Republican against Burr

Articles worth a read, January 2012

2012-01-26T11:18:00.001-05:00

01/26 Lesson: Boom always leads to bust
01/26 GOP austerity: Won't work
01/26 UK austerity: Is not working

01/24 15% tax on rich: Just not fair
01/24 Rich People: Hiding $18 Trillion from tax man
01/24 Romney: Just a rich tax crook

01/23 Congress allows Wall Street to screw America
01/23 Obama: 5 myths
01/23 World: 1 in 3 suffering, terribly

01/22 Americans to Obama: Drill
01/22 Afghanistan: Get out, now
01/22 Fed Taxes: Low

01/21 Dad vs. Son: 37% vs. <15%
01/21 Romney: Loves the Cayman Islands
01/21 Chris to Mitt: Release it, damnit

01/20 Romney: Wants to pay even less tax
01/20 Romney: Loves off-shore tax shelters
01/20 Mfg loss: It's not wages, stupid

01/19 The 1%: Their majors
01/19 Romney: Unfortunately, not his father
01/19 Romney: Taxes paid < middle class

01/18 Rich people: Whining, again
01/18 Romney: $374 K, "not very much"
01/18 Romney: The private equity problem

01/17 Hussman: Recession ahead
01/17 Joyful News: 5,000 I-Bankers get the axe
01/17 Romney: Pays less tax than you

01/14 Obama: The Long Game
01/14 WallStreet screws Taxpayers out of $20 B
01/14 Great Summary of current issues

01/12 Just great: More debt
01/12 Wall Street: Dire need for prosecution
01/12 Capital Inflows: Masked GOP failure

01/11 Republicans: Freeing Killers
01/11 Food Stamps: Common sense
01/11 Tax Cheats: Cost us $450 Billion

01/10 Republicans: Becoming Democrats
01/10 Makes common sense: Wealth tax
01/10 How banks screwed our pension plans

01/09 Goldman Sachs: Back the GOP
01/09 Ultra Rich: Back the GOP
01/09 Obama: Government job AXE

01/05 Conservatives: Don't care for Mitt
01/05 David Frum: Moderate Republican
01/05 Unemployment claims: Falling

01/04 Interesting: A Nut chooses another Nut
01/04 Recess appointments: Bush 171, Obama 29
01/04 Mitt: Obama is a capitalist. Huh?

01/03 2012: Financial mkt predictions
01/03 Congress: Insider trading CROOKS
01/03 Republicans: Can't admit Bush was to fault

DECEMBER

@SenatorBurr - Are you really that stupid Senator, Really?

2012-01-25T19:40:00.001-05:00

Our dolt of a Republican Senator released his response to President Obama's January 24, 2012 State of the Union Address. I'm going to enjoy a couple more days, maybe weeks, possibly months of watching worthless Republican Politicians squirm, then I'll eventually circle back around and make my own comments about our Senator's finger pointing and blame game.

Without adieu, comments from our dolt:

Richard Burr:
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) released the following statement in response to President Obama’s State of the Union address.

“Americans today are faced with economic uncertainty, and they are right to expect leadership from their elected representatives in Washington. President Obama touched on many important issues tonight, but actions speak louder than words. While some might have been impressed with his delivery, I contend that he must be judged on his policies.

“I do not blame the President for the difficulties he inherited when he took office, but I do hold him accountable for the ineffective, expensive, job-killing policies he has forced onto the American people over the last three years. Has he forgotten about the first two years of his presidency when almost all of his economic policies were implemented with the help of a Democrat-controlled Congress? For two years, Democrats controlled the White House and both houses of Congress, and if the President wanted to do something to fix the housing crisis, address student loans, reform immigration policy, and promote a comprehensive energy policy, or work towards any of the goals he brought up tonight, he could have easily done so. His inaction proves that the things he called priorities tonight were not high on his list at the time.

“It is time for President Obama to face the facts – his policies have failed and are making our economy worse. Our debt has reached record heights under his watch, and unemployment has exceeded 8 percent every month that he has been in office. Many of the challenges the President mentioned tonight were created here in Washington by expanding the size and scope of the federal government and increasing the debt limit in hopes of turning the economy around. As we have learned, however, throwing money at our problems is not the right approach to restoring economic prosperity.

“The President should stand behind his bipartisan pledges and work with Congress to find ways to enact change that will truly put us on the path to prosperity.

“I was glad to hear the President address the need to increase our production of domestic energy, and I am pleased that there is already a bipartisan framework in Congress to spur the production and use of natural gas called the NAT GAS Act. Energy independence plays a vital role in America's national security, and this bill represents a step in the right direction towards decreasing our dependence on imported energy sources. However, I wish the President would listen to his own concerns and the recommendations of his own “blue-ribbon” commission and reverse his decision to halt construction on the Keystone XL Pipeline. Instead, he pays lip service to energy security.

“I also applaud the President’s call for fiscal responsibility, but we have heard all of this before and the American people demand action, not just more of the same. We must rein in spending from Washington to begin paying off our enormous debt and live within our means. At last year’s State of the Union, President Obama called for the merging of federal agencies to reduce duplicative functions and waste. I proposed bills that would accomplish this goal, and I hope that the Administration will consider this approach and urge the Majority in the Senate to act.

“However, fiscal responsibility will never be achieved without a sound, responsible federal budget. It has been 1,000 days since the Senate passed an annual budget, and this is simply unacceptable. I was disappointed that the President announced that he is once again delaying his budget recommendations for the coming fiscal year. Annual budgets are absolutely vital to get our fiscal house in order, rein in government spending, and put our economy back on the right track. Even more, we should work towards a balanced budget amendment to restore the confidence in our government and our economy. Instead, the President pays lip service to fiscal responsibility.

“I was also happy to hear the President discuss the need to make the tax system more equitable and less burdensome on middle class families and small businesses. There are ways to accomplish this goal without raising taxes on job creators. Raising taxes on American families is a non-starter, but we can simplify the tax code and eliminate tax loopholes so that small businesses in North Carolina aren’t paying more than large corporations who take advantage of the loopholes in our system.

“The President’s State of the Union address sounded a lot like speeches we have heard from him since he took office, but words alone are not enough to turn our economy around and put the American people back to work. I hope he will heed his own advice and work to advance policies that help instead of hurt and promote growth rather than stifle it.”

@SenatorBurr - Gotta love that Bruce Bartlett, he's one funny Republican

2012-01-25T12:37:00.003-05:00

Was reading this article in Rolling Stone and came across this line from Bruce Bartlett that had me rolling in the floor, laughing: "Taxes are ridiculously low!" says Bruce Bartlett, an architect of Reagan's 1981 tax cut. "And yet the mantra of the Republican Party is 'Tax cuts raise growth.' So – where's the fucking growth?"

I think this says it all:

All the growth is in the wealth of the small minority of rich Republicans pulling the strings. Yes, Bruce, the 400 highest paid Americans made an AVERAGE of $270 Million in the latest reported period. They paid taxes at an average of only 18.1%. Over 1/3rd of those 400 paid less than 15%. The one that grates on me the most? There were over 25 hedge fund managers last year who made over $1 Billion each. They do the same damn thing I do, speculate in securities. I can sell that same damn stock and book the same damn gain, but the carried interest rules, protected by Republicans, allows these Billionaires to pay taxes that are 50% less than me. Yep, the growth is in the wealth of the protected class, protected by Republican politicians.

The sweet deal for the rich contrasts with what happens to everyone else. Almost every middle class American household making between $200 K and $1 M winds up trapped in AMT and paying 22 - 24%, significantly higher than the super wealthy. And the average American household makes only $54,283, the same damn thing in 2009 that they made in 1997. You can bet that gas, groceries, health care, and education don't cost the same, eh?

Yes, Bruce. I am laughing my ass off at the typical, poor American schmuck faced with flat income but rising costs, paying more taxes than Mitt, firm in their ridiculous belief that Obama is a raging socialist, and stupidly voting nothing but a straight Republican ticket .... so the super wealthy can keep on taking, taking, taking ... while the rest of America suffers. We live in a nation full of naive schmucks.

Funny stuff, huh?

No, no so funny after all.

@SenatorBurr - There's that moment

2012-01-25T09:49:00.004-05:00

There's this sublime moment, just after drinking a really nice wine, or smoking a good cigar, or enjoying a great beer, know it? You just sit back, feel at ease and ask yourself ... "ain't life great!". Sometimes that moment is temporary, lasting only a couple minutes. Sometimes hours, or days. Hopefully, at least once in every person's life, the moment can last weeks, months, maybe even years. Hopefully.

Well, I'm enjoying one of those moments now. I think it's going to last a long while. Our President's State of the Union Address was informative, inspiring. He hit it out of the park, on so many fronts. And the Republican politicians who cratered our economy, have no viable solutions to correct course, who can only obstruct, point fingers, complain, they're all on the run. Our Republican Senator is one of those losers. Moments after the President spoke, on Twitter, from our loser Senator:

... SenatorBurr: #SOTU sounded a lot like speeches we have heard from the President before. Words alone are not enough to turn our economy around ...

Now, it's time to just sit back, enjoy the calm and peace this moment brings, and watch with amusement as Republican politicians squirm.

North Carolina deserves better than our loser of a Republican Senator, Richard Burr.

@SenatorBurr - Have you taken the voting test yet?

2012-01-24T15:12:00.002-05:00

If you haven't already, then take the USA Today voting test.

My results:

1. Obama 70%
2. Huntsman 46%
3. Romney 44%

I suspect if our dolt of a Republican Senator took the test, his results would be a 3 way tie:

1. Mickey Mouse
2. Barney Fife
3. Michele Bachmann

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

@SenatorBurr - The Boston Consulting Group says you're worthless.

2012-01-23T19:50:00.003-05:00

Thanks to Mitt Romney, most Americans are now aware of Bain Consulting. It's where all the brainy MBAs go after getting their business degrees. The best of the best wind up at Bain. And if they're not at Bain, they go to The Boston Consulting Group, or BCG. These two hi-powered consulting firms have some of the brightest people on Earth within their ranks. I have great respect for anyone who has worked at either of these firms. And I take very seriously any of the studies, or research pieces that come out of these shops. And after reading a research report this evening from BCG, I am madder than hell at my piece of crap US Republican Senator. Richard Burr is worthless.

BCG has written a stunning report that demonstrates how the world has $21 Trillion in debt that it simply can not handle. They conclude there is no way we're ever going to repay this debt. It must be written off. Either that, or we're in for decades of pain and misery as our over-indebted world economy just flounders. The only viable alternative, according to this BCG study, is a wealth tax. Governments around the world are going to wind up taking about 1/3rd of everyone's wealth to pay off these debts. Everyone, the world over.

Not only has BCG laid out the stunning facts about our debt, they've totally discredited the Republican game plan of austerity. It will not work. It will only serve to further crater the world economy, eventually lead to massively high unemployment, and finally result in waves of social unrest that will destabilize the world. In other words, Republicans have nothing. Republicans have no solutions. Republican politicians got us into this mess, and the Republican plan to get us out will only make it worse.

So, why am I really upset with Senator Richard Burr? Our Senator knows these things. I know he's aware of these issues because I periodically read the text of his speeches. He warns us about the pain to come. Yet, he does nothing. In fact, it's worse. We need to raise taxes. We need to cut expenses. Yet our Senator blocks every attempt made to get rid of that ultra low, senseless 15% income tax rate on Wealthy Wall Street Bankers, Venture Capitalists, and Hedge Fund Mangers. Our Senator does nothing about the fact that our country spends more than the next 17 nations, combined, on defense. Our Senator protects the rich and the wars, while kicking middle class Americans in the teeth and shoving us over a cliff. Our Senator does nothing. Our Senator is absolutely worthless.

Super wealthy Americans, like Mitt Romney, making 10s and 100s of millions a year, pay income tax at rates below the average American. Yet, our country racks up over a Trillion in debt annually. And worthless Republicans like Richard Burr block every attempt made to get rid of the ridiculous, ultra low 15% carried interest tax rate that gives massive amounts of wealth to Wall Street Bankers, Hedge Fund Managers, Venture Capitalists, and Private Equity Partners. Our Senator complains about debt and spending, while he shovels wealth into the pockets of these super rich, and debt onto the backs of middle class Americans.

Face it. We have a worthless, piece of crap Republican Senator. Richard Burr is a man who does not practice what he preaches. He's a man who does not apply common sense. He's a man who bitches, complains and points fingers. Yet, he does nothing to help solve the problems. He does nothing but stand in the way of progress. Richard Burr is worthless.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

@SenatorBurr - Favorite political comments from Twitter

2012-01-23T19:20:00.005-05:00

Although it's pretty thin right now, I am going to keep a running post of my favorite political humor read on Twitter. There have been some real gut busters in the last couple weeks and I don't want to miss an opportunity to create a running list to reflect back upon. Check back often to review this post.

zerohedge: If Romney doesnt become president, he can now make billions giving offshore tax avoidance advice to '30% bracket' millionaires.

KimJongNumberUn: Disappointing. When the President's enemy with the orange face looked sleepy I was sure he had been poisoned. #SOTU

ReformedBroker: I missed the first half, did he mention anything about Al Qaeda's unfair tax rate or Newt's galactic starship ideas? #cnbcsotu
MlTTR0MNEY: Good strategy by Obama to keep speaking past 10. Republicans are in bed after Wheel of Fortune. #SOTU
MlTTR0MNEY: Remember when Republicans like me were for this stuff Obama is proposing? Before we wanted him to fail, I mean. #SOTU
KimJongNumberUn: What's taking Obama so long to execute these four? #FLDebate
MlTTR0MNEY: I'm the Tom Brady of GOP candidates. New England? check. Hot wife? check. Winner? check. Better than you? Double check.

KimJongNumberUn: An evil fat man hated by millions suddenly becomes President. Where have I heard this story before?

theEquilibrium: Americans who don't know the sun is a star: 55%... World population that has never used a phone: 50% ... Romney's taxes: 15% -know ur stats.
JoeSaluzzi: NewtGingrich - Honored to have Chuck Norris’ endorsement. He will make an excellent Secretary of Attack.
MlTTR0MNEY: Chuck Norris? Pfft. I'm proud to announce I've been endorsed by Steven Seagal's stunt double from Under Siege 2: Dark Territory.
ReformedBroker: Romney trading Asian stocks from his phone during commercial break, Santorum playing Cupcake Maker
MlTTR0MNEY: I believe in America. My money believes in the Cayman Islands.
GingrichIdeas: Tell Ron Paul that I'm also an OB/GYN, then pull out an "Offical Breast Inspector" card.
KimJongNumberUn: Was the idiot from Texas executed?

petersuderman: This season of Survivor really has been the best ever. So suspenseful. Do you think Gingrich has a chance?
KimJongNumberUn: There is no point in putting these men on TV for 2 hours and then not show them being hanged.
KeithMcCoolah: cue up the hate speech because these honkies have nothing else to offer.

KeithMcCoolah: I love Newt's borderline get the negro out of the white house speech.

RalstonFlash: Romney opener tonight: "Let me first say that Ann and I have a closed marriage."

TBPInvictus: The same folks who say govt can't create jobs now say govt isn't creating 20k of them by killing Keystone. Huh?

thejaywalker: So Newt Gingrich is a conservative...with a liberal penis.

zerohedge: Obama to Accept Dem. Nomination at Bank of America Stadium. Was Goldman Sachs field booked?

ReformedBroker: Ron Paul's suit size is a 42 Awkward.

ReformedBroker: Romney: They haven't invented a calculator that could tabulate my income.

ReformedBroker: Sanatorum always has this look on his face like he needs to borrow eight dollars.

ReformedBroker: Rick Perry: Texas versus any bullshit country in the middle east, let's rumble.
fbonacci: Just spotted Paul at tailor, having his suit jacket ill fitted in time 4 debate.

ReformedBroker: O'Reilly and Rove on the split screen right now. It's like Page/Plant or Vader/Palpatine.

ReformedBroker: Next week's GOP debate is on Nickelodeon. Moderated by Mark Summers, it will be entirely in Double Dare format.

ReformedBroker: I think I speak for all Americans when I say that I hope tonight's debate comes down to Gay Marriage.

ReformedBroker: Rick Perry: ˝I too have a dream. That one day I can eat Nachos Grande off a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader's stomach while cleaning my guns.˝

zerohedge: One wonders how Mitt Romney feels about taxation of carried interest.

GingrichIdeas: Use whatever Bret Baier's hair is made of to secure our borders.

ReformedBroker: So when you see that disgusting slug Rove on TV remember that he slandered a f*cking war hero and stuck us with a 2-term retarded president

zerohedge: Which Goldman partner speaks Hungarian? 99.9% probability is next PM #GoldmanControlsWorld.

GSElevator: Mitt Romney is a real conservative… just like George W. Bush was a real cowboy.

GingrichIdeas: Build a dozen Applebees in downtown Kabul and declare victory.

GingrichIdeas: Stare at Romney until his head explodes, like I practiced on that cat.

@SenatorBurr - Romney will get obliterated in SC tomorrow. I know why, do you?

2012-01-20T19:24:00.010-05:00

Mitt Romney, up by 15 points in the polls just one week ago, is going to wind up getting obliterated tomorrow in SC. Do you know why? Our clueless Republican Senator, Richard Burr, doesn't know. Most Americans know. Middle class America absolutely knows. Why? Income Taxes.

Time and again, I've made a point on this blog about the inequity in our income tax code that greatly favors the super wealthy. I will make it again, and again, and again. Americans are tired of Congress racking up massive amounts of debt, while the super rich in our country pay income taxes at rates below the middle class. This is a problem created by Republicans. And its going to wind up being the issue that prevents our party from winning this election.

Mitt Romney admitted he paid less than 15% of his income in federal income taxes. Newt Gingrich released returns showing he paid well over 30%. But, Mitt makes SIGNIFICANTLY more money than Newt. And Mitt is SIGNIFICANTLY more wealthy. Yet, Mitt pays income taxes at a rate 50% lower than Newt?

Americans aren't stupid. They see the inequity, and care about nothing else. Mitt's support evaporated, overnight. And he will never recover from this income tax issue. It is the nail in his coffin, as it should be.

It all came down to income taxes. The inequity in our tax code became crystal clear. As a result, Mitt is a loser. Our GOP will get stuck with Newt, a real scumbag. And President Obama will kick the daylights out of Newt in the general election.

Republican lawmakers made their bed when they kissed the tails of the super wealthy, cutting their taxes to the bone, while kicking middle class America in the teeth, and shoving us over a cliff. And until Republicans wake up, and bring fairness back to the tax code, there will not be a GOP President in the White House.

Karma, Justice, and Common Sense.

Links to previous posts about tax inequity:

@SenatorBurr - Sitting here this evening realizing what a sorry a**ed SOB you are Senator.

2012-01-12T19:34:00.000-05:00

The contrasts in American life are simply overwhelming. And sometimes, they are so terribly out of whack that it's difficult to keep ones sanity intact. I'm having one of those nights, as a result of reading 2 news stories:

1. America pays $800,000 a year for each of the terrorists we are housing in Guantánamo Bay. They get warm clothes, a warm bed, 3 warm meals daily, free health care, satellite TV, and legal representation. Thank you Republicans for starting wars, pissing away $1.5 Trillion, and paying through the nose to keep our enemies safe, warm, and well fed.

2. An 8 year old child drops dead from undiagnosed cancer in Cleveland. His parents could not afford to take him to see a physician. His mother was treating him for a cold. The parents were charged with manslaughter. I feel for these poor people. My heart bleeds for them.

If that poor child was a terrorist, he'd be alive today. He'd have clean clothes, a warm bed, free health care, warm meals, satellite TV.

Republicans readily spend $1.5 Trillion on wars, but bitch and complain about Obamacare. We treat our enemies like royalty, while our citizens drop dead from lack of basic medical attention.

I'm sitting here, just shaking my head, and asking myself how in the hell we can tolerate having sorry-assed Republican politicians like Richard Burr in office. These morons spend trillions waging war, with ease. Yet when it comes time to find a way to provide basic medical care to Americans, all they can do is complain.

I am just fucking tired of hearing Republican politicians bitch about Obamacare. If they offered other solutions, I'd be more tolerant. Had they not destroyed our economy, I'd be more tolerant. Had they not pissed away massive amounts of money on wars, I'd be more tolerant. But I no longer have tolerance for the idiocy I hear coming out of the mouths of Republican politicians. I'm tired of it. And I just don't want to hear it any more. Neither should you.

North Carolina deserves better than our sorry-assed Republican Senator, Richard Burr.

@SenatorBurr - Why does it take so many big words to deliver a simple message?

2012-01-04T16:56:00.001-05:00

Ben Bernake delivered an extensive White Paper to Capital Hill today, addressing the need for Congress to do something about the housing crises. As I was reading the article about this message Ben delivered to Congress, I couldn't help but think ... why does it take so many big words to deliver a very simple message? Honestly, one of the primarily problems we have right now is that people are so full of hot air. Say what you have to say. Spit it out, in plain English.

That message Ben delivered to Congress today in his 34 page White Paper? .... Allow me to shorten it into a simple sentence ...

Dear Congress:

GET OFF YOUR FUCKING, LAZY, PATHETIC, USELESS, FAT ASSES AND ADDRESS OUR NATION'S HOUSING CRISES.

Sincerely,

Ben

@SenatorBurr - Richard Cordray appointment really bugs sensible Americans, but not in the way you think

2012-01-04T16:32:00.004-05:00

President Obama did an end-around Congress today and appointed Richard Cordray to head the new Consumer Protection agency. This whole situation really pisses me off, as I suspect it bugs most Americans who apply common sense. The President is right in doing what's he's doing. And once again, Congress is way out in left field.

Since when did we migrate in our government to a situation where the Legislative Branch is the center of the universe? This is such utter bullshit. Our founders established 3 separate branches of government. In the Executive Branch, the people elect a President. The President appoints his cabinet, and that should be that. When, and why in the hell, did we get into a situation where the Legislative Branch has to approve every appointment in the Executive Branch? The American people are simply god damn tired of all the bullshit mud slinging that goes on between Congress and the White House as it pertains to approval over Presidential appointments. Let the man hire who he wants to hire. If we're not happy about it, well, its our job to fire the President. But Legislators need to get their damn noses out of Executive Branch HR decisions and get back to doing some Legislative work.

Let's look at this issue from another angle. Does the President have the right to hold up the hiring of Congressional staffers? Turn about is fair play, no? It makes absolutely no sense that Congress must approve Presidential appointments to Executive Branch positions, if the Executive Branch does not have the right to review and approve Congressional appointments. And that's just plain, North Carolina common sense. I'd chuckle with delight at the outcries we'd hear from Congress if each and every Congressional staffer hiring decision had to have White House approval.

Enough is enough. Stop this endless bullshit mudslinging over Executive Branch HR decisions. Stop whining and crying about Presidential appointments. Stop wasting our time with this ridiculous, silly crap. Get your nose out of places it does not belong. Get back to work Senator Burr.

Addendum - This situation is now poised to go way beyond the surreal (Senate Republicans Could Delay Fed Confirmations Over Recess Appointment Fight) ... are Republicans Really this stupid, Senator? Really?

North Carolina deserves better than our dolt of a US Senator, Richard Burr.

Articles worth a read, December 2011

2011-12-11T10:22:00.005-05:00

Merry Xmas, will be back again next year

12/13 America: Income inequality
12/13 Burr: Sucks up to Corruption
12/13 Rich: Do not create jobs

12/12 Jobs: Come from demand, stupid
12/12 Burr on Gingrich: Too funny
12/12 Michael Moore: Obama in Wall Street pockets

12/09 Wall Street: Common sense sighted
12/09 Companies: Making > profits, paying < taxes
12/09 Coming financial debacle: No place to hide

12/08 Medical costs: $250 M on penis pumps?
12/08 Rich undertaxed: Pisses me off the most
12/08 Obama: About damn time

12/07 The rich say: Tax the poor
12/07 Fight: Beck vs. Gingrich
12/07 Romney: What's he hiding?

12/06 Tax Increases I: Will not harm economic growth
12/06 Tax Increases II: Will not harm economic growth
12/06 Tax Cuts I: Do NOT lead to economic growth

12/05 Tax Cuts II: Do NOT lead to economic growth
12/05 Financial crises: 2007 - 11 Timeline
12/05 Yet another: Republican Crook

12/02 Republicans: And racism
12/02 Republicans: Are just effing stupid
12/02 Jobs come from: Demand

12/01 School free lunch: Soaring
12/01 Arrests: We need these in USA
12/01 Newt: Lies, lies, more lies

NOVEMBER

Indiana finds money

2011-12-08T21:00:00.000-05:00

Strange, but true. An internal auditor in the State of Indiana was tracing a $25,200 check through the state's accounting system, and just plain bumped into $320 Million that was just lying around, unnoticed. Found money.

Wonder if Republicans can find that $1.5 Trillion they pissed away on wars? Maybe if they looked in the couch cushions up on Capital Hill ....

@SenatorBurr - Will Republicans cause the next major financial market plunge?

2011-12-08T18:51:00.000-05:00

News out near the market close indicates that Euro stress tests require Banks there to raise an additional $150 Billion in capital. They have until Jan 20 to inform their respective country regulators as to how they will meet the target.   And they'll have until June 30th next year to make it happen.

To meet these requirements, they could attempt to issue new securities. But given that their stocks have been trashed, and their survival is in question, I doubt that route will be available to many. More than likely, they will be forced to sell assets.   That has me scratching my head though in trying to figure out what this means in assets being dumped on the market over the next six months.   It all depends on capital ratio targets, and which of the assets they'll be selling. I keep reading that Euro banks are in sorry shape because they are leveraged 40 to 1. Presumably they are being required to bring that ratio down appreciably to meet new Basel requirements.   But, to what levels, and when?   That's what will determine the extent of the asset sales necessary.

Here's my matrix on asset sales needed to achieve given leverage ratios. And this assumes that the sales are being made to only meet the $150 B stress test requirements. There may be additional sales needed for Basel requirements, but likely the stress tests assumed also bringing ratios in line for Basel. I hope.

I hope this is a situation where we're only going to see somewhere between $1.80 - $3 Trillion in assets hitting the market. Not sure where the hell we're going to find that kind of capital to soak up the supply.   I can't even begin to imagine the pressure on the markets if significantly more than $3 Trillion must be shed over the next 6 months.

Wish I had a better handle on this issue. More importantly, wish I knew what kind of potential pools of capital were out there to absorb this selling.   Must keep in mind too all the sovereign debt hitting the markets in the coming year given the deficit spending that is happening worldwide.

I just don't see how the world financial markets are going to make it through 2012 without getting really clocked.   When supply exceeds demand, price must come down.

Then again, US banks are flush with excess deposits, and don't have enough outlets to put that money to use. As a result, they have Trillions sitting at the FED, earning next to nothing. If Ben were to push that money into the arms of assets being shed off the balance sheets of Euro banks, at favorable prices ... that could help tremendously, both Europe, and US Banks. AND, if Ben could also come in with Q3 to put another $500 B to $1 T in capital out there ... the world might slide by this major Euro Bank asset dump.

I can hear the uproar from the idiot Republicans in Congress though. Those clueless clowns are blind to the risks these assets dumps have to the net worth of American households. They'll stand in Ben's way, the world mkts will plummet, and Americans will see Trillions more of their savings go up in smoke. Watch it happen. And remember that I warned you about the idiocy of Republicans challenging the actions of our Federal Reserve Board.

I hope Ben has a plan to cushion the coming Euro Bank asset dump.   And I hope he has the strength to strong-arm Republican opposition.   If not, get liquid, get short, or you're going to kiss your capital good-bye.

@SenatorBurr REPUBLICANS = FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE

2011-12-08T15:03:00.002-05:00

Just got finished reading a very interesting article on Minyanville. Take a look at Table 1 in that article. It shows, on a timeline, the total of Household + Corporate + Government Debt Outstanding, as a percentage of national GDP.

Regan+Bush Administrations - It spiked from 151 to 200%.
Clinton Administration - Remained flat.
Bush Administration - It spiked from 200 to 270%.

Republicans are fiscally responsible? One word. BULLSHIT.

@GOPLeader - That effing Eric Cantor wound up costing Americans $2.4 Trillion

2011-12-08T14:28:00.000-05:00

The Fed Flow of Funds report got released today. You can flip to page 106 to see the accounting for the net worth of Americans. We lost $2.4 Trillion in wealth from June 30th thru Sept 30, 2011.

What happened? That little worthless, piece of shit, good for nothing, Eric Cantor, acted like a fucking child and started a food fight on Capital Hill. That asshole threatened to shut down our government over extending our nation's debt ceiling. Investors across the country saw Eric's childish crap unfolding in Washington DC and headed for the exit on their investments, across the board. The value of our equity holdings fell by $1.5 Trillion. Another Trillion got wiped off the map in the value of our pension/retirement savings.

Fuck you very much Eric, you sniveling weasel.

A special shout out thank you to all the Republican idiots in Richmond, Virginia who sent that scumbag Cantor to Washington. I hope your investments performed significantly worse than average.

Karma.

Question for the Obama Haters

2011-12-08T12:53:00.007-05:00

I have a question for all the Obama haters out there, especially all the ultra right-wing tea party members running around the country crying about President Obama being a socialist ...

In the previous post, I laid out America's Individual Income tax return. Take note of the fact that when you divide Income Tax by Taxable Income, the average Federal Income tax rate of Americans is 20.6%.

A socialist is someone who takes from the rich, and gives to the poor? Done in excess, that's socialism. Right?

If President Obama is a socialist, how is it then that the Top 400 earning Americans had taxable income of $227 Million each (latest info - 2008), yet paid only 18.1% in income taxes .... less than the 20.6% average paid by other Americans? How is it that a full 1/3rd of these very wealthy actually paid less than 15%?   This is socialism? Socialism is where the rich pay less than everyone else?

Are you sure you're not being brainwashed by the very people benefiting the most from the ultra low income tax rates on the extremely wealthy? Rupert Murdoch, the owner of FOX, is a billionaire. Rush Limbaugh makes 10s of millions annually.   Haven't you allowed yourselves to be duped by these rich nut jobs? Yes, the ultra rich have convinced you to fight their battles. They've convinced you that our President is a socialist in his attempts to restructure America's income tax rates. You're fighting for the rich, allowing them to win the war.

Hell no, our President is not a socialist. But we live in a communist country. In communism, the workers work their fingers to the bone to provide a lavish lifestyle to a very select group of party members.   In America, citizens making between $200 K and $1 M a year are paying tax rates averaging 22 - 25%. Middle class, and upper middle class America are getting screwed, to support the lavish lifestyles of the ultra wealthy, who pay far less in taxes. And it's our Republican Party who stand in the way of bringing fairness back to our income tax structure. Republicans absolutely insist that we keep the current tax structure in place, a tax structure that operates just like communism. The workers pay. A small, select group of wealthy win.

Our President is a socialist? Hardly. But our Republican Party are a bunch of 'effing communists.   It's time to bring fairness back to our income tax structure. It's time to raise taxes on the ultra wealthy, IN A BIG WAY.

America's Income Tax Return

2011-12-08T12:18:00.000-05:00

Americans pay $1.1 Trillion in Federal Income Taxes. Ever curious how that number was determined? Well, this is a roll-up of America's 2009 Individual Income tax returns:

Note - Expressed in $ Billions. i.e. Total Salaries and Wages are $5.9 Trillion, Taxable Interest equals $223 Billion:

Over regulation? Really? Really, Senator?

2011-12-07T19:29:00.001-05:00

Republicans are on this giant kick of harping about government regulations stifling American corporations.

Funny thing though. How is it that while we're supposedly over-regulated, Corporate Profits hit record after record, and taxes are at historical lows? Wouldn't an over-regulated society lead to profit erosion, and income tax explosion to the upside? Then, team those facts with the fact that corporate cash on the balance sheet also is sitting at all-time highs. And corporations are in a position to complain? Oh, please. Wake the 'eff up. Over regulation is just one giant reach for any issue that will stick. And this issue isn't sticking.

Strange. The Republican arguments just don't hold water. But, what else is new?

Why we need tight regulation of our financial markets

2011-12-07T18:12:00.005-05:00

I initially posted this on my financial and trading blog, back in April 2009. Re-reading it this evening, I am simply SHOCKED that Republicans like Richard Burr even attempt to make an argument that we must roll back Dodd-Frank regulations over the financial industry. My take after re-reading this post ... SCREW RICHARD BURR AND HIS STUPIDITY. WE NEED SIGNIFICANTLY MORE FINANCIAL REGULATION OVER THE WALL STREET CLOWNS:

Michael Osinski was a computer programmer on Wall Street. He wrote software that Investment Banks used in managing their trades of mortgage backed securities. Michael recently wrote a riveting story in New York Magazine. It's a must read.

Two things struck me in thinking about this article. The first was just how interesting it was to follow Michael's career progress as he continued to develop and migrate this software to handle ever increasing levels of complexity for the development and trading in these securities.

The more shocking aspect of the article though had to do with his descriptions of the multi-million dollar traders who controlled this market. Here's an exert from his article that is most shocking:

"The world around me, though, had become bizarre. At the time, I had an odd sensation that mortgage traders felt they had to outdo the loutish behavior in Liar’s Poker. The more money they made, the more juvenile they became. What do you expect from 30-year-old megamillionaires whose overwhelming aspiration was something vaguely called Hugeness? They had wrestling matches on the floor. Food-eating contests. Like little kids, they scrambled to hide the evidence when the head of fixed income paid his rare visits to the floor.

Now that I was spending more time on the floor, I wondered why the men’s room always stank. Then one afternoon at three, when I was in there taking a leak, I discovered the hideous truth. Traders had a contest. Coming in at eight, they never left their desks all day, eating and drinking while working. Then, at three o’clock, they marched into the men’s room and stood at the wall opposite the urinals. Dropping their pants, they bet $100 on who could train his stream the longest on the urinals across the lavatory. As their hydraulic pressure waned, the three traders waddled, pants at their ankles, across the floor, desperately trying to keep their pee on target. This is what $2 million of bonus can do to grown men."

These are the people who Alan Greenspan (Republican Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board) expected to be able to execute a program of self-regulation of our financial markets? These are the people who our representatives and regulators in Washington DC believe always act in a legal, above-board manner?

Who in the hell are we kidding? These people lie, cheat and steal daily in an effort to take your money and make it theirs. These people exist all over Wall Street. Accept the fact that Wall Street is dominated by juvenile crooks. Once you accept the reality of who occupies the trading turrets of Wall Street, it then becomes an easy step into the realm of accepting the need for very tight regulation of our securities markets, and all of its participants.

President Obama is a winner

2011-12-07T17:23:00.001-05:00

I've heard our President called just about every name in the book. He's a socialist, stooge, weakling, idiot, dolt, pathetic .... you name it, I've heard it, read it, and sometimes, even spoke or typed it myself.

But there's only one front that counts in my book. And on that front, President Obama is a winner:

Return on the S&P 500 during eight years of George W Bush .... -39.6%
Return on the S&P 500 during three years of Barack Obama ...... +52.4%

President Barack Obama's administration has been a raging success. And I have the money in the bank to prove it.

Obama's war on religion?

2011-12-07T17:06:00.000-05:00

Seen this Rick Perry commercial? Obama's war on religion? I missed that one. Did it cost anything near the $1.5 Trillion Republicans spent on the wars waged on Islam? Just curious.

Rick, I have faith too, faith that you'll flame out soon enough that few Americans will even recall that you were in the race. You sealed your fate when threatening to hang Ben Bernanke - the only person in Washington who managed to apply common sense and prevent the '08 financial crises from becoming a full blown depression.

Rick Perry is toast.

My head's going to explode?

2011-12-07T09:34:00.004-05:00

I've been up since 3:30 am. My head is spinning. It's not from the 4th cup of coffee either. I'm drinking Caffeine-free this morning. It's spinning from all the political and economic activity swirling around us today.

Europe - What a bunch of clueless morons over in Europe. I've been hard on the inept political leadership we have in our country. But, wow. Our Congress looks like a genius pool next to the clowns over in Europe. Europe's answer to their economic issues will lead them further down a rat hole of higher unemployment, continual erosion in economic activity, and a death spiral in budgetary performance. European stupidity will wind up rubbing off on the World Economy. The World's financial markets are going lower, on the back of idiocy out of Europe.

President Obama - He's finally coming out swinging and weighing in heavy on the very issue that disturbs me the most - income inequality, under-taxation of the ultra wealthy. It's about damn time.   And I'm getting a good chuckle out of the reaction-o-meter spinning out of control on CNBC. All the rich bankers, traders and money managers are livid that they're under the microscope. Hell yeah, let 'em feel the heat. And make 'em whip out their checkbooks and cut bigger checks for income taxes. I am just damn tired of paying an all-in Federal Income Tax bill of 22 - 25% of my income, while the 400 highest earning Americans, making $286 M a year, pay an average of 18%. Even worse, over 30% of the 400 highest earning Americans pay less that 15%.   How in the hell did we get in a situation where the richest among us pay less than the middle class? And why is my Republican party standing there like morons, protecting the rich, and insisting that we can't raise income taxes on the wealthy to bring fairness back to our tax structure?

My neighborhood - I live smack in the middle of a Republican stronghold. I can't go anywhere without bumping into radical, ubber right wing neighbors who think of President Obama as being an raging socialist and total disaster.   Well, OK. They're entitled to their opinions. But, Republicans are the better alternative? Oh please. Get an 'effing clue. Republicans destroyed our economy. They have no viable alternatives to get us out of the mess they created.   And their credibility is Zippo. But my neighbors' naivety in really understanding the issues blows my mind. Instead of trying to educate them, which is an exercise in futility, I'm in avoidance mode. I won't be talking with neighbors much in the coming year, and perhaps eternity. But I'll be handing out plenty of Obama 2012 stickers as XMas presents. So they won't be talking to me either. Good. Less conflict. Lower blood pressure.

Class warfare? - Oh STFU. The rich pay less taxes than the middle class. While I get caught in AMT, year after year after year and wind up paying 25% tax on my capital gains, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates can sale the same damn stock and pay only 15%. WTF? It's not class warfare, it's just simple, plain, effing fairness. And if President Obama makes the case that we need fairness in our tax code, then by god, he's my man.

Gingrich - He's got the Republican nomination sewed up. Romney doesn't stand a chance. White, Christian, Southerners will not vote for a Mormon. It's just not going to happen. And I have to chuckle at all my neighbors who think Obama a disaster, yet are now forced to support a lying scumbag like Gingrich.   This man bounced checks, was sued to force payment of his child support, has had more affairs and wives than my Ti BA-35 calculator can compute, and I've only scratched the surface. Newt lacks a single, moral fiber in his body. He's an arrogant, disgusting, vile person. And people think he's a better alternative than President Obama? My god, we're a nation gone insane.

That's just a small taste of the issues crossing my mind. I'll be grateful if I make it through the day without my head exploding.

@WhiteHouse - If you want my vote, I need to see Financial Executives in orange jumpsuits

2011-12-04T19:36:00.002-05:00

President Obama - I'm a registered Republican who voted for you in 2008. I voted for you because worthless politicians in my Republican party did stupid shit that destroyed our economy. While you're making some progress, it's simply not enough. And worst of all, I am just effing tired of reading about all the financial executives who made tens and hundreds of millions, while driving our economy over a cliff with the worthless games they played in the mortgage market. You want my vote in 2012? OK then, I need to start seeing a bunch of rich, white bankers marching around in orange jumpsuits. Until that happens, get lost.

Can you tell that I'm watching the 60 minutes piece this evening on all the rich bankers who screwed America, with ZERO fear of prosecution?

@SenatorBurr - You're full of crap, Senator

2011-12-02T15:19:00.012-05:00

I've always been mad at my worthless Republican Senator, Richard Burr. The man's been in Washington DC for more than 15 years. What has he accomplished? Nothing of substance. Absolutely nothing. But, he spends inordinate time pointing fingers everywhere but in the mirror.

I'm especially upset my with worthless Senator today, after reading this letter. Did you read the key piece tucked at the very end of the letter?:

"Last night, the Senate voted on a bill that would extend the temporary payroll tax holiday enacted last year. This was an attempt to reduce long term retirement savings for short term stimulative gain; it did not work the way we hoped, and it is time to pursue other alternatives."

It did not work? Oh please. It did work. It is working. It continues to work. And the evidence is right in front of your nose, Senator. This payroll tax cut puts money in the pockets of average Americans, Americans who are in dire need of help in this terrible economy. This money gets spent. It stimulates DEMAND. Increased demand leads to jobs. Look at the data Senator.

In eight YEARS of Republican control of Washington during the Bush administration, only 1.1 Million new jobs were created.
In only eleven MONTHS after the Obama payroll tax cuts were passed, 1.4 million jobs have been created.
1.1 Million by Republicans in eight years, 1.4 Million by Democrats in 11 months!

If Republican politicians had their way, they'd be shoveling even more money into the pockets of the extremely wealthy. That money would not get spent. It'd be stashed in a bank or sunk into an investment. Our world is already awash in liquidity and capital Senator. We don't need any more damn capital sloshing around in the system. We need demand. We need to put money into the hands of people who will spend that money on products. It is DEMAND that will create jobs, not SAVINGS and INVESTMENTS. Payroll tax cuts go to people who need the money, and therefore will spend it quickly, increasing DEMAND, creating jobs. Get a clue you worthless idiot.

North Carolina deserves better than an idiot serving us in the United States Senate. Get off your tail Senator, and get these tax cuts extended. Pay for them by taxing the very wealthy. Get it done Senator, so our nation can continue to create jobs for those in dire need.

North Carolina deserves better than our idiot Senator, Richard Burr.

Why Republican politicians are losers

2011-12-02T13:45:00.003-05:00

Repost from June 2009:

My Republican Party is a party of losers. We are losers because we choose losers to lead our party. And one of the biggest losers of all is Newt Gingrich.

Newt was our party's keynote speaker a couple of nights ago at a fundraising dinner for the Republican House and Senate campaign committees. We're supposedly a party of self-reliance and personal responsibility. Newt Gingrich:

Bounced 22 checks.
Was a draft dodger.
Showed up at his wife's hospital bed (after cancer surgery) seeking agreements in divorce talks.
Had to be taken to court and forced to support his children.
Used his political power and influence to get his wife a job.
Was caught having sex with the wife of his campaign aide.
Had affairs with his Congressional aides.

This man is scum. He's bad news. He's trouble. And he's viewed as the leader of the Republican Party? What the hell is wrong with us that we look to such morally corrupt people to lead our Party? How in the world can we talk about personal responsibility and self-reliance when we have a scumbag like Newt Gingrich carrying our banner?

I have to ask again, are my fellow Republicans insane?

ENOUGH. I've had more than enough of the lunacy going on within the Republican Party. We absolutely must throw out of office every Republican who served since 2000. Within the group of Republican politicians in Washington DC now, I don't hear a single voice crying out about the necessity of getting rid of Newt Gingrich. So, let's clean house. Let's get rid of every Republican who saddles up next to Newt. And that's just about every Republican in office now, including North Carolina Senator Richard Burr.

Senator Richard Burr needs to go. We need to vote this man out of office. North Carolina deserves better.

Articles worth a read, November 2011

2011-12-01T07:30:00.005-05:00

11/30 China: Boosts growth
11/30 Bernanke: Saves the world, again
11/30 Economy: Improving, dramatically

11/29 Rich: Whining to The President
11/29 Rich: Complain about the poor
11/29 Bush Tax Cuts: Fail

11/23 SuperWealthy: Job Creators? Nope
11/23 US Taxes: Among lowest in world
11/23 UK: Addresses Corp Greed

11/22 Rich people: Don't pay income tax
11/22 Frum: Republicans are insane
11/22 Basel: History and Rules

11/21 Euro Banks: $2.5 T Asset Sales
11/21 Endgame: Coming to EU, rapidly
11/21 Government fiddles: World burns

11/20 Income inequality: Kills economic growth
11/20 Bush economy: Based entirely on debt
11/20 $46 Trillion: 10 years of spending (Pg 54)

11/19 Reason: Case against Gingrich
11/19 No kidding: Keith has a point
11/19 Really, no kidding: Barry's point even better

11/18 Newt Gingrich: LIAR
11/18 Newt Gingrich: Hypocritical LIAR
11/18 Cain: Dumbest of the dummies?

11/17 Bernanke: Goes to war with China
11/17 Burr: Says Obama toast
11/17 Burr: 36 - 35, We don't like Burr

11/16 Newt Gingrich: Fat, Loser
11/16 Coburn: 1%, takes, takes, takes
11/16 Europe: Print, or die

11/15 HealthCare: Americans want mandatory
11/15 Stimulus: Does not work
11/15 TheFly: Good vs. Evil

11/14 Mark Cuban: Tax rates? Meaningless
11/14 Congress: Insider trading rampant
11/14 Republicans: Finally, bend

11/13 US Economy: Overview
11/13 Euro Central Bank: Fires politicians
11/13 Government: Crushes the people

11/12 War: So begins the next Republican War?
11/12 Cramer: Slams Republicans
11/12 Wall Street to Republicans: You got nothing

@SenatorBurr : Listen to yourself, just LISTEN. We're tired of your lies.

2011-11-22T10:16:00.005-05:00

I am sitting here right now listening to CNBC's interview of Pat Toomey. This Republican Senator is like ALL Republican Senators, including my state's Republican Senator, Richard Burr. They refuse to deviate from the "Party" line. They will say nothing outside of Republican talking points.

To all Republican politicians ... LISTEN to yourselves. LISTEN to all your lies. Do you really believe the AMERICAN people buy the constant stream of BULLSHIT you spew?

REPUBLICAN LIE: We don't have a revenue problem. We only have a spending problem in this country. We spend 25% of GDP. We need drastic cuts to spending.

WRONG. On two fronts. Our problems are both REVENUES and SPENDING. We spend 25% of GDP, but we only collect 14% of GDP. On average we have spent 18% of GDP in the past, so we also need to COLLECT 18% of GDP. Our income tax rates are the lowest in 60 years. Our income tax rates are near the lowest in the world. We must raise revenues. We must increase income taxes, in addition to cutting spending.

And as Republicans now run around spewing lies and telling us we can only cut spending, they are holding rallies across the nation trying to head off ANY cuts to defense spending. Yet, we spend more money on defense than the next 17 nations, COMBINED. Cut Defense. Take a god damn knife out and cut the living hell out of defense. And increase income taxes. It's common sense.

FUCKING REPUBLICAN POLITICIANS, who refuse to use common sense. Republicans are to blame for the sorry state of our nation's budget. They wrecked our economy. And they now stand in the way of the application of common sense to fix their mistakes.

Republicans, like Richard Burr and Pat Toomey, are lying, POS, good for nothing politicians. North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr, and the other worthless Republicans who stand in the way of applying common sense to our nation's budget problems.

@SenatorBurr : 2010 Election Postmortem

2011-11-21T19:10:00.000-05:00

About one year ago I wrote a post with my observations after Republicans took control of The House. I was reviewing those year ago comments this evening. They are below, with current observations indicated in red:

It was a blowout. North Carolina voted to send our dolt, Senator Richard Burr, back to Washington DC. On the one hand, I'm horrified. On the other, I'm pleased with the opportunity to dog our do-nothing Senator for six more years (yep, I have enjoyed making fun of our idiot Senator, and look forward to five more years of fun ahead).

This blog rocks on, for six more years !

A list of post election observations:

1. Burr is an empty suit. MSNBC, FOX, CNN, CNBC ... I listened to them all at one point or another last night. As it became evident that Republicans won in a landslide, talk turned to who would control what committee in Washington DC in the coming term, and who would be in positions of power and influence. You know something really interesting? Not once did I hear Senator Richard Burr's name mentioned on any of the major networks. Not once. Why? Because we sent a lawn mower salesman to represent us in Washington DC. Richard Burr is not a leader. He has no expertise. He's a nobody in Washington DC. After 15 years of serving in Congress, we have a Senator who leads nothing, is recognized only as an empty suit. I shake my head in amazement that North Carolina voters could do this to our state. No change here. Our Senator is a do-nothing, empty suit.

2. Danger in misinterpreting the results. There's too much gloating going on by Republicans. And many are in danger of misreading the results of this election. I hear Republicans today constantly spouting off about the need to overturn the progress made on both the health care and financial reform fronts. Go ahead Republicans, do it. Fight it out. Voters want jobs and a good economy. They don't give a damn about anything but jobs and the economy. Waste their time with fights over health care and financial reform and you'll jump right back into boiling water. And voters still want jobs and a better economy, while our Republican Party spends all their efforts attacking, attacking, attacking ... anything and everything done by our President. But all the while, pretending like it's Democrats who won't work with Republicans. Right. And pigs fly and horses bark.

3. Republicans continue to display ignorance of basic economic issues. If I hear one more ignorant Republican talk about needing tax cuts to spur capital formation, I'm going to scream. These people are idiots. Our problem is that we're awash in capital. We've got investors throwing money at our country to buy our Treasuries to such a point that interest rates are at historical lows. Capital is NOT our problem. Consumer demand is THE issue. Most Republicans just don't get it. They'll cook up any excuse to dish out more tax cuts. Go ahead, give an unemployed person a tax cut and see how far that takes us in getting our economy back on track. You can't cut taxes on a guy who has no income. Republicans crying about capital formation are idiots. And Republicans are still clueless morons about simple economics.

4. Republicans will fail in reconciling promises. Republican after Republican talks about out of control government spending and the need to balance the budget in one breath, and the need to extend tax cuts to everyone in the next. Then they'll spout that tired line about how government spending doesn't create a single job. This is going to be fun to watch. Go ahead, cut taxes, balance our budget by cutting $1.1 Trillion in spending, and watch how that won't lead to anything but appreciably higher unemployment. It's about time that BS gets called on Republican whining about deficit spending, job creation, and tax cuts. Those three issues can't be reconciled the way Republicans portray. An economic mess awaits. Watch and learn. And we're about to learn, come 2013. Republicans will be called to task for spouting their bullshit lines about how budget cuts will lead to more jobs and economic growth. The opposite will play out. Republicans = Liars.

5. Mitch spews hate. Would someone please remove the giant corn cob from Mitch's butt? Fresh off his victory parade, Mitch comes out swinging for President Obama. Mitch spews an abundance of hate and vitriol. Any man with common sense could only conclude Mitch is a Grand Dragon of the KKK. Check out Mitch's shoes. And look carefully at the shoes of the banner bearer in the next KKK march you see coming down main street in any rural town in Kentucky. Mitch? Is that you Mitch? Mitch McConnell stands in the way of progress in Washington DC. If anything is going to get accomplished "for the American people", then Mitch first needs to have his ego checked. And the man needs to just tone it down. Mitch McConnell is a poor excuse for a Human Being. This man is mean spirited and highly disrespectful to the Office of the Presidency of the United States. Mitch is a disgrace to our party, and our nation.

6. Eric Cantor takes a good first step. While I'm not wild about Eric's desire to revisit history and unravel the progress on Financial Reform and Health Care, I admire his management skills. The guy has published a 22 page road map. And it includes steps to manage the House in a manner that would gain respect from management teams of some of our nation's better run corporations. His rhetoric though leaves much to be desired. He's not near as bad at Mitch McConnell, but Eric still comes across like an arrogant SOB who you'd rather not want to associate with. If he toned it down a couple notches, Eric might wind up accomplishing great things for our country. He's a keeper. Man, was I ever wrong about Eric Cantor. Eric destroyed TRILLIONS in American wealth by acting like a fucking child over the budget ceiling extension. I didn't think anyone could be more disgusting than Mitch McConnell. But Eric is far worse. Shame on Richmond, Virginia for sending this stupid clown to Washington DC.

7. Boehner is a woman. There's no crying on Capital Hill. There's simply no crying in national politics. Boehner cried in front of the nation in his first major appearance as the leader of the House. He blew it. This man is a weak. His days are numbered. Boehner is worthless. Period.

8. The Republican attack machine cranks up. I think a large part of our nation's problems derive from the Republican attack machine. It's relentless, it's mean spirited, it spews hate and fear. And its cranking up again. Just check out the headlines on Drudge:

Barack backed into the corner
Next up for Dems: Trials
Dems warned not to shred documents
Fed under attack from GOP

My Republican party is in dire need of a positive message. They're mostly mean spirited old white men who do a great disservice to our nation through the hate and fear they constantly spew. And if they continue down this path, the progress they just made will get reversed in the next election. Yep, mean as ever. But, stupid too. Really stupid.

9. Jack Welch has it right. Jack Welch, the former CEO of GE, is guest hosting CNBC this morning. Jack is a staunch Republican. He's crying out for the Republican party to change its tactics, dramatically. The voters just delivered a message of Jobs, Economy. Recognize it and deliver. Form a message around these two issues. Focus like a laser beam. Stop with the efforts to repeal everything that has already been done. Instead, look to improve and adjust with a goal to creating jobs and improving the economy. Jack indicates that the party runs the risk of being labeled right wing nut jobs if they continue with their efforts to repeal the past, instead of focusing on the future and directing all their efforts to jobs and the economy. I can really relate to Jack. I want to be a Republican again, when my party stops with the right wing nut job attitude and refocuses on becoming a party of problem solvers. I don't see it happening though. Right on Jack. You da man.

more to follow, later ...

@SenatorBurr : Guess you clowns don't know about common sense?

2011-11-21T18:14:00.001-05:00

Initially posted back on August 6th, 2011 ... but more applicable today, than ever:

In thinking through our nation's problems, I offer up these common sense observations:

1. When our federal government acted responsibly in the past and balanced our budgets, they taxed Americans at an overall average rate of 18% of our nation's income. And they spent about 18% of our nation's income in the way of federal spending. 18% IN. 18% OUT. Budgets balanced.

2. Right now, 2011, our federal government is spending 24% of our nation's income, and taxing us at 14%.

3. Right now, our federal government is taxing the 400 wealthiest among us (avg $280 M in annual income) at an average rate of 18%. Over 32% of those 400 are paying 15% or lower. The wealthiest are paying taxes at rates that only equal, and often are less than our overall historical 18% average.

From those observations, these common sense solutions should follow:

1. If we've balanced revenues and spending in the past at 18%, we need to get both our revenues and spending back to the 18% level. This entails cutting spending, AND raising revenues.

2. If we need to get back to 18%, and its fair that the wealthiest among us pay higher rates than those less wealthy, then the wealthiest need to be paying taxes at rates far higher than 18%.

These are very common sense, factual observations with common sense conclusions as to what needs to happen to solve our budget problem. Unfortunately, the Democratic Party is significantly closer to a common sense approach than the Republican Party. That is just plain fact and can not be argued otherwise, rationally. As a country, we must cut expenses and we must raise taxes on the wealthy. We can argue as to what expenses to cut. And we can argue about who has to bear what proportion of the burden in raising revenues, but it should be clearly evident that the overriding solution is both cutting expenses and raising revenues.

Right now, neither party has it exactly right. But Republicans are out in left field. Democrats are in the infield, but need to be closer to home plate.

Democrats want $4 Trillion in budget changes, over 10 years. $3 Trillion in cuts, $1 Trillion in revenue raising. The number needs to be higher, on both sides of the equation. We need even deeper cuts, and larger tax increases.

Republicans only want cuts. And they will not raise taxes. They also want a balanced budget amendment. To solve the Republican equation would take our country to a point of 14% taxes IN, 14% expenditures OUT. The deep cuts necessary to get us there would throw our country into a depression.

THE rational solution is 18/18. Politicians with a plan to get us to 18/18 are worthy of our support. Those are primarily Democrats. The irrational solution is 14/14. Politicians who want to get us to that point are simply clueless to the damage that would do to our economic future. Those are primarily Republicans.

Senator Richard Burr walks the Republican party line. While as a thinking, rational person, he may very well feel differently, he only does what is demanded of him by the Republican leadership. Richard Burr follows directions from the Senatorial Republican head, Republican Mitch McConnell, from the state of Kentucky. Republican Senator Richard Burr does the bidding of the citizens of Kentucky. He takes the irrational path, the path that will destroy our economy.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

@SenatorBurr : Maybe this will help

2011-11-21T18:09:00.000-05:00

Since you morons up there in Washington can't get your stuff together, I thought I'd help by providing a pretty picture. Get your crayons out Senator. The Red one is most helpful. Just start crossing through stuff until Total Revenue = Total Spending. Think you could handle that Senator? Or, do we need to come up there and teach you how to color within the lines?

Click on image for a better view:

@SenatorBurr : David Frum speaks for the common sense wing of our party

2011-11-21T14:13:00.003-05:00

David Frum, who worked in the George W Bush White House, is out with a real eye opener of an article in New York Magazine. I feel at ease after reading David's article. I am not alone. I am not the only Republican stunned that our party has been hi-jacked by right-wing extremists who are pushing a dangerous economic and social agenda. There are others in America like me. We're the level-headed crowd who use common sense. We just don't have a voice in our party - except for David.

A few lines from David's article where I found myself shaking my head in the affirmative:

In the throes of the worst economic crisis since the Depression, Republican politicians demand massive budget cuts and shrug off the concerns of the unemployed.
In the face of evidence of dwindling upward mobility and long-stagnating middle-class wages, my party’s economic ideas sometimes seem to have shrunk to just one: more tax cuts for the very highest earners.
Today, stimulative fiscal policy that includes tax cuts for almost every American is “socialism.” In 2001, stimulative fiscal policy that included tax cuts for rather fewer Americans was an economic-recovery program.
Some of the smartest and most sophisticated people I know—canny investors, erudite authors—sincerely and passionately believe that President Barack Obama has gone far beyond conventional American liberalism and is willfully and relentlessly driving the United States down the road to socialism. No counter evidence will dissuade them from this belief: not record-high corporate profits, not almost 500,000 job losses in the public sector, not the lowest tax rates since the Truman administration.
Republicans held more power for longer than at any time since the twenties, yet the result was the weakest and least broadly shared economic expansion since World War II, followed by an economic crash and prolonged slump.
The reality is, however, that the big winners in the American fiscal system are the rich, the old, the rural, and veterans—typically conservative constituencies.
John McCain got 58 percent of noncollege-white votes in 2008. The GOP polls even higher among that group today, but the party can only sustain those numbers as long as it gives voice to alienation.
The business model of the conservative media is built on two elements: provoking the audience into a fever of indignation (to keep them watching) and fomenting mistrust of all other information sources (so that they never change the channel).
But the thought leaders on talk radio and Fox do more than shape opinion. Backed by their own wing of the book-publishing industry and supported by think tanks that increasingly function as public-relations agencies, conservatives have built a whole alternative knowledge system, with its own facts, its own history, its own laws of economics.
We used to say “You’re entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own facts.” Now we are all entitled to our own facts, and conservative media use this right to immerse their audience in a total environment of pseudo-facts and pretend information.

And the grand finale:

In the aftershock of 2008, large numbers of Americans feel exploited and abused. Rather than workable solutions, my party is offering low taxes for the currently rich and high spending for the currently old, to be followed by who-knows-what and who-the-hell-cares. This isn’t conservatism; it’s a going-out-of-business sale for the baby-boom generation.

It's a great article. It explains how our State got saddled with such a pathetic excuse for a Republican Senator. Richard Burr is a right-wing nut job, kept in power by rural, uneducated whites. And if he has his way, our economic future is extremely bleak. Those uneducated white folk think otherwise, but they're clueless as to what will unfold economically if Republicans don't make a radical change in course and start taking a common sense approach to the issues driving our economy over a cliff.

Senator Richard Burr will vote a course that ensures economic disaster for America. And when it unfolds, those dumb white folk have only themselves to blame.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

@SenatorBurr : An average person can not reconcile the words to the actions of Republican politicians

2011-11-19T15:51:00.004-05:00

Time and again Republican politicians stand in front of microphones railing about the need to cut our spending. It's like all Republicans are preachers, giving us the same sermon, day in and day out. They scream. They yell. They want us to get the message that we MUST stop spending. We MUST cut, cut, cut.

Yet, now that Republicans have a voice on a Super Committee that needs to make $1.2 Trillion in cuts at a MINIMUM, what do they do? They put forward a "fall back" plan that cuts only $643 Billion. They come to the table, time and again, with proposals that reduce the deficit even LESS than Democratic proposals. It's like the preacher who tells us not to drink and cat around town with sleazy women behind our wives' backs ... then after Church, the very same preacher hits the bars and orders up a dozen sleazy women for an evening of entertainment.

Sheesh, I don't know about you, but I'm way past being fed up with all the drunk, whoring Republican politicians who now reside in Washington DC. We need to kick all these sorry bums out of office. McConnelly, Cantor, Burr ... every Republican who has served us since George Bush was elected needs to go. These are the people who failed our nation. These are the people who can't deliver on what it is that they preach to us constantly. These drunk, whoring losers need to be shamed out of office.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

@SenatorBurr : WTF is wrong with you morons up there in Washington DC?

2011-11-17T13:59:00.000-05:00

$46.05 Trillion.

It all comes down to how effective we can be at reducing a 10 year spending budget of $46.05 Trillion (Page 54, here).

Holy CRAP Senator, you can't find a way to cut a couple Trillion out of a $46 Trillion budget? What, they didn't teach you how to do that at Lawnmowing School? Mind if I send my junior high school daughter up there to help out? She'd get it done in an afternoon, and be home in time for dinner. We teach common sense around our home, something you apparently can't manage to grasp.

North Carolina deserves better than our moron of a Republican Senator, Richard Burr.

@SenatorBurr : The Economist Magazine says you've lost my vote

2011-11-17T09:50:00.002-05:00

The Economist Magazine has me pegged in this article. I'm White Working Class. There's no doubt about it. At least, I think like a White Working Class person. And, I am White, last time I checked. I don't work though. I sit at a computer, speculating in the securities markets, but there are long stretches of time where I just putz around. So, I don't really work. But, according to the Economist Magazine, I am definitely in the White Working Class camp.

How's that? Well, according to the Economist Magazine, there are two core groups of Republican voters:

White Working Class

Entitlement cuts are not necessary to reduce the budget deficits
Taxes need to be raised on the wealthy
We need our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan
Occupy Wall Street has a valid gripe

Core GOP Base

Entitlements need deep cuts
Under no circumstance should taxes be raised, on anyone
We need to wage war everywhere, all the time
Occupy Wall Street are a bunch of losers

McCain supposedly lost the last Presidential election because he failed to appeal to the White Working Class. We broke the way of President Obama because we were so pissed off at our Republican Party. According to this magazine article, we still largely deplore the stupidity of the current crop of Republican politicians, and are likely to vote for Obama.

Well, maybe. But, maybe not.

The problem us White Working Class dudes face right now is, as much as we deplore the stupidity of Republican politicians, we just aren't impressed with President Obama either. Our President is weak. He refuses to act with a backbone and punish Republicans, who destroyed our economy. And our President refuses to arrest and prosecute those on Wall Street who destroyed $7 Trillion of our wealth and walked away rich. Our President just simply acts like a weak putz, incapable of mustering the strength to right our nation's ship.

But it's even worse. We have no viable alternatives on the other side either. We still hold our Republican Party largely responsible for this economic mess we find ourselves in. And when we look across the crop of Republican Presidential contenders we see a sorry assed group of losers with brains no larger than a pea. There are no good alternatives.

We aren't the White Working Class. We're the White Lost Class, looking for a strong leader, and not seeing squat on the horizon.

@SenatorBurr : Hypocrite of the highest order

2011-11-16T15:18:00.002-05:00

To the winners of the wars go the right to revise the history books ... unless you're a Republican politician. In that case, you re-write history on a daily basis.

Isn't that so true with our modern day Republican party? Republicans pushed their "ownership society" down our throats. While controlling both the White House and Congress, they encouraged EVERY American to run out and buy a home. Heck, why stop with just one? Buy two, three, four. Just be an owner. To support the Republican agenda, our Republican Federal Reserve Board Chairman turned a blind eye to sensible regulation and oversight of the mortgage lending industry. Don't have income? Not a problem. Liar loans for everyone. We'll give 'em out like candy.

That worked out well, eh?

But to hear a modern day Republican politician, it wasn't their fault. Barney Frank is to blame. Or, it was Bill Clinton's fault. Please, just shut the 'eff up with the lies. We're just tired of hearing that bullshit, revisionist history coming out of the mouths of lying Republican politicians.

But, they won't shut up. Daily, they make every effort possible to re-write history and blame anyone and everyone but themselves. It's as if a Republican politician has never looked in the mirror, much less pointed a finger that direction.

Yesterday, our esteemed Republican Senator, Richard Burr came out with another tiring re-write of history. Did you read it? Stimulus doesn't do anything. Stimulus is a failed policy. Stimulus is a Democratic failure. Oh, really?

Nine studies indicate that Stimulus worked
CBO says stimulus created between 1.4 and 3.3 Million jobs
Zandi: Stimulus worked
SF Federal Reserve Study - Stimulus created 2.0 Million jobs
FactCheck.org - Yes, the stimulus worked
Studies support that stimulus worked

But somehow, in Senator Richard Burr's fantasy land ... the stimulus was a failure.

There's an even more important consideration. Did the stimulus bills pass with only Democrats voting in the affirmative? Hardly. These bills were crafted with Republican input as well. Otherwise, Republicans would have used their ability to filibuster the bills on the floor of the Senate. The result, as is usually the case, left us with bills influenced by both parties. We got Democratic spending, and Republican tax cuts. Yet, to listen to Republicans, they played no part in crafting the stimulus bills. As usual, modern day Republicans lie to us, constantly, including our own worthless Republican Senator, Richard Burr.

This compromised result leaves one to wonder - would the stimulus have been more effective if it was spent in the manner that our Democratic President wanted? We got hundreds of billions in Republican tax cuts in the stimulus program at the insistence of Republicans. Most of those benefits wound up in the pockets of the rich and wealthy. It's sitting in a bank somewhere, accomplishing nothing in a world awash in idle bank deposits. How much better off would we be right now if it was actually spent putting Americans to work building our nation's infrastructure? Likely, significantly better off.

Senator Burr, if you want our respect, try telling the truth. Take responsibility. Stop pointing fingers everywhere else. Until that happens, and in a consistent manner, you're no better than all the other Republican politicians now serving in Washington DC ... just another 'effing liar.

North Carolina deserves better than our lying Republican Senator, Richard Burr.

@SenatorBurr : Things I'm tired of hearing from the mouths of stupid Republican politicians

2011-11-16T13:54:00.004-05:00

If only I could go through a day without hearing Republican politicians saying the dumbest things. IF ONLY.

The list of the dumb things I hear out of the mouths of stupid Republican politicians is so very long. Near the top though is the canned response as to why we can't raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans. Are you ready for the Republican Politician talking point on why this can't happen? Here it is ...

"We can't raise taxes on the wealthy because it won't solve all our budget problems."

Oh sheesh. Use some 'effing common sense.

Imagine yourself homeless, without a penny to your name. Your stomach is empty and the hunger pains are relentless. You desperately need at least $3 to buy a decent amount of nutrition to help your body make it through another day. You're walking down the street and see a one dollar bill just laying there on the sidewalk. No one is around, anywhere. Are you going to walk past that dollar and just leave it laying on the ground?

Hell yes you're going to walk past that $1 ... if you're a dumb-assed Republican Politician. Why? Because that $1 won't get you a meal. Never mind that it gets you 1/3rd of the way there. It's not a full solution.

'nuff said. My Republican party is full of idiot politicians.

But that's why North Carolina deserves better than our dolt, Republican Senator Richard Burr.

@SenatorBurr : Why you and your Senate friends are clueless dolts

2011-11-16T11:10:00.006-05:00

Three years ago, our economy came very close to a total meltdown. To this day, we continue to investigate, speculate, study, and debate the cause(s) of this scary period in our history. I had a front row seat to this mess, trading my own capital, day in and day out, through the meat of the terrible pin action created by the near economic collapse. I have my own opinions and assessments as to what caused the near meltdown. The list is extremely long. But at the very top of the list is the creation of the monster gambling casino of derivatives trading - particularly, credit default swaps (CDS).

The primary problem was that we allowed securities traders to enter into CDS transactions in amounts that far exceeded the underlying value of the assets the CDS securities were meant to insure.   And we kept this market in the dark to the point that not a single individual on our planet had a clue how much CDS was outstanding, and who held what. Cut to the chase - we allowed something like $25 Trillion in CDS insurance to be traded on only $2 Trillion of total sub-prime debt outstanding. And no one had a clue who sold the CDS, and who owned the insurance on the other side of that transaction.

Why is this bad? Imagine that 10 of your neighbors were allowed to buy and sell $2.5 Million in home owner's insurance against your $250,000 home. A number of your neighbors are going to have a tremendous incentive (buyers of the CDS insurance) to burn down your home in order to pocket $2.5 Million.   Other of your neighbors have the incentive (sellers of the CDS insurance) to protect your property.   But, you don't have a clue who to be leery of, and who to treat as an ally. So, you don't allow anyone near your home.

To this day, we have failed miserably in solving the CDS problem. We sit here right now with one hell of a f*$@ing mess in Europe. Some countries over in Europe are in debt past their eyeballs. Some financial institutions in our world have sold insurance on this debt. Traders have bought insurance on this debt. We don't know who sold and who bought. We don't know how much risk is out there.   And just like in the fall of 2008, when there is so much uncertainty and a total lack of transparency, we don't let anyone near our home, we take our money off the table and run for the exits.   Watch. That is what we face soon - panic and plunging securities markets around the world. And this coming crises will make 2008 look like a picnic on a sunny afternoon.

It's been 3 years. We have made no progress on this problem. We need to instill come common sense. We should only allow the owners of the underlying assets to purchase insurance - just like only the owner of a home can buy insurance on his home. And, we should make sure that the sellers of the insurance are tightly regulated. Most of all, there should be total transparency in this market. Everyone should know exactly how much risk is on the books of the sellers.   Everyone. Total transparency. But, we still have a mess on our hands.

Senator Burr - you and your buddies in the Senate need to get off your lazy asses and get this problem addressed ... head-on and immediately. But even as I type this, I know better. You're a lawnmower salesman. You are a clueless dolt when in comes to issues of our financial markets. You have allowed the bankers and traders in our world to pull the wool over your eyes for so long now, that we are helpless in being able to put in place any sensible controls over this run-away freight train.

What are you doing Senator? You are running in the opposite direction. Every single time I hear a Republican politician, including yourself, addressing financial issues, you are bitching and moaning about Dodd-Frank. Republicans, like you, want less regulation of our banks. You want to block any and all efforts to apply common sense.

We are screwed, because you are clueless. We are screwed, because you are in the pockets of the bankers. We are screwed, because you are on the side of greed.

North Carolina deserves better than our lawnmower salesman of a US Senator.

Tea Party - Bunch of Unemployed Losers?

2011-11-13T17:46:00.002-05:00

Almost fell out of my chair when reading this:

"Professor Hector R. Cordero-Guzman and business analyst Harrison Schultz from the Baruch College School of Public Affair puts the unemployment rate of the Occupy protesters at 13.1%. In other words, approximately 85% employment rate.

In contrast, a 2010 New York Times CBS News poll found that only 56% of members of the Tea party were employed (question 105)."

Since the "Occupy" movement is largely considered something cooked up by Democrats, and The Tea Party largely invented by Republicans, well, it makes perfect sense to me. Today's Republican Party is compromised of a small core of extremely wealthy Americans who have brainwashed the ignorant, unemployed into voting Republican.

The Tea Party? Losers. Largely a bunch of unemployed losers.

Lindsey Graham is so naive

2011-11-11T18:43:00.003-05:00

Lindsey Graham is now on the record saying ...

"If a special congressional committee doesn’t come up with a debt-reduction plan by Nov. 23, Congress should take a 10 percent pay cut, says Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)."

What a stupid, naive idiot. Only cut pay 10%? Lindsey, do you honestly believe a 10% paycut is punishment enough for abysmal failure? If your child came home and said "Dad, I wrecked your brand new Mercedes after drinking two six packs and texting while driving, so you can take away my cell phone for a day" ... that be OK with you Lindsey?

I can tell you what the American people are thinking right now ... "If those fucking assholes in Congress don't get off their tails and compromise on a plan that makes substantial deficit reductions through a balanced blend of cuts and new taxes, well then, let's go haul their asses out on the street and hold a lynching party".

After all Lindsey, Governor Perry didn't think any less of the efforts made by Ben Bernanke. And every financial professional and economist in our country recognizes if it wasn't for Ben, we'd be in a depression right now with over 25% of America out of work. If a lynching of our Federal Reserve Chairman is good enough for a Republican Presidential Candidate, then it's certainly acceptable for the American people to storm Washington DC with rope in hand, with a plan in mind to hang every Congressman in sight.

A 10% pay cut? That's just bullshit. It's not enough punishment for the piss poor Congressional performance we have witnessed in the last couple of years. Not anywhere near enough.

Farce

2011-11-11T10:18:00.001-05:00

Much is being made in the last day or two about progress in the Super Committee. Apparently, Republicans have finally made a move to increase some income taxes. They are proposing to eliminate itemized tax deductions for wealthy Americans.   STOP. Think about this for a second.

Most wealthy people wind up paying AMT (Alternative Minimum Tax).   In fact, it is extremely difficult to avoid AMT if your income is between $250 K and $1 M. In AMT, you get no tax benefit from deductions. In other words, most wealthy people already can't deduct anything.   Yet, the average income tax rate of the 400 highest paid Americans was only 18% in the latest period reported.   And over 33% of these 400 paid a rate lower than 15%.

Once your income gets above $1 M, it gets easier to avoid AMT. But at those levels of income, the deductions provided from Mortgages, State and property taxes become such a small percentage of overall income, that the impact is minimal. In other words, this Republican proposal makes such a small dent as almost to be meaningless.

This whole "move" by Republicans to compromise is nothing but a farce. More lies from my party of worthless, piece of crap Republican Politicians.

The average income tax rate on the super wealthy needs to be jacked to 25% and higher, from the current 18%, a 35% boost in rates. Most middle class Americans are paying an all-in rate (Fed and Payroll) of 20 - 22%.   It's high time that our nation's most wealthy pay more than middle class Americans.   And we're not going to get to "fairness" in our country until Republicans wake the 'eff up and do what Americans need done - Raise taxes on the wealthy.

North Carolina deserves better than our worthless, piece of crap Republican Senator Richard Burr. This man is an empty suit. He gets nothing done. Nothing.

Our Republican party is full of loser politicians

2011-11-09T21:56:00.005-05:00

The Republican Presidential candidates had a debate on CNBC this evening. I had reading and research to do and was not able to tune in. I did follow the debate later though based on Tweets from various traders. A sampling of those tweets spells out what the Wall Street community thinks about our modern day Republican Party:

Watching candidates lined up for #cnbcdebate. Half gather on left, half on right. No one talking to Cain. Afraid of scandal rubbing off?
Santorum is an idiot
The Fondler in Chief #cain
Fuck this Italy shit. 999
Number of instances of the word Italy in Cain's answer: ZERO
Cain doesn't know shit about Italy. #retard
#cnbcdebate bad answer by Cain to lead off
We are all doomed
Bernanke is watching this, while smoking a blunt saying "these bitches don't know shit. I'm gonna get them"
They know nothing!
Rofl! KgB Ron wants to liquidate your 401k
Romney wins applause when he says we should not bail out Euro or US banks carrying Italian debt #cnbcdebate
Huntsman is like a younger version of the creepy guy on Family Guy
Romney looks like shit. Hangover
#cnbcdebate the global economy needs "surgeons" not "general practitioners". So far haven't heard any surgeons in the house
No one gives a shit about Italy. But they all want to fire Bernanke. Hahahahahhaha
#cnbcdebate Romney answer has nothing to do w economy
Italy must break up? what?
How many chins does it take to make a newt?
Bachman is wearing her Star Trek uniform
Look at this fucking putz
Can someone please ask the candidates if they endorse a -10% interest rate
Bachmann repeats second highest corporate tax rate in the world Effective tax rate here is actually quite low. #cnbcdebate
Here is comes. The GropeFather
Cain is so fucking guilty
Santorum was excellent as Billy Rosewood in Beverly Hills Cop 2
Herman Cain: I will not let them put my sexiness on trial
Newt should be stabbed in the face with a swordfish
Grandpas gone wild
Huntsman is flat out bored. That's the only reason he is here
Romney needs some hair gel
So all the candidates are against corporate dividends?
Santorums tie is just stupid
Everyone knows what should be done. Nobody has any idea how to do it
Ron Paul w the worst answer of the night.
So far this debate sucks
#cnbcdebate ok my question is simple Oil is going to $150 next year. What r u going to do about it
Ron Paul is right. The Fed has been robbing from the savers of this country. It is a stealth bank bailout. #CNBCdebate
Romney just owned Liesman
Gov Perry you are not running just in Texas. Answer @steveliesman ? w nation in mind
I feel bad for Bachman. Be a mother and go home
Romney, et al are totally clueless on housing. That's what happen with denial and embracing the Big Lie of housing #cnbcdebate
jesus, it's worse than a broken record
Cain is on auto 999 all day every day #robotPresident
Cain knows absolutely nothing. Pizza man
Apparently, uncertainty and regulations are killing this economy - not 40% housing declines and 9% unemployment #cnbcdebate
And to think Cain was a Fed President
I dare any of these guys, other than Paul, to say anything bad about any of the TBTF banks #cnbc2012
The audience reaction would be interesting if someone told the truth that unemployment will hit north of 25%
These candidates sound like they dislike the banks more than the OccupyWall St. folks. #cnbcdebate
Ron Paul would sell Hawaii to China
What would you do to Fannie Mae? Cain: Is she a blonde? Does she want a job?
Someone needs to give Bachman a hug
Newt is such a dick
Santorum predicted the housing bubble!!!!!
I know Ron Paul works for the KGB
I have a question: tell me, what do you think unemployment would be today w/o 2008 bailouts?
here is the bad news for Republicans. Obama is the Ali of campaigning And I don't see a Frazier in the house tonight
candidates all glad housing questions are done, can go back to talking about usual nonsense that has nothing to do with real world
Romey: we are Greece. Fuck you , we're way bigger
Perry want to turn America into one giant Texas. God help us all.
Perry is braindead
yep. stroke
Wow, Perry should just drop out now.
If you get into a car accident and break your jaw bone, slap some 999 on it and shit will be fixed
Uh, Perry just did a scorched earth move on his campaign. #epic #fail
Ouch. Perry can't remember what 3 agencies he would wipe out when he gets to DC. Commerce, education and ??? Painful to watch.
Perry literally would have literally been better off saying "f this I'm hammered man"
I keep looking 4 Romney's hair dye to drip down his temples
Dear SNL, you are welcome. Sincerely, Rick Perry
Perry managed to sound worse than the $GMCR call
The Perry moment is one of the most significant of any moment in any debate ever ever
Someone needs to gag Bachman, quickly
Basically, we don't need no stinking colleges
According to these assholes, we should replace colleges with FOXCONN factories
I'm not hating on Perry because of his superficial gaffe. This debate shit is all Hollywood. Doesn't make the man
Okay, Cain is officially an idiot with his 999 nonsense
If I was running, I'd run on the platform of declaring war on China
Bachmann seems to be suspended in some perpetual tampon/abortion commercial, can't quite put my finger on it.
I bet you Huntsman keeps a set of chopsticks in his suit pockets
I wonder if these men are trying on purpose to recreate the glory years of the 1930's?
Dear Mitt, everyone is trying to keep their currency down
Romney thinking he got rid of Perry tonight. But Newt coming on strong and is a much tougher competitor.
Why can't we go back to the good old days of evil doers and cave people with dirty bombs?
I'd have more respect for Perry if he occasionally blurted out some racial slur, just to get his Texan on.
Perry is an oil man. No cronyism there
Flash: Moody's downgrades Perry campaign to Baa
BREAKING: FASB to allow banks holding Intrade contracts on Perry as Tier 1 capital to mark to model
InTrade halted - CME to onboard all Perry contracts with reduced initial margin but 40% equity cut so immediate margin call
We bought several million in CDSs on Perry's campaign funds, today before the debate.
As we speak, Huntsman is eating Lo Mein with his ivory chopsticks
The short interest is in the Perry contract is huge. Setting up for an epic short squeeze which would make him dictator of the galaxy
I no longer hate and wish harm on Bachman. I now pity her and want her to go home and cook dinner for her 50 kids
At least W made us laugh. So would Rick. And the economy is pretty much unsavable as is.
Whoa, Perry shows up in spin room: "I'm sure glad I had my boots on because I sure stepped in it out there."
ISDA declares all CDS written on Perry to be untriggered as his political suicide was voluntary
On the Matter of the CNBC GOP Debate AKA Planet of the Apes
Did Fast Money short Perry before the debate?
Not one question calling these fuckers out for being against bailout of 2008
So did anyone ask them what stocks they recommend?

OK ... I've had enough of the Republican Debate via Twitter this evening. All the Republicans running for President? They're all brain dead morons who don't have a clue how to run the American economy.

Our Republican politicians are all void of intelligence.

Our worthless, good for nothing politicians ...

2011-11-09T19:30:00.001-05:00

Tonight's headlines making the rounds on the financial trading desks:

Dems Offer $2.3t in Deficit Reductions Over 10 Years: down from previous $3t, includes $1t in tax revenue, $1t in spending cuts, $300b in lower interest costs over decade.

GOP countered with plan for $1.5t in cuts with $350b in tax revenue over decade

My reaction? F*#&ING worthless, piece of crap politicians. We don't need to hear from these scum bags until they put a plan on the table with $4 Trillion in cuts PLUS $2.0 Trillion in new taxes. And if they don't get it done by the deadline, we should throw their sorry tails out of office immediately and scorn them for eternity.

How in the HELL is it that our Republican party can't propose near as many spending cuts as the Democrats? Time and time again we hear these worthless, piece of crap Republican politicians come on the camera railing about spending. Yet, to the one, they never offer up details on what cuts they'll make. And now that they have the opportunity, these wussies can't find more cuts than the Democrats?

How is it that our Republican politicians can't bring themselves to raise income taxes? Poll after poll shows how the vast majority of Americans WANT our political leaders to grow an 'effing backbone and raise taxes to help balance our budgets. Republicans can't listen to Americans? WTF?

Face it. Republicans are just damn worthless, to the one. Kick their sorry butts to the curb. It's past time.

North Carolina deserves better than our worthless, piece of crap, good for nothing Republican Senator Richard Burr.

Today's parting thought

2011-11-07T18:12:00.000-05:00

Nice article.

76% of Americans say the country’s economic structure "favors a very small proportion of the rich". Yet, the entire U.S. Republican Congressional Delegation says we don't give enough tax breaks to our nation's richest Americans.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

There is NO Justice in America. NONE.

2011-11-07T11:28:00.000-05:00

Fascinating article spelling out how much damage banking CEOs did to America. The top 14 highest paid banking CEOs took home $2.5 Billion from 2000 thru 2008. For those who do the math, that averages $19.8 Million per CEO, per year. What were they rewarded for? The actions of these 'effing @##holes cost America $7 Trillion.

Yet, no one went to jail.

There is no justice in America. None.

Simply stunning that our Republican politicians can not lift one damn finger to raise taxes on wealthy Americans. 40% of the top 1% are Corporate Executives. 15% are Doctors. 10% are Lawyers. Yet, Republicans would have us believe the top 1% are all small business people, job creators. Where are the jobs? What did we get for those $7 Trillion in losses?

Isn't it time to tell our Republican politicians to wake the 'eff up?

North Carolina deserves better than our dolt of a Republican Senator, Richard Burr.

Leave it to Henry Blodget to hit the nail on the head

2011-11-07T10:29:00.000-05:00

Henry Blodget is writing an excellent, short piece that strikes me as hitting the nail directly on the head. The bottom line:

"Republicans, who have become a party of right-wing ideological extremists ... Great Silent Majority of reasonable Americans are being ignored in the rush to pander to extremists."

I was among the group of "Silent Majority". No longer. I am fucking fed up with the moronic actions of the politicians in MY Republican party.

America deserves better than modern day Republican extremists. North Carolina deserves better than our dolt of a Republican Senator, Richard Burr.

Jeb Hensarling - just another arrogant asshole Republican Politician

2011-11-07T08:38:00.002-05:00

In a Wall Street Journal article today by Steven Moore, I am once again reminded why I view our current day Republican party to be nothing but an bunch of arrogant asshole politicians. If you get a chance, read the article. Tell me that Jeb Hensarling doesn't come across as one arrogant son of a bitch. His attitude is so typical of Republican politicians:

I can cut the deficit in a second! Slash and burn Medicaid and Medicare. Push retirement ages to the moon for Medicare and Social Security. Stop the spending on education and small business. But, cut corporate taxes to the bone. And no way, no how will I EVER consider raising a penny of new taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

WTF? Are these Republican morons so damn stupid as to think the message being sent to middle class America is not crystal clear?

Republicans slashed taxes on the wealthy under the guise of job creation. Where are the jobs? Republicans spent Trillions on wars. Where did that get us? Republicans took all the referees off the playing field in housing regulation. How can we not notice the economic calamity that ensued?

Now, to pay for all the fucking Republican mistakes of the past .... they plan to kick middle class America in the teeth and shove us over a cliff? And Jeb thinks we don't notice how he's trying to screw us? Yep, like all modern day Republican Politicians - Jeb Hensarling is an arrogant asshole of the highest order. And I intend to remember his arrogance when I walk into the voting booth in the future.

@SenatorBurr - Are Republicans rational in their criticism of Ben Bernanke?

2011-11-02T15:17:00.001-04:00

Ben Bernake, our Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, is giving a press conference right now. The actions the Federal Reserve Board have great impact on our nation's financial markets. I, like most other financial traders, are now glued to our trading screens watching Ben's every twitch, and listing to each and every syllable Ben mutters.   If Ben even moves his lips in the wrong direction, the financial markets could plunge. At least it feels that way at times.

Ben is doing an excellent job in this press conference. He's coming across as a very level-headed person. Ben appears to be earnestly trying his best to take actions that will improve our nation's economy. I like Ben Bernanke. I feel safe knowing that he is at the helm of our nation's Federal Reserve Board. This man is an honest, hard-working American who deserves our respect and admiration.   And this is yet another reason I think my Republican Party is so fucking deplorable.

To the one, the Republican candidates for President want to fire Ben Bernanke.   Perry even wants to drag Ben's tail down to Texas and hang the man from the highest tree. Top Republican politicians in the US Senate and House of Representatives sent Ben a letter recently, blaming Ben for an errant US economy. These Republicans are just fucking stupid. They should be spending more time looking in the mirror to place blame.

We're in the midst of a piss poor economy because Republican politicians are morons. Republicans gave our manufacturing base away to China in the name of free trade, sending American unemployment out of control. Republicans slashed taxes on our nation's wealthiest citizens without cutting budgetary expenditures, driving our annual deficits through the roof, and leading to deplorable income inequality. Republican politicians stood around with their heads up their asses while energy, education and health care costs ramped to the sky.   Republican politicians took great delight in jacking our nation's military budget to the point that we spend more than the next 14 nations, combined. Republican politicians pushed an "Owernship Society" effort down our throats that wound up crashing our nation's housing market. Republican politicians sent our young people off to senseless wars. Yes, the Republican politicians we sent to Washington DC in the last decade or two are just down right, fucking stupid.

One of the dumbest? Republican Senator Richard Burr. North Carolina deserves better than our dolt of a Republican Senator. Richard Burr is worthless.

@SenatorBurr - in the spirit of the day

2011-10-31T11:40:00.000-04:00

Don't bother coming to my house to Trick-or-Treat Senator Burr. Worthless, POS, good-for-nothing Republican Politicians like you aren't welcome at my doorstep.

Three issues worthy of your attention today @SenatorBurr

2011-10-31T10:59:00.007-04:00

Three important things are happening in the financial markets today. Whether you're a financial person, or not, these things are worthy of your attention:

1. $100 Million severance payout for poor performance. Nabors is a huge oil drilling company. The CEO of this company is being kicked up to Chairman from CEO. His duties won't change. His influence over the company won't change. Just his title changes. A provision in his contract indicates that if he loses the CEO role, he gets $100 Million.   This man has been in charge of this company since 1980s. This company operates in the Energy Industry, an industry that has gone through an unbelievable boom in the last couple of decades. Yet, this company is so poorly run that its stock has underperformed the S&P500 over the last 10, 20 and 30 year period. In other words, this CEO sucks. A monkey could do a better job running Nabors. Yet, he gets $100 Million just for having his job title changed.

2. $12 Million severance for running a company into the ground. MF Global is largely a commodities brokerage firm. Its run by Jon Corzine, the former Chairman of Goldman Sachs, US Senator from NJ, and Governor of NJ.   Jon joined this company as it's CEO only about a year or two ago. He promptly steered the company into a number of very big bond trades that went sour. MF Global is now bust. It declared bankruptcy this morning, thanks to Jon's piss poor trades. Jon's serverance package for a job well done? $12 Million.

This is Laissez-Faire Capitalism. This is the FUCKING BULLSHIT supported by our Republican Party. Our Republican Politicians allow CEOs to limit the nomination to the Board of Directors to a list of their god damn friends. These friends vote in these outrageous pay packages.   Yet, shareholders aren't allowed to put forward nominees, or vote on Corporate Pay. Time and again, our Republican Politicians stop any and all efforts to give control back to the shareholders.

I have a message to MY REPUBLICAN PARTY about these issues ...

FUCK YOU REPUBLICAN POLITICIANS. FUCK YOU.

These issues explain why my Republican Party no longer has my support. These issues go far in explaining why I recognize politicians like Republican Senator Richard Burr as hypocrites, losers, dolts, morons ... ineffective and worthless.

Free markets need to be FREE.   The nomination process needs to be opened wide. Any shareholder should be able to put a nominee on the list. Any shareholder. Any nominee. Shareholders should VOTE on Corporate Pay.   And not just a vote for show.   The VOTE needs to be BINDING. We own the fucking companies. We need binding votes on who we want to run the damn things, and how much these people get paid.

And the 3rd key issue today:

3. Two years after the turmoil from the Bear Sterns and Lehman failures, and all the economic damage those failures delivered, we are no closer to being organized in handling failures of large financial institutions. MF Global is a small potato in the scheme of commodities trading, yet its failure today is causing unbelievable turmoil on the trading floors.   Some traders are locked off the floors. Others are unable to complete trades. There is no explanation. There is no communication as to what's going on.   No government entity is taking control of the situation and ensuring the smooth operation of our nation's financial markets.

What the fuck do you politicians do in Washington DC? Can you not learn from mistakes of the past? Or, must you spend all your time up there pointing fingers at "the other party" and casting blame on anyone and everyone but yourselves?

Our modern day Republican Party is just plain inept.   My state's Republican Senator, Richard Burr, is a dolt. The slate needs to be wiped clean of these sorry people. Now.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

Can I support Mitt Romney? Donna's parents say "HELL NO"

2011-10-28T15:39:00.003-04:00

When I was in high school, one of my good friends was a girl named Donna. We had so many common interests that we could talk for hours and not run out of things to talk about. Donna and I loved sports, business, and stocks. Sometimes we'd arrange to meet each other at the mall, and just walk around, talking, and browsing the stores looking for good potential stock investments in the retail stores. We had our eye out for hot products, or hot retail store concepts.

Donna and I never went on an official date. And while we wanted to go to the prom with each other our senior year, it didn't happen. I skipped the prom that year, driven by the disappointment of not being able to take Donna. Why didn't I take Donna on a date or to the prom? Donna was Mormon. Her parents wouldn't allow Donna to date a non-Mormon. I couldn't call Donna at home. I couldn't go to her home to knock on the door. Her parents would not allow a non-Mormon boy to be within 1 yard of her while she wasn't in school. When we met outside of school, it was in secret, with a constant eye out to avoid being seen by anyone who may report back to her parents.

Although I've had little contact with Mormons since knowing Donna in high school, it's been my impression that the Mormon religion is highly tight knit, to the point of being exclusionary. It's not unusual for the parents of Mormons to strongly encourage their children to marry within the Mormon religion. They'll even go to the extent of match making. Donna's parents picked out her future husband, met with his parents, and arranged the marriage. She got married right after high school and both she and her husband were shipped off by their families to attend that great Mormon University in Utah, BYU. I lost touch with her and don't have a clue how life work out for her. But I've often thought about Donna.

There have been many times I wonder what my life would have been like had I been able to marry a girl with whom I had so much in common. It didn't happen, because I was not Mormon. It didn't happen, because I was discriminated against by the Mormon religion. If you're not Mormon, you just don't belong near or around Mormons. That's what these Mormons clearly communicated to me.

Mitt Romney is a Mormon. That makes me stop and wonder ... how can a Mormon be the President of the "United" States of America? Is it right to have a President who grew up within a religion that is so exclusionary, closed, unaccepting of other Americans? When I think about this issue, I keep seeing the faces of Donna's parents in my mind. HELL NO. You can't be around us. You're not Mormon.

The memory of Donna's parents clearly cries out to me NOT to cast a vote for Mitt Romney. I'm not a fellow Mormon. Well, OK. Then, Mitt doesn't belong in OUR nation's White House either.

A colossal Republican FAILURE. Thank you @SenatorBurr

2011-10-28T11:44:00.000-04:00

In 2001, a Republican President moved into the White House. Republicans controlled both houses of Congress. Republican politicians worked together to pursue a strategy of turning our nation into an "Ownership Society".   So how did this Republican effort work out?   It was a colossal failure.

Morgan Stanley recently released a report about the status of our nation's housing market. The bottom line? If you back out all the Americans who currently occupy a home but have stopped paying their mortgage, then our nation's owner occupied, home ownership rate has hit a historical low.   Fewer Americans own their homes than ever before. Nice Job Republican Party. Nice job.

Senator Richard Burr was on the forefront of this disaster. Our dolt of a Republican Senator supported these "Ownership" society efforts at every step. Our Republican Senator pounded his chest and declared himself a "Laissez-Faire" Republican. Richard Burr insisted that the government stand aside, regulations be ignored, and enforcement be stifled.

So, what went wrong? Laissez-Faire Republicanism, supported by the likes of Senator Richard Burr. Republicans took all the referees off the playing field. That allowed fraud and greed to control our housing market. Republicans pushed naive people into home ownership. Republicans made financing easy. Then they allowed all this worthless mortgage paper to be pushed into the accounts of banks, pension funds, IRA and 529 savings accounts the world over. A massive bubble formed and popped, and our world economies blew up.   Today's massive economic turmoil can be traced directly back to 8 years of Republican control of Washington DC, their "Ownership Society" philosophy, and the errant ways of Laissez-Fair Republicanism.   This economic turmoil lies squarely in the lap of the likes of Republican Senator Richard Burr.

Thank you Senator Burr. Thank you for all the pain, misery, joblessness and economic turmoil wrought by your ignorant ways.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

Michele Bachman ... gets my vote

2011-10-25T13:10:00.001-04:00

Michele, Michele, Michele. That woman is certifiably insane. She's a Class A nut job. But she best represents the current deplorable state of my worthless Republican party. So, Michele gets my vote.

A nut job in the White House? Why not? It couldn't be any worse than all the Republican nut jobs running around Capital Hill kissing the asses of the super wealthy, while kicking middle class America in the teeth and shoving us over a cliff.

America deserves better than my current Republican Party. North Carolina deserves better than our dolt of a Republican US Senator, Richard Burr.

Thanks to the Republican Party ....

2011-10-13T10:33:00.002-04:00

There is NO economic justice in America. Follow the link. Read the Bloomberg news article. Then explain how you can support the modern day Republican Party that refuses to make our income tax system fair. Republicans kiss the asses of the super wealthy in our country, and kick middle class America in the teeth. And that's why I don't support my party. And that's why I so deplore my state's ignorant Republican Senator.

North Carolina deserves better than our worthless Republican Senator Richard Burr.

The Republican Debate

2011-09-07T23:12:00.002-04:00

I would support Romney. After Romney, there's nothing but air. Perry will win the nomination. There's no way on God's scorched Texas earth that I will support another Bible thumping, arrogant, idiot who possesses the intellectual brain power of a pea. So, I won't be voting for Perry.

Obama? He's weak. Republicans destroyed our economy and continue to act like morons, crushing America's confidence. President Barack Obama should be kicking Republican's sorry tails around Washington DC until they're blood red. Instead, our President cowers in his office and pleads for understanding.

What to do? Who the hell knows? There are no good alternatives. We'll just have to deal with more disappointment in our nation's leadership. We have idiots representing us in Washington DC. And it doesn't look like that will change any time soon.

Addendum - Whoops. Perry is an idiot. It shows. He's toast. Looks like it's Romeny or Newt as of Nov 11th.

Can you spot the Republican economic revolution?

2011-09-06T23:05:00.000-04:00

This graph tells the story of how Republicans destroyed middle class America. The funny thing? Most middle class Americans trip over each other supporting the Republican Party. Go figure.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

A simple message to our nation's politicians

2011-08-31T10:49:00.005-04:00

Dear American Politician:

We are scared. We don't spend. We sit on cash. So, our economy does not grow.

Why? Because we are frightened of all the negativity coming from our nation's capital. When you return to Washington DC next week from recess, please do some very simple things:

Stay away from TV cameras
Refrain from blaming the "other" party
Stop pointing fingers
Offer up solutions
Negotiate beyond the public eye
Compromise

If you'll adhere to these very simple rules, you'll find that:

Our confidence will grow
We will buy homes
We will spend again
Employers will hire
Our economic engine will lurch forward
Our entire country will prosper

But, if you start more childish in-fighting, we're headed into a deep, dark morass from which we will likely never recover.

Sincerely,

THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

Absolutely stunning stupidity

2011-08-30T10:13:00.002-04:00

If it's not apparent now, you've been living under a rock for the last 2 months. What am I talking about? I'm talking about the stunning stupidity of the Republican Party in the immense damage they have done to American consumer confidence, and resulting harm to the American economy. The direct translation of Republican stupidity? Trillions in wealth lost.

The clown act that Republicans executed on in Washington DC these last two months absolutely destroyed consumer confidence. The numbers just now released have plunged to lows often seen in the 1970s.

Thank you Senator Burr. Thank you Republicans. Your idiocy will go down as historical. Future generations will marvel at just how naive Americans were to have supported a party that revels in economic destruction.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

We ARE Republicans

2011-08-22T10:54:00.003-04:00

We are Republicans.

We BELIEVE IN:
   Cutting taxes on the super-wealthy
   Kicking middle class America in the teeth and pushing them over the cliff
   Raising taxes of, and cutting spending on, the poor

WE ARE REPUBLICANS.

I'm kinda thinking that this is the most effective platform for my Republican party coming into the '12 elections. What do you think?

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

Republicans fail to understand simple, basic economics

2011-08-19T13:19:00.010-04:00

You are one of two people on the planet. You raise pigs. The other living person is a nearby neighbor who raises sheep. You each have $1. Once a year, you meet your neighbor at the local creek bed. You give your neighbor $1. He gives you a sheep.   Your neighbor gives you $1. You give him a pig. What was the annual GDP of the plant that year?

Republican politicians are clueless as to how to do this math. Absolutely clueless.

The GDP was $2.   And it can be expressed in this formula:

$ Money supply x annual velocity of money supply = $GDP or MS x V = GDP.

$2 x 1 = $2

Now, let's increase the GDP. Meet at the creek bed 3 times a year and make that exchange. What's the new GDP?

$2 x 3 = $6

You get it now? If so, take some time and think about how the formula works, what it takes to increase economic activity.   The two obvious ways are:

1. Hold the money supply constant, and increase the velocity of the money.   Make the money change hands more frequently within a year.

2. Increase the money supply, while the velocity of the money holds constant. In other words, print more money and pass it around. More money changing hands the same number of times annually will increase GDP.

Each of these two outcomes would cause economic activity to grow, right? Right.

But, what were to happen if the Velocity of Money were to decline? Let's say you and your neighbor get scared of each other. Or, you get scared that you might be attacked by a wild animal if you met at the creek bed. So, you decrease your meetings each year from 3, down to 1. And you still just exchange a single animal. The outcome is that economic activity falls.

Get it yet?

Today. Right now. People are scared. They see what's going on in Washington DC and they're scared that the rudderless government won't get our problems straightened out. They are scared that the Republican party will continue to play games and hold our country hostage. So, they sit on their money. They stuff it in the bank. They put it under their mattresses. They don't spend it. The velocity of money falls. GDP falls. No new jobs get created. We just sit at a standstill.

But when the velocity of money falls, we can print more money in an effort to get economic activity going again.   That's what Republicans fail to understand.   They get so upset about money printing that, like Rick Perry, they make threats.   They hold our government hostage. They point fingers at the money printing Federal Reserve Board and call these people evil, the root of our problems, heretics.

Reality? Republicans upset about current day money printing are clueless idiots. They fail to understand very basic economic principles. But they are convincing the ignorant masses that the FED must be stopped.   And if it happens, that will stop the one and only hope we have left in getting our economy jump stated and on its way back to growth.

It's not hard. MS x V = GDP.   V is trending down in a major way. It's OK then for the FED to increase MS. It's OK for the FED to print more money right now. It's OK for the FED to be the only grown up in Washington DC making a gallant attempt to get our economy back on track.

But Republicans pointing fingers at the FED?   These are the stupid people. Close your ears to their ignorance. North Carolina Republican Senator Richard Burr? He's just another ignorant, finger-pointing Republican.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

We can thank Eric Cantor and Republicans for Trillions in wealth wiped off the map

2011-08-19T09:16:00.003-04:00

It's all spelled out in the Washington Post article of August 6th. In mid-Jan 2011, Eric Cantor and the GOP laid out plans to hold America hostage, thereby wiping out Trillions in wealth. Job well done Eric. Job well done Republican Party. This wealth destruction and the pending Republican recession to come is squarely on your shoulders.

Read the article. Then ask yourself, should you really support a party so bent on destroying our country?

North Carolina deserves better than our worthless Republican Senator Richard Burr.

Articles worth a read, August 2011

2011-08-19T06:16:00.002-04:00

Tom Coburn does what Republicans do best - SPREAD FEAR

2011-08-18T14:07:00.001-04:00

LOL. And Republicans can't understand why centrists like me continue to thumb our nose at their idiocy? Read this about Tom Coburn's latest accomplishments. Apparently, Tom is doing what the GOP does best, run around the country spreading fear and pessimism.

Someone please shut that little #*$&@ up.

My Republican Senator, lawnmower salesman Richard Burr, is no better.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

All hail the many accomplishments of the Republican Tea Party!

2011-08-18T13:15:00.004-04:00

Markets crash
Trillions in wealth wiped off the map
Gold soars
Recession on the horizon

Yes, all hail the many accomplishments of the Republican Tea Party! Their childish food fights on capital hill got the ball rolling on fear and panic in financial markets around the world, with a great recession to follow.

IDIOTS.

North Carolina deserves better than our worthless Republican Senator Richard Burr.

The coming Republican recession

2011-08-18T12:42:00.003-04:00

Click on image to enlarge:

Our nation's security markets have had a very nasty, sudden sell-off over the last few weeks. Trillions in wealth has gone out the window. Stock markets do a phenomenal job in portending the future though. And when patterns like this unfold, it spells significant trouble for our economy out the next 6 to 9 months. We're headed into another ugly recession.

I know what caused this recession. We got frightened into this one. Republicans started a very nasty fight on Capital Hill. Their errant ways sent shock waves through America. We were stunned at the incompetence of our political leaders. We were stunned that Republicans could act in such a childish manner. Consumers closed their wallets tight and economic activity fell off the cliff. That's what got the ball rolling. That's how it will unfold.

As I'm sitting here thinking about it though, I can hear the 1 million and 1 ways that my Republican Party will point fingers and cast blame on anyone, but themselves. America deserves better.

North Carolina deserves better than our worthless Republican Senator Richard Burr.

Our economy is flooded with idle cash, yet Republicans remain blind

2011-08-18T10:37:00.003-04:00

$2+ Trillion sitting on company balance sheets
$3+ Trillion sitting on deposit at the federal reserve
$3+ Trillion cash in money market funds, earning nothing
$8+ Trillion cash in banks, earning nothing

We have cash out the wazoo in this country. Cash here. Cash there. Cash everywhere. There's tons of it, sitting around doing absolutely NOTHING, earning absolutely NOTHING.

Common sense says we need to focus on a way to get that cash moving. And what are our Republican leaders doing? They sure as hell aren't using common sense. Their policies are all geared to channeling more cash to people who will then sit on that cash. Let's let the rich keep it, so they can stuff it in the bank. Let's let the rich keep it, so they can stuff it under a mattress. Let's let the rich have more cash, yes, that's the answer to our problems in an environment where the rich control all that cash ... just sitting there ... doing nothing. NOT.

Sheesh fellows, get off your idiotic asses and find mechanisms to pry the cash out of the hands of those who will just sit on it. Get it moving. Get it circulating. In the parlance of economists, get that damn Velocity of Money moving higher. That doesn't happen by giving even more cash to people who already have so damn much that they sit on what they have.

We have idiots at the helm of our Republican party, idiots who can't look at a situation and use common sense.

North Carolina deserves better than our worthless Republican Senator Richard Burr.

Does a friendly game of poker accurately explain our economy?

2011-08-17T15:48:00.004-04:00

Three good friends came over one recent evening for a game of poker. We each started out with $1,000 in chips and played until dawn. The game flowed fairly evenly for hours. Then, I get a string of hot hands and wipe out all my friends. I'm sitting with all the chips. They have none. Game over.

How is this friendly game of poker not unlike the current day American economy? If you ask me, the poker game does a pretty darn good job of explaining why our economy is so screwed up. Wealth concentration killed our game, just like it killed our economy. And when you get severity in wealth concentration, when one guy holds all the chips, then there's not much that can be done to resolve the problem and keep the game going, at least not based on current rules. When this happens though, my wife usually steps in to resolve the problem.

My wife sometimes plays the role of the FED, injects liquidity into our poker game - lending us money on very inexpensive terms if we put some of our chips up as collateral. But I'm the only one with chips. So, I'm the only who can borrow cheaply from my wife. Game still over.

Although she doesn't do this, my wife could act like the government. She could swoop in every couple hours, collect a tax on each person's existing pot, and redistribute those chips. But if her taxing policy is like our current day government's policy, she's not going to get many chips from me. And no one else has any chips to be taxed. Game still over.

To keep this game going, the rules need to be changed.

Let's face it. There's only one way that my poker game stays alive. My wife kicks me in the nuts, takes away a good number of my poker chips, and gives them back to my friends.

Why can't our government bring itself to act like my wife? To jump start our economy, our government needs to kick the wealthy in the nuts, take some of their money, and redistribute it. Yes, that's heresy to a Republican. But we must take the actions that are dictated by the circumstances. And right now, the wealthy in our country hold all the chips. And they're sitting on those chips, doing nothing. The only way out of this mess is a swift kick in the nuts and redistribution of the chips.

And that's how our American economy is similar to my game of poker.

Our current day Republican politicians don't know poker, don't have a practical wife, and can't bring themselves to kick rich people in the nuts. So, we're all going to sit around looking at the guy with all the chips, and not do much of anything else.

North Carolina deserves better than our worthless Republican Senator Richard Burr.

Rigid aherence to the dogma of low taxes is killing our economy

2011-08-17T14:49:00.006-04:00

You're in a car headed down the highway traveling at 65 MPH. You're headed out of town to your weekend cottage get-a-way. So its a routine trip. Its a trip you've done so many times in your life that you're confident you could drive it in your sleep. Suddenly, a mammoth MAC Truck crosses the median and is headed straight at you. Keep going? Hell no. Your brain instantaneously kicks into gear and makes adjustments to guide you to safety. And that's the problem with our Republican Party. We have no brain.

Think about this story. For road, car, truck, brain, substitute Republican dogma, low taxes, economy, tax policy.

Our party is all about low taxes, come hell or high water. We stick to this philosophy at all times. But the economy around us is constantly changing. And as the economy changes, we need to be flexible enough to change our approach to managing the economy for continued growth and prosperity. Therein lies the problem with Republican political leaders. They don't change when its change that is needed most.

Tax cuts are helpful in a booming economy. When economic activity is booming, our nation's capacity to produce goods and services become constrained. Shortages of production capacity or labor might even materialize, driving up costs and inflation. So in a booming economy, tax cuts help capital expansion, spur LT investments. The outcome is an increase to capacity, better matching of supply with demand, and continuation of dynamic growth.

Tax cuts and a favorable taxing structure are not so helpful though when times are tough. Tax cuts overwhelmingly go to the wealthy. In tough times, wealthy people have no motivation to invest for capacity expansion. They take the money and stuff it in the bank and under their mattresses. That accomplishes nothing to get our economy moving forward.

Our problem now is a lack of demand for goods and services. We have plenty of production capacity. Too many plants are sitting empty and unused. And we have too much labor. There are too many Americans without a job. Why then do our Republican Leaders want to give wealthy people more tax breaks? That money in the hands of the wealthy winds up sitting, accomplishing nothing. Why then do our Republican leaders act so stupidly? Because our Republican Leaders lack a brain. They are driving down the highway and they're not going to alter direction, no matter what. They stick to the same script, tax cuts to the wealthy, no matter what the economic conditions. They see the Mack Truck. But they are bound, bent and determined that they can just keep on driving, taking the same action over and over. The wreck kills our economy.

Our problem today is not capital formation, lack of savings, capacity constraints, lack of plant or labor. We have massive excesses of savings, plant, labor. Our problem is lack of demand. To solve our problem, we need to think in terms of taxing the wealthy, and transmitting that money somehow, someway, into mechanisms that will spur demand. i.e., Tax the wealthy, create infrastructure jobs for the unemployed. Yet, our Republican politicians stand there like complete and utter idiots and insist that they must stick to their dogma of "No Tax Increases", while the wealthy grow more wealthy, the wealthy are taxed at rates significantly lower than the middle class, and demand goes wanting while all those tax breaks are piling up in banks and under mattresses (on deposit at the FED).

We're stuck. We're stuck in a terrible economy. We're stuck because our Republican Party lacks a brain. And the Mac Truck is headed straight at us.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

With Ed Lazear as a GOP economic leader, who needs enemies?

2011-08-17T12:15:00.004-04:00

Ed Lazear was the top economist in the Republican Bush White House. Is it any wonder that Republicans drove our economy over a cliff? With Ed in charge of economic planning, who needs more enemies? Ed is enough.

Ed Lazear was on CNBC this morning. You can see and hear his interview here. This man is a typical GOP dolt. In 11 minutes, he managed to talk out of both sides of his mouth so often that he made the GOP look terribly foolish, and solidified my belief that Republicans are to blame for this economic mess. Count the number of times Ed contradicts himself (only a few of which are indicated below). Your head will spin.

In one breath he talks about the need to focus on the LT, in the next he indicates the dire need to get something going now.
In one breath he talks about too much spending, in the next he talks about the need to take action now to jumpstart the economy (like there's ample opportunity to do this without spending).
In one breath he talks about the need of generating investment in LT assets, in the next he admits that lack of demand is the problem and there's nothing we can do about that.
In one breath he talks about Obama's focus on the wrong issues right out of the gate, in the next he refuses to criticize the early focus on healthcare.

In this interview, Ed Lazear demonstrates everything wrong with the modern day Republican Party. They criticize. They point fingers. Yet, they have nothing to offer up in the way of viable alternatives to solve any of the issues that they themselves dropped on our doorstep. This man is a pathetic loser, as is my Republican Party.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

32% of wealthiest 400 paid less than 15% income tax. How is this fair?

2011-08-17T09:53:00.003-04:00

This article sums up why I am so upset with my Republican Party. And this paragraph within the article makes me livid:

"The many adjustments to income permitted by the tax code, plus alternative tax rates on the largest sources of income of the wealthy, explain why the average federal income tax rate on the 400 richest people in America was 18.11 percent in 2008, according to the Internal Revenue Service, down from 26.38 percent when these data were first calculated in 1992. Among the top 400, 7.5 percent had an average tax rate of less than 10 percent, 25 percent paid between 10 and 15 percent, and 28 percent paid between 15 and 20 percent."

As a CPA, I'm very knowledgeable about our tax code. And I work my tail off to research and take advantage of every tax break possible, yet my federal tax bill was 22% of my income last year. 60% of the 400 richest Americans paid a lower tax rate than me! And 32% of these super wealthy paid less than a 15% rate!

I ask myself and my party ... how is it fair when the richest Americans pay so little? HOW?

My Republican party doesn't care about middle class America. We pay a higher tax rate than the wealthiest of the wealthy. And to balance our nation's budget to pay for the Republican Wars and the tax cuts on the wealthy, Republicans demand drastic cuts to the very programs aimed at helping middle class America, so the wealthiest of the wealthy can continue paying tax rates lower than us. HOW is this fair? Do you not understand the need to raise income taxes on the wealthy? If not, you must be blind.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

GOP has nothing to offer

2011-08-17T09:22:00.003-04:00

One of the most widely followed bloggers in financial circles is a cocky, foul mouthed trader - The Fly. You won't read a funnier blog. And you won't find a blog that gives you more insight into the Securities Trading Community. The Fly speaks his mind. Caution though, he's not rated "G". His language is the language of the trading room floors - ample amounts of profanity, intermingled with numerous astute observations.

Last night, The Fly opined about the current state of national GOP politics. His observations could easily be substituted for mine. I repeat them in entirety below, but would point you back to his blog too. He's worth following if you have any interest in the politician leanings of Wall Street:

"Okay, I am going out on a limb here, at the risk of upsetting my emotional friend, Senator Gint. Aside from Romney, the current roster of republican candidates are UNELECTABLE. More so, if Mitt is NOT nominated, or HERMAN CO-CAINE, I will be voting for Prezident O’bama again.

Ask me why, I fucking dare you.

First of all, Bachmann is an idiot on a wide array of issues. Do I really need to delve into detail, seriously? Rick Perry is a bible toting simpleton, who will endorse BIG fucking oil, as if that shit was oxygen. Plus anyway, didn’t he run Al Gore’s Texas campaign many moons ago? I say NO to RINOS every time. And, let’s not ignore his asinine comments on the beloved BEARDED CLAM. Take issue with me on this, I don’t give a fuck. I will NOT vote for anyone who is hating on the Fed. For the love of half bibles and abandoned churches, the Fed is all we have here on Wall Street. Fuck these politicians.

I would LOVE to say President Co-caine, over and over again. Herman is a mathematician and majored in Physics. He is like Obama, but only smarter and knows shit about life, and business. He wants to eliminate cap gains. Okay, maybe that didn’t hit you right away, so I’ll say it again. He wants to put capital gains taxes at ZERO percent, FOREVER. And, to boot, he wants to lower income tax to 25%, again permanently. Sadly, the media treats him like he is the former owner of a fucking chicken restaurant.

Santorum wants to arrest women who abort babies conceived by way of rape, as does Bachman. These fuckers don’t recognize that DNA can be transferred from one person to the next, because, well, God makes everyone, right? These fucking religious zealots are insane.

Lastly, there is Mitt. He is our final hope. However, the fucking hillbillies don’t like him because he’s a mormon and likes to keep 4-5 wives around, doing the dishes, baking him banana bread.

Just like last election, I will vote against the republicans for fielding such a stupid roster. They do not deserve to win. Obama is the worst President since Bush II and he will win thanks to the pathetic state of the GOP.

Out with business minded people, in with the fucking bible teachers.

Fuck off."

The GOP has nothing. Air. Zilch. Nada. Zippo. It's a limp political party that ran our country into the sewer, and is now making every obstructionist move possible in an effort to pin their incompetence on anyone but themselves. It's a collection of worthless politicians who accomplish nothing, like my state's Republican Senator.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

How Republican Politicians destroy America

2011-08-16T17:56:00.001-04:00

A short story that explains how Republican politicians, like North Carolina Republican Senator Richard Burr, destroy our country:

An announcement recently hit the wires that the Republican Party was seeking to raise campaign financing. They planned to sell access to all their policy tools, to anyone who could afford the selling price. North Carolina Republican Senator Richard Burr was overseeing the sale.

On the day of the big sale, all the Republican tools were attractively displayed. Laid out before the buyers were Envy, Jealousy, Hatred, Malice, Deceit, Sensuality, Pride, Idolatry, and a number of other, similar Republican implements. Each of the tools was marked with its own price.

Over in the corner, all by itself, was a harmless looking, wedge-shaped tool very much worn, but still it bore the highest price. Someone asked Senator Burr what it was. “That is Discouragement”, replied the Senator. The next question came quickly, “And why is it priced so high even though it is plain to see that it is worn more than these others?”

Because replied Senator Burr, “Discouragement is more useful to our Republican party than all these others. We can pry open and get into a man’s heart with Discouragement, when we cannot get near him with any other tool. Once we get inside, we can use him in whatever way suits us best. It is well worn because we use it on all Americans, and few people even know its our most effective Republican tool.”

This tool was priced so high that no one could buy it. To this day it has never been sold. It still belongs to the Republican Party. And Republicans continue to use Discouragement on the citizens of our good nation each and every day.

Is it not evident to you now why it is that our Senator always points fingers elsewhere, always talks negatively, always attacks the "other" party? Republicans use that dull tool on us each and every day.

It's time to put a stop to all the negativity coming from our Republican Party. It's time to turn our backs on Republican politicians who can only blame Obama. Republicans created this financial crises. They need to accept responsibility. And their inability to propose rational, common sense solutions, their inability to compromise, their inability to execute on the will of the American people, it just plain beats us down into a state of endless discouragement. It kills our economy. It keeps us unemployed. It keeps us in debt. It hurts our nation.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

There is just 1 person I would support on the GOP ticket

2011-08-16T14:24:00.002-04:00

This current line-up of GOP candidates for President is simply pathetic:

Perry - Read my lips, no new Texans. The man is a Bible thumping moron. We've had our fill of idiots from Texas.

Palin - Nice smile. But please, shrubbery has more brain cells than Sarah.

Bachmann - Palin junior. Honestly, this woman is in dire need to be consistently and constantly medicated. Michele has mental issues.

Romney - He'll say and do anything to get elected. And I will not vote for a man who made his riches buying companies and firing people.

Paul - Nice man. But his economic ideas border on being insane. And his constant rants about gold and the dollar are just tiring.

There isn't a serious alternative in the bunch. They all remind me of North Carolina Republican Senator Richard Burr - terribly incompetent. However, there is one Republican out there who I would back:

And I still hold out hope that he'll come to his senses and run.

Warren Buffett talks with Charlie Rose, America listens

2011-08-16T11:51:00.004-04:00

Warren Buffet did an hour long interview last night with Charlie Rose. You can listen to it here. As always, Warren speaks in common sense terms.

Key points:

If the committee of 12 fails in coming up with a credible budget plan, our country will morph into a pit of hopelessness. We might already be in the pit.
In a very high percentage of cases, the very rich are paying a smaller percentage of their income in taxes than the people cleaning the offices of the rich.
Since 1992, the very rich have had almost a 10 fold increase in capital gains, taxed at the very lowest rate, and not subject to payroll taxes.
Often lost in the discussion about taxes, payroll taxes account for almost 1/2 the taxes raised by our government, yet the rich don't pay payroll taxes on the vast majority of their income.
If you make money with money, you pay no payroll taxes. Make money with muscle, you wind up paying payroll + income taxes. This is the source of the inequity.
Buffett never had one person decline to invest as a result of the existing tax rate.
People are very upset with how the government works.
Tea party is simply insane - causing the American people to be losers.
The housing bubble is the primary source of our current economic problems. We won't come back until we work off the excess of housing.
Household formation is the key to our economic revival. Unemployment will fall appreciably when we get back to building 1 M homes a year. Level now at 500 K.
All Buffett's businesses getting consistently better - except those tied to housing.
Buffett thinks economy will turn faster than Federal Reserve Board currently forecasting.
Changing immigration policy to allow more immigrants into our country could help excess housing situation.
We need to be collecting about 18 - 19% of GDP in taxes. Currently collecting just shy of 15%. We need to move spending down to 20 - 21%, taxes up to 18 - 19%.
Doesn't matter if cut taxes, spend more, each is stimulus. Government running deficit is stimulus. Currently, stimulus is at record 10% of GDP (deficit of $1.4 T on about $14 T annual GDP).
Our nation does not have confidence in our leadership. We no longer believe in what our leaders say or do.
Our free market system has led to extremes. We are becoming a nation of haves and have nots.
Everybody in this country owes their own good fortune in some way to the rest of the country.
Warren Buffett's tax situation: $62 M Adjusted Gross Income, $39.8 M Taxable Income, $6.9 M Federal Tax. Payroll taxes: $15 K. Total tax rate 11.1% on Adjusted Gross Income, 17.3% on Taxable Income. I pay taxes at a significantly higher rate than Warren Buffett. And I suspect you do as well. SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER! How is this fair?
Republicans are basically communicating ... "the country be damned".
We need to means test Social Security.
60 million Americans live in households where the income is $21 K or less. If we're going to cut spending on these households, then everyone should be made to contribute. A rich society should think about these people every day.
We need drastic downside incentives for corporate executives, and we have not tackled this issue yet.
Warren's businesses investing a record $7 Billion in capital investments this year, almost all in the US. +$1 B more than last year.

Bottom line - This interview confirms and solidifies my anger at my Republican Party. We ran our economy into a ditch. We under-taxed the wealthy. We declared unfunded wars. We spent money like drunken sailors. We ignored problems in the costs of education, health care, and energy. And now, to pay for our incompetence, we propose to leave the super-wealthy untouched while we kick the middle class in the teeth and then shove them over a cliff.

I deeply deplore the worthlessness of my incompetent North Carolina Republican Senator Richard Burr. This man was central in making a mess of our country. And in his steadfast protection of the super-wealthy and his desire to screw middle class America is just reprehensible.

North Carolina deserves better than our worthless Republican Senator Richard Burr.

32% of wealthiest 400 paid less than 15% income tax. How is this fair?

2011-08-15T08:41:00.005-04:00

Yes Senator Burr, Stop Coddling the Super-Rich

2011-08-15T08:25:00.006-04:00

If you've read much of my blog, you know how upset I am with my Republican party. Middle class America is under attack from Republicans. Our incomes are declining in real terms. We pay taxes at overall effective income tax rates that are significantly higher than Super-Rich Americans. And the Federal spending largely benefiting middle class America is on the chopping block. Republicans want to strip away our medical benefits (Medicare) and retirement pay (Social Security). Worse though, this is happening to us because Republicans so terribly mismanaged our economy and budgets, and ran around the world starting extremely costly and ineffective wars. Now, middle class America has to pay for Republican incompetence.

Of all these troubling issues, the one that bugs me the most is the unfairness of our nation's income tax structure. Like most upper middle class Americans, I am constantly trapped by the AMT tax. That means deductions for state income taxes and mortgage interest are useless. And, I wind up paying 25% tax on my capital gains, instead of the 15% rate handed to the Super-Rich. The net result is that my overall income tax rate winds up in the 20 - 24% range - the range where the vast majority of middle class Americans fall.

But the Super-Rich, the class protected and coddled by Republicans, pay significantly less. They rarely get trapped by AMT. As I have pointed out time and again here, the net result is that the very richest among us pay an effective federal income tax rate that is significantly LOWER than paid by most middle class Americans. The 400 richest Americans paid an average rate of 18%. Over 1/3rd of those paid less that 15%. How is this fair? How is this fair in an era where we can not balance our nation's budgets and we rack up Trillions in debt? Why is our nation borrowing so much, and taxing the wealthiest among us so little? Why? Because that's the way the Republican Party wants it. And that's why I will not support my current day Republican Party. Their stance on zero tolerance for income tax increases, in an environment where the Super-Rich pay so little, our nation is racking up so much debt, well, their stance on this issue is just insane.

This morning, Warren Buffet writes a very important Op-Ed in the New York Times that makes this very point crystal clear. Republicans are coddling the Super-Rich in this country by insisting that no income taxes be increased. Republicans push middle class America over the cliff, while kissing up to the Super-Rich. Read this article. Tell me how this is fair. Tell me how you can support Republicans knowing that they believe this inequity should exist. I can't. I won't. I never will, for the remainder of my life. Republicans have taxed me far too much, taxed the Super-Rich far too little, resulting in mountains of debt that me and my children will be paying off into eternity.

I WILL NOT SUPPORT A REPUBLICAN PARTY THAT SHOWS SO MUCH CONTEMPT FOR MIDDLE CLASS AMERICA THROUGH VAST INEQUITIES IN OUR INCOME TAX STRUCTURE. I WILL NOT SUPPORT A PARTY THAT TAXES THE SUPER-RICH SO LITTLE, WHILE SHOVING MIDDLE CLASS AMERICANS OVER A CLIFF.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

Burr says there's not much that he can do? WTF?

2011-08-11T19:59:00.008-04:00

I nearly fell out of my chair this evening when I read about Senator Richard Burr's interview with WRAL today. Read about it here:

"Senator Richard Burr said today there’s not much Congress can do in the short term to address the financial unease that’s been roiling US and world markets for the past week."

What f*cking planet do you live on Senator?

Get your lazy tail back up to Washington DC. Pound the living hell out of Mitch's front door until he agrees to call Republicans back off their month long vacation. Get the HELL back to work. We are in crises mode in case you didn't realize. Almost $3 Trillion now has been wiped off the map as a result of the circus Republicans caused over this debt ceiling debate.

You broke it A**hole. FIX IT. NOW.

Get to work on the budget deal, you worthless POS.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

Republican brinkmanship cost American investors $2.8 Trillion

2011-08-11T09:23:00.003-04:00

The toll taken by the Republican brinkmanship over the budget ceiling continues to climb. In 3 weeks, over $2.8 Trillion has gone up in smoke. I wonder who Americans will blame when they open their August IRA, 401K, Roth, 529, Coverdale, SEP, Pension statements? I know who I am blaming. And its not Democrats.

I would note again ... Budget deal undone. Congress vacations. Financial markets melt. Trillions lost.

Boehner, Cantor, Burr ... don't you think you pathetic idiots could interrupt your month long vacation, get your sorry butts back to work, and get that 'effing budget deal resolved, sooner rather than later?

My Republican party is full of sorry assed, piece of crap, lazy, irresponsible politicians. And I suspect those decimated account statements coming in the mail later this month will reinforce this fact in the minds of the vast majority of Americans.

North Carolina deserves better than our worthless Republican Senator Richard Burr.

Republican Arrogance, the post that kicked off this blog

2011-08-10T19:32:00.003-04:00

March 22, 2009. This was the post that kicked off my blog. It's as true today as it was well over 2 years ago:

Yesterday was a day of working around my house. It's spring and spring always brings on chores. I enjoy it because it gets my mind off issues like the economy, the financial markets, and politics. That reduces my stress levels, which is something I need.

But then, a neighbor walked over and we talked. Mistake. He's a die-hard Republican. I am too. But lately, I straddle the fence, generally hating both parties. But he sent my stress levels to the roof with a constant pounding on Barny Frank, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and John Kerry. It's their fault. Everything's their fault.

A typical Republican.

I have to tell you, I'm just flat tired of hearing Republicans talk about our nation's problems. The Republican Party IS OUR NATION'S PROBLEM. These people were in control of the White House for the last 8 years. They were in control of Congress for 6 of the last 8 years. It was a total break down in government oversight and regulation that brought us to this point. And that was the Republican's fault. They were in control. I have a message for all Republicans out there who want to mouth off about Democratic leaders:

Just shut up.

Republicans did nothing about energy spiraling out of control. They did nothing about education costs that bankrupted families, and piled debt onto the shoulders of our young people. They did nothing about health care costs that were the single biggest factor in personal bankruptcies in our nation. They did nothing about the 45 million Americans without health care coverage. They did nothing about our broken education system. They sat on their asses while wealth concentration hit historical proportions, while the middle class suffered. They doubled our nation's debt by piling another $5 Trillion to the shoulders of our children. They were directly responsible for putting a leash on the SEC to the point it was a broken, toothless, total waste of money.

But Republicans were an accomplished party on some fronts. They made the rich even richer. They prided themselves on increasing home ownership to record levels, and we know how that worked out. They started wars. They spent money like drunken sailors. They allowed our investment banks to leverage up to 40 to 1. They stood in the way of the Federal Reserve providing adult oversight to the mortgage lending industry. And I could go on and on.

I am a Republican. I so deplore how irresponsible my party has been that I don't have a single kind word to say about my party or any of it's leaders. And I'm not a fan either of the Democratic Party. However, I'm smart enough to know who's a fault for this mess. Republicans. And I am smart enough to know that the only answer right now is to give the other guys a chance. And that means we need to push out of office every damn Republican who served during the Bush administration. Every single one. We need to give the other guys a chance to do better. And they need at least 8 years before we start giving them grief.

It was our fault. We screwed America. The Republican Party is to blame for this mess. And Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, Harry Reid and Barney Frank deserve our silence right now.

So, a message to fellow Republicans:

Just shut up.

You want to know what I'm really thinking right now?

2011-08-10T17:18:00.005-04:00

This is what I really think right now as I stare at a trading screen that shows the DOW down 519 points, after a 635 point loss on Monday, after a 513 point loss last Thursday, after a 266 point loss the previous Monday .....

... FUCKING REPUBLICAN POLITICIANS ...

You idiots started a food fight in Congress that wound up costing Americans Trillions in losses in their IRAs, 401Ks, 529s, ROTHs, Coverdales. People saw that clown act in Washington, got scared, and ran for the exits. What Republicans set in motion was simply an act of terrorism on the American pocketbook.

The Republican party fucked up our economy. The Republican party refuses to take responsibility. The Republican party makes every effort possible to blame everyone but themselves. The Republican party is full of worthless, good for nothing politicians.

What I really think?

... Republican Politicians all need to rot in hell ...

That's what I really think Senator. You're to blame. You've been there for 15 years. You drove our economy over the cliff. And now you're spending all your fucking time trying to pin it on anyone but yourself.

I do hope you rot in hell. I really do.

North Carolina deserves better than our pathetic Republican Senator Richard Burr.

Whew ... I feel a little better now.

How Republican politicians destroy America

2011-08-10T14:13:00.011-04:00

Typical of my Republican party, close your eyes and ears to what Americans want

2011-08-10T11:41:00.001-04:00

New poll out from CNN:

"According to the poll, 63 percent say the super committee should call for increased taxes on higher-income Americans and businesses, with 36 percent disagreeing. And by a 57 to 40 percent margin they say the committee's deficit reduction proposal should include major cuts in domestic spending."

Why is it that Republicans, like Richard Burr, don't want to listen to Americans? We need a balanced approach.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

Latest IRS statistics spell out the failure of our Republican Party

2011-08-10T09:30:00.003-04:00

The IRS just released statistics on America's tax returns for 2009. It's not a pretty picture, and spells out just how miserably the administration of George W Bush and Senator Richard Burr failed our country. Highlights:

Average income fell 6.1% from the previous year, to $54,283.
Average income is now down to 1997 levels in real dollar terms.
Total adjusted gross income was $7.6 T, down from the 2007 peak of $9 T.
116.9 M taxpayers reported some salaries and wages, down from the 2007 peak of 120.8 M.
140.5 M tax returns were filed, 2 M less than the peak in 2007.
41.7% of returns paid no taxes.
The average income of those paying no taxes is $14,483.

Why do I pin these poor results on our Republican party? How Americans performed financially in 2009 was a direct result of government policies set years before 2009 rolled around. And Republicans controlled our economy in the previous 8 years. They are to blame for this terrible outcome.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

@curtiswright - Question for Senator Burr - Is he aware that not ALL NC Republicans support his policies?

2011-08-10T08:41:00.000-04:00

As evident from this blog, not all Republicans are big fans of our clueless Senator.

Jeremy Grantham is calling Republicans clueless

2011-08-10T08:32:00.001-04:00

Jeremy Grantham is out with his August investment letter.

As always, Jeremy is making a number of astute observations. But the overall theme of his letter is how Republicans screwed America. They screwed us by ignoring the housing mess, which is primarily responsible for this current economic crises. And they continue to screw us further by channeling the vast majority of economic benefits in our country to the top 10% - a point I continue to hammer on in this blog. Our primary economic problem is the lack of consumer demand. We are NOT going to solve this problem with the solutions proposed by you and the current Republican leadership. Our problem of soft demand will only get resolved by channeling economic resources away from the top 10%, and buffer the other 90%. That takes tax increases at the top, and lower taxes at the bottom.

Senator, you are simply clueless, as are the vast majority of today's Republican Politicians. This hard line of "no tax increases" is just insane. It gets us nowhere, accomplishes nothing. To address the need for further demand, we need tax fairness. And it is just NOT fair when the super wealthy pay income taxes are net effective rates LOWER than middle class Americans. Wake the heck up Senator. Get this fixed.

The key paragraph in Jeremy's letter:

"Personal income progress is very modest. Productivity has been very high – remarkably so compared to the rest of the developed world average – but the U.S. continues its odd and long history of flowing all economic gains to corporations and the very rich and basically none to the average hour worked. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that we are facing weak demand. For 30 years to the year 2000, consumers compensated for their lack of progress in hourly wages partly by working harder and longer and in greater numbers and partly by borrowing. But in the 10 years after 2000, the participation rate in the workforce has dropped dramatically and hours worked per person has flattened so that the only way for individuals to grow their consumption more recently was by borrowing even more and, to some extent, by speculating in housing. Rising house prices provided the (apparently) real backing for more debt and, even where that backing did not exist, the ingenuity (and, we must admit, greed) of the financial system still supplied the debt. And all of that has gone. And since creating and destroying illusions seems a wretched way to proceed, we can hope (non-mortgage brokers anyway) that it does not return. Today the artificial sugar-coating of increasing debt has been removed and we must live with the reality that an average hour’s work has not received a material increase for 40 years. Without increased debt and without gains in hourly wages, how can there be sustained broad gains in consumption? Only Chanel suits, Hermes scarves, BMWs, and their ilk have very strong sales, and these top-end items are just too small a fraction to carry the day. If we want to dig out of our current morass, don’t we have to change this equation and isn’t the most direct way of doing this to divide the pie more evenly? That would mean lower income and sales taxes for the bottom 75% of earners and higher taxes for the top 10%! We have allowed the vagaries of globalization and the plentiful supply of cheap Chinese labor to determine our income distribution, which has become steadily steeper, to the point where we have become one of the least egalitarian developed societies. Wouldn’t it be better for us to decide deliberately and by ourselves that income distribution which creates the best balance of social justice and incentive to work? I am not suggesting that we become some goody two-shoes Scandinavian country. But how about going back to the levels of income equality that existed under the Presidency of that notable Pinko, Dwight Eisenhower. And don’t think for a second that this more equal income distribution somehow interfered with economic growth: the 50s and 60s were the heyday of sustained U.S. economic gains."

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

Thank you Senator Burr, sincerely

2011-08-08T18:16:00.003-04:00

American equity markets lose $1 Trillion in a single day.

Thank you Senator Burr. This is your fault, for acting like a fucking jackass as a Republican, pointing fingers everywhere but in the mirror, lying to us constantly, and pulling the wool over the eyes of middle class Americans in hiding your real agenda - ensuring that the super wealthy in this country remain under-taxed, while our country racks up debt like crazy.

You SUCK Senator Richard Burr. YOU REALLY SUCK.

Who caused this debt crises in the USA?

2011-08-08T17:27:00.004-04:00

Gee Senator, looks like our Republican Party is MOST responsible for this debt that you constantly lie about and try to pin on President Obama, eh?

Senator, you wind up rotting in hell for habitual lying. You know that, right?

Thank God Senator Burr is near his ATM

2011-08-08T17:18:00.001-04:00

Senator Richard Burr is on a month-long Senate break and probably back at home in Winston-Salem. Thank God for him. Now he can go directly to the ATM himself to yank out money prior to the coming financial meltdown.

We're happy for you Senator. Give that ATM a hard ride.

Please remind the people of North Carolina

2011-08-07T21:58:00.003-04:00

Senator Burr: Remind us again - When running for office recently, you heaped a ton of criticism on President Obama for $500 Billion in medicare cuts over 10 years. And now, just two years later, you are pointing fingers at President Obama for his lack of leadership on balancing our budgets? The Republican Party now wants Trillions in cuts to social security and medicare, when 2 years ago, minor cuts were a no-no?

That's the pot calling the kettle black ... eh?

Senator Richard Burr, you have ZERO credibility right now. None. Nada. Zippo. Air. Zilch. You are a typical worthless politician, talking out of both sides of your mouth.

If we were to follow the Republican path now to a balanced budget, President Obama's efforts at $500 Billion in medicare cuts would be a drop in the bucket to the $16 Trillion in cuts you're going to need over the coming decade under a balanced budget amendment. What are you going to cut Senator? Man up. Tell the people of North Carolina how your balanced budget amendment means that they will get the living hell hacked out of their social security checks. Tell the people of North Carolina that you're going to throw them to the wolves in their old age when it comes to medical care.

Tell the people of North Carolina the god damn truth for once, just once, Senator.

North Carolina deserves better than our worthless Republican Senator Richard Burr.

Our budget ...

2011-08-06T17:10:00.006-04:00

Click on image for a better view:

Republican intellectual dishonesty, er ... outright lies

2011-08-06T14:55:00.005-04:00

One of the things that frustrates me the most about our modern day Republican party is how much they just plain lie. Next time you hear a Republican politician speak about taxes and spending, listen for the issue they raise about fairness in our tax system. It's very likely that you will hear the Republican say that its just not fair to tax the wealthy more. It's not fair because the top 10% of Americans pay over 40% of the federal taxes. And then they'll tell you that our problem is in entitlement spending (Social Security and Medicare). Therefore, we need to just make drastic cuts to entitlement spending and do nothing about raising taxes on the wealthy.

Busted. LIE.

Why is this a lie? It's a lie because when they talk about taxes, they are only talking about federal income taxes, conveniently leaving out payroll taxes. Yet, when they complain about entitlement spending, they complain about the spending that is directly funded by payroll taxes. They mix apples and oranges. They lie and distort facts in order to make it appear that their proposals have merit.

Here's what we need to do to ensure we're hearing the truth. When any politician talks about taxes and then entitlement spending, we need to make sure they are quoting facts and statistics that include both income and payroll taxes. Its just plain distortion of the facts for anyone to talk about just federal taxes, then turn around and complain about programs largely financed by payroll taxes.

Richard Burr is one of these Republican liars. He often points to the need to not raise taxes on the wealthy because they pay more than their fair share. In making this statement, he presents an argument only about incomes taxes. But then he'll turn around and talk about the need for drastic cuts to entitlement programs, without any mention that these programs are funded by payroll taxes. Enough. Enough of the lies and distortion of the facts. Richard Burr lies to us when he talks about these issues.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

Common sense applied to our nation's budget problems ...

2011-08-06T14:17:00.008-04:00

In thinking through our nation's problems, I offer up these common sense observations:

1. When our federal government acted responsibly in the past and balanced our budgets, they taxed Americans at an overall average rate of 18% of our nation's income. And they spent about 18% of our nation's income in the way of federal spending. 18% IN. 18% OUT. Budgets balanced.

2. Right now, 2011, our federal government is spending 24% of our nation's income, and taxing us at 14%.

3. Right now, our federal government is taxing the 400 wealthiest among us (avg $280 M in annual income) at an average rate of 18%. Over 32% of those 400 are paying 15% or lower. The wealthiest are paying taxes at rates that only equal, and often are less than our overall historical 18% average.

From those observations, these common sense solutions should follow:

1. If we've balanced revenues and spending in the past at 18%, we need to get both our revenues and spending back to the 18% level. This entails cutting spending, AND raising revenues.

2. If we need to get back to 18%, and its fair that the wealthiest among us pay higher rates than those less wealthy, then the wealthiest need to be paying taxes at rates far higher than 18%.

These are very common sense, factual observations with common sense conclusions as to what needs to happen to solve our budget problem. Unfortunately, the Democratic Party is significantly closer to a common sense approach than the Republican Party. That is just plain fact and can not be argued otherwise, rationally. As a country, we must cut expenses and we must raise taxes on the wealthy. We can argue as to what expenses to cut. And we can argue about who has to bear what proportion of the burden in raising revenues, it should be clearly evident that the overriding solution is both cutting expenses and raising revenues.

Right now, neither party has it exactly right. But Republicans are out in left field. Democrats are in the infield, but need to be closer to home plate.

Democrats want $4 Trillion in budget changes, over 10 years. $3 Trillion in cuts, $1 Trillion in revenue raising. The number needs to be higher, on both sides of the equation. We need even deeper cuts, and larger tax increases.

Republicans only want cuts. And they will not raise taxes. They also want a balanced budget amendment. To solve the Republican equation would take our country to a point of 14% taxes IN, 14% expenditures OUT. The deep cuts necessary to get us there would throw our country into a depression.

THE rational solution is 18/18. Politicians with a plan to get us to 18/18 are worthy of our support. Those are primarily Democrats. The irrational solution is 14/14. Politicians who want to get us to that point are simply clueless to the damage that would do to our economic future. Those are primarily Republicans.

Senator Richard Burr walks the Republican party line. While as a thinking, rational person, he may very well feel differently, he only does what is demanded of him by the Republican leadership. Richard Burr follows directions from the Senatorial Republican head, Republican Mitch McConnell, from the state of Kentucky. Republican Senator Richard Burr does the bidding of the citizens of Kentucky. He takes the irrational path, the path that will destroy our economy.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

Downgrade ....

2011-08-06T12:28:00.004-04:00

This past week or two has been brutal for Americans. We witnessed embarrassing and childish actions from our politicians. We watched debt problems in Europe rearing their ugly head, while European leaders were all on vacation and not interested in taking decisive action. The world seems to be unraveling in front of our eyes. Most unfortunately, our investments and savings are paying the price. Over $1.8 Trillion in equity value was wiped off the map from the US equity markets in just two weeks.

Late last night, we got word that Standard and Poor's downgraded our debt. Yes, our nation's budgets are to blame. But the interesting thing is that Standard and Poor's appears to be placing most of the downgrade blame squarely on the shoulders of the dysfunctional political environment. S&P said: " “the downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges".

In other words, our politicians are clowns.

We must stop the infighting and finger pointing in Washington D.C. We must compromise. This is our fault. We elected incompetent people more interested in sticking to ideology than in solving our problems.

To reverse our course, we must put more emphasis on the quality of the people we send to Washington DC. If a politician comes to the microphone and spends time blaming someone from the "other" party - these are the people we need to kick out of office. If a politician spends more time talking about why we can't compromise and must stand our ground on ideology - these are the people we need to kick of office. We need politicians who only talk about the issues, the possible fixes, what he or she thinks needs to be done, and how they can compromise to get to a solution. But the very second we see a finger pointed somewhere else, we need to rush the podium and kick that sorry politician to the curb.

Republican Senator Richard Burr spends his efforts blaming everyone but himself for the problems in Washington DC. The man has been there for 15 years. These are problems he caused. And he has done nothing to work us to solutions. He has done everything possible to point fingers at others. It's time to give Senator Richard Burr the boot. The man is worthless.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

So ...

2011-08-05T14:49:00.000-04:00

$1.8 Trillion wiped off the map in equity values since our Senator and the other children in Washington DC started their infantile food fight over the budget ceiling. Bye-Bye Pension savings, 401Ks, IRAs, Roths, 529 plans, Coverdales, just plain savings.

How you liking this market's reaction to all the Republican solutions being offered up? You haven't seen anything yet. Kiss your savings good-bye now that Republicans are strong arming everyone and taking control of our economic future again. If there's one thing we can count on from our Republican Party - they excel at destroying our economy and causing our savings to disappear.

God, I'm so proud to be a Republican.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

Funniest article I've ever read

2011-08-03T11:42:00.001-04:00

Funniest article I have ever read.

By the way, in case you didn't realize it, the Onion writes spoof articles. Still, there's lots to be learned in reading and understanding the points raised in this spoof piece.

Wait, isn't something wrong here?

2011-08-02T15:29:00.005-04:00

Whew, Congress came to our rescue and saved our economy with a budget deal. Wait, isn't something wrong here?

The DOW is down ~~180~~ ~~223~~ ~~250~~ 266 points as I type. It's been down each of the last 8 trading sessions. Something like $800 Billion in net worth has been wiped off Americans' equity investments in the past week. Just about every Wall Street analyst is telling us that the economy will now get weaker. What's going on here?

Senator Burr - what happened to all the jobs you promised? How about that "cut and grow" strategy Republicans constantly harped about? Where is the economic growth? The bill is passed. There were no tax increases. You got what you wanted. But where are our jobs, and where is our better economy?

THIS WAS A REPUBLICAN BILL. WHAT HAPPENS FROM THIS POINT FORWARD WITH JOBS AND OUR ECONOMY - WE DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANY MORE OF YOUR 'EFFING OBAMA COMPLAINTS. YOU GOT WHAT YOU WANTED. REPUBLICANS OWN THE ECONOMIC OUTCOME FROM THIS POS BUDGET LEGISLATION YOU WANTED.

Not panning out so well, eh? Maybe next time Americans won't be so naive about the lies told to us by Republican politicians like Richard Burr.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

Ideas to put Americans to work

2011-08-02T13:43:00.007-04:00

Look, I am not a brilliant person. I have just an average IQ. And while I have a business degree from Harvard, you wouldn't know it based on my writing, spelling abilities. I'm not the typical Harvard rocket scientist. I got into good schools because I worked my ass off and studied extraordinarily hard. And while I've been fairly successful in making money at my career choice of securities trading, I'm also realistic in assessing my skills on that front too. Much of it came from just being darn lucky. I consider myself an average Joe. I appreciate a good beer, don't shave very often, go barefooted much of the week, and only wear jeans. Maybe then I'm just a barely average Joe? Anyway, I do excel in one area. I apply common sense and always strive to keep it simple. We need to do some common sense, simple things right now to turn our country around. And I have a few ideas.

We can't reply on Congress to get anything of substance accomplished. We have morons in Congress, including Senator Richard Burr. And while our President is a smart man, he can't get anything of substance done either without the support of the Congressional morons. So if anything gets done, it gets accomplished by our Federal Reserve Board.

We need to support efforts by our Federal Reserve Board (FED) to turn around our economy. So far, our FED has made two primary efforts to jump start economic growth, widely referred to as QE1 and QE2. They are widely viewed as failures. Still, they can't give up. We can't give up. Our FED needs to continue tweaking and trying. And we need to lend them our support.

In QE1, our FED used hundreds of billions to buy some pretty horrible assets from our weakened banks. The idea was to infuse banks with capital so they could lend. It did make our banks stronger. But it didn't work to stimulate our economy. Banks sold assets to the FED, but sat on the capital. The economy was so weak that they had few good lending opportunities. So, it was on to QE2.

In QE2, our FED used hundreds of Billions more to buy US Treasury Securities. The idea was to allow our banks to once again build capital, take advantage of the yield curve, borrow cheap ST, and invest for much higher yields LT. Those investments would push up asset prices, making people wealthier. Wealthy people spend more. And more spending would jump start our economy. It didn't quite work out that way. Our world's financial system became flush with cheap capital. Unfortunately, lacking better alternative investments, much of that capital found its way into energy and ag investments that wound up pushing up oil and food costs. That caused inflation to spike around the world. We saw it at the gas station and in the supermarket. And some think our FED's actions wound up causing massive protests over rising food costs in the middle east. That wound up in governments getting overthrown. So QE2 caused inflation and world-wide governmental instability, not so good.

The outcome of QE2 brought a massive amount of criticism down onto the shoulders of the FED. Congress got into the act and pointed fingers left and right at our FED. Maybe it was deserved. Maybe not. But at least the FED is trying to find the right actions to get our economy moving forward. That's much more than Americans can say about our hapless Congress. Given time and support from Americans, I have confidence that our FED can find ways to move our economy forward. You too need to support our FED. And you need to tell your Congressmen that you support our FED.

Why does the FED deserve the support of the average American? I can only tell you why I support our Fed, and hope you agree. First, these are extremely smart, well educated people. Second, many of them come from the real world and have not been in government their entire careers. Third, they are a small group of people, which can move quickly and act decisively. Fourth, they are led by a real human being, someone with a humble background, grew up in a small town, lived a middle class American life, and for gosh sakes, waited tables at that tacky South of the Border tourist trap off I-95! I'd rather trust a former waiter with the future of our economy than some stuck-up, arrogant Congressman, who's never worked a real job and was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Bottom line - we need to support our FED.

Now, here come the common sense ideas that could come from our FED. The FED should embark on QE3. They will be reserved to do so, because Congress will try to stop them. But, we must tell our Congressmen to shut the hell up and back off. We must allow our FED to work unimpeded. There are some actions our FED could take now that would alleviate inflation issues in food and energy, and create a massive number of new jobs for our economy:

Energy prices, especially oil, are high because supply is constrained. Our trade imbalance is also out of whack because we buy so much oil from the Middle East. So, to kill two birds with one stone, why doesn't the FED step in with programs that will greatly encourage energy development within our borders? They could either directly, or through our banks, subsidize loans to drillers, explorers, pipeline and storage owners and developers, and developers of all kinds of energy and supporting infrastructure ... hydro, nuke, nat gas, oil. Give anyone and everyone developing energy sources/infrastructure, loans that greatly push down their cost of capital. That would encourage, and pull forward, the development of energy sources within our borders. It would put people to work in America.
The same should hold true with any and all Ag related investments in our country. We have massive amounts of underutilized land resources in our country that could be planted. And our Ag products could be exported the world over. Why don't we allow the FED to make subsidized loans to anyone and everyone willing to buy land and put it to use growing crops, where crops are not currently grown? I'm talking about ZERO percent interest loans. And maybe even entering into revenue/profit sharing arrangements where the farmer has little risk on the downside, but there are great upside rewards possible. Think about that. Our entire country would benefit. Higher supply would lower prices. Higher supply being exported to other nations would improve our trade balance and put our people to work. It takes numerous workers to move crops from field to port and onto international markets.

You see where I'm going with these ideas? Identify products/industries that are a source of constrained supply, contributing to inflationary pressures, and where Americans can be put to work within our borders. Flood those markets with cheap capital. We jack supply, cap inflation, and put Americans to work. Ag and Energy come to mind. But there could be many other niches within our economy where our FED could step in with cheap capital.

Ideas like these will never originate, or get passed by our Congress. Ideas like these can not get accomplished by our President either, because he must get support from Congress. But ideas like these can come from and get executed quickly by our FED. And while our FED has tried a couple things that have not worked as hoped, we can't shut them down. We must give our support to the ONE and ONLY governmental arm who can turn our situation around.

Give our Federal Reserve Board your support. Talk to your representatives in Congress. Tell them that you support our FED and they should just back off any criticisms they have about our FED's actions. Allow our FED to come forward with QE3 and beyond, and we may will find our nation on the road to a healing economy.

SenatorBurr - Why are you throwing away $1 Billion in revenue and killing 70,000 jobs?

2011-08-02T11:57:00.005-04:00

Senator Richard Burr - you are an insane moron.

While Republicans toss around infantile objections to FAA bills in Congress .... $1 Billion in airline taxes go uncollected, 70,000 jobs get lost. What in the hell are you people doing up there in Washington DC, besides destroying jobs and wrecking our economy?

This debt mess is largely the result of bad REPUBLICAN policy

2011-08-01T16:07:00.004-04:00

I trade securities for a living. Time and again, I find myself in a situation where I am confident in the direction a security will trade, but it doesn't happen immediately.   Significant time passes before the market sees what I see. It takes patience to sit and wait for the story to unfold. But more times than not, it eventually becomes crystal clear to everyone, the security reacts, and I make money.

I feel like this is one of those times. But its not a security, its the Republican Party. I see the current day Republican Party as the root of our country's problem. But strangely, there are just so many darn Americans out there who don't see it. Yet.   If you are one of those people, I have to ask, have you really taken the time to look at and understand this article?

Americans are busy people, at least the ones who are employed. They don't have the time to get up to speed on our nation's finances. They don't have the time to really grasp why our nation has financial problems. They only hear about our $14 Trillion in debt and hear Republicans talk about "Washington's spending problem".   So, they back Republicans.

Who dropped this mess on our doorsteps? Republicans did. It's obvious, if you'll just take the time to look at and understand the case laid out by Ezra Klein in his Washington Post article. When President Bush took office in Jan 2001, our nation had $7.5 T in debt outstanding. Today, it's over $14 Trillion.   Of the $6.5 Trillion we've racked up since 2001, more than $5 Trillion of it is directly attributable to programs and policies emanating from the Republican administration of George W. Bush. Yet, the American people largely point fingers at President Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi.   Take the time to educate yourself on how we got here. Make sure you're pointing your finger in the right direction.

More importantly, make sure you're doing the right thing. Would you support the person who burned your house down?   Would you support the burglar who broke into your safe and stole your money? Would you support the thief who broke your car window and stole your radio?   Why then do you support the Republican party?

I see the modern day Republican party as the culprit who delivered this economic mess to our doorsteps. They need to be punished. They need to be voted out of office. Most others don't yet see it. I am confident however that this latest budget battle has just begun to awaken Americans. Given a little more time for this story to unfold, they'll come around to understanding that you can't give your house keys to a burglar.

It's time to hold Republicans accountable for screwing up our country. It's time to throw them out of office.

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.

Where are the jobs from all those tax cuts?

2011-08-01T15:03:00.006-04:00

George Bush and Republicans delivered tax cut after tax cut, largely aimed at the so called "job creators", the wealthiest Americans. Where are all the jobs they promised?

US Employed in Jan 2001: 132.4 M (George Bush took office)
US Employed in Jul 2011: 131.0 M (8 years of Bush, 3 of Obama)

Avg income 400 highest paid Americans 2001: $131 M
Avg income 400 highest paid Americans 2008: $270 M (latest year reported)

The rich have gotten richer, that's for darn sure. But we have no jobs to show for all those Republican tax cuts, yet we're saddled with $14 Trillion in debt.

Why is that Senator Burr? Please, tell us again why it is that we must under-tax the very wealthy while our nation continues to rack up massive debt. Because they create jobs? Where are the jobs Senator? Where?

North Carolina deserves better than Republican Senator Richard Burr.