Tov Chelsea and Marc!). Hilary's name being dropped for Obama/Clinton 2012. Biden is an Albatross. Hilary offers Gravitas, and puts her really close to the ultimate prize: Appointing Bill Clinton as Ambassador to Mongolia.
Rangel has been told to "resign with Dignity" from the first Black President (excluding Bill Clinton). NY Gov. Patterson is a Lame Duck, would he do a Blago and appoint Himself to Congress? Patterson may not be liberal enough for Harlem.
Let me refresh everyone's memory. Gold was going to up because the dollar was going to plummet. The dollar was going to plummet because Greece and other EEC members were going to default. Long hot summer. Government keep printing more money to sustain IMF, etc. Well, no more defaults; government hasn't needed to print money; Chinese having their own troubles (although the Yuan is certainly undervalued); bottom line - dollar hasn't plummeted. So gold hasn't gone up. It's actually a good sign.
Gold has been moving almost in lockstep with the Dow up until about 10 days ago when there was some news come out about the supply/demand situation for the metal itself that had it trade temporarily on fundamentals rather than as a way to short the dollar.
There were several interviews on the JB show, culminating with the Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler himself (Taleb), who I wouldn't woo-woo now if he was the last gold bug on earth, saying that as long as Bernanke, Obama and Geithner were around, one had to short the dollar and go long on precious metals. Accountability, accountability, accountability. Let's have Taleb come on the show now and hold his feet to the fire and "very carefully" ask him why gold has gone down and the dollar has stabilized despite the dreaded triumvirate still being in office. I really want to know.
I can't believe even his most adoring fans on the Left listen to him any more. He's like Big Brother - every day, everywhere, on the tv, in your face. Whoever thinks putting him front and center all the freaking time helps him doesn't seem to understand the mechanics of overexposure.