Open Thread…………………………………………Sunday, July 10

Moon-howler

July 15, 2011 at 6:28 am

Help me understand here….is the Cantor crowd saying that if the debt ceiling is not raised, nothing bad will happen? Am I understanding their point of view?

Rick Bentley

July 15, 2011 at 6:32 am

That’s true Moon. My worldview changed, pretty much completely, on the 2-party system.

I’m not suggesting not voting. I’m suggesting abandoning the two parties.

Moon-howler

July 15, 2011 at 7:52 am

@Rick, I am glad that I didn’t imagine all that. Actually, you used to be my hero. I saw you as the one beacon of shining light on the place that will not be named.

Do you think a third party could exist where the pitfalls of what we have currently would not exist? I think that the Tea Party wanted to do that but fell way short almost immediately.

The main problem with the TEa Party, as I see it, is you have a party with no head. You also have a magnet for people who weren’t getting the traction they wanted out of the Republicans. ie–the Tea-evangelists. I now see the Tea Party as the culture warriors who are more hell bent on bedroom policy than on sound fiscal policies.

Steve Thomas

July 15, 2011 at 9:04 am

Morris Davis :@Steve Thomas
If Slim Jims in Alaska sell for 2.7 times the retail price here in the lower 48 I’m renting a U-Haul, stopping by Costco, and then heading to Alaska … heck, with that rate of return on investment I could rent a jet and fly them in.

One of my best friends lives in Anchorage. It is not uncommon for most things to cost double what they cost in the lower-48. I have at times gone to the supermarket here, bought a bunch of what he’s looking for, and shipped it USPS ground to him, because it was cheaper than if he went to the store and bought it himself.

Elena

July 15, 2011 at 9:06 am

Rick,
I don’t disagree with your premise about both parties. Have you heard Greenspans “come to Jesus” moment? He acknowledge he was wrong, that he always believed he freemarket would regulate themselves, that was ,until, they didn’t!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/business/economy/24panel.html

“But on Thursday, almost three years after stepping down as chairman of the Federal Reserve, a humbled Mr. Greenspan admitted that he had put too much faith in the self-correcting power of free markets and had failed to anticipate the self-destructive power of wanton mortgage lending.”

Rick Bentley

July 15, 2011 at 10:53 am

Yes Elena, and that testimony is at the end of that Frontline episode. It’s pretty dramatic.

Greenspan was treated like a king, free to inflict his philosophies (derived from Ayn Rand’s “objectivism”) as he saw fit so long as the market didn’t tank. Clinton and Bush each gave him free reign rather than to investigate things like derivatives trading. We had absentee government. And Greenspan’s top deputies, who helped to submerge and cover up issues, are Obama’s top men on the economy (Summers and Geithner). The Emporers have no clothes. Neither party shold be entrusted with responsibility.

Rick Bentley

July 15, 2011 at 10:59 am

Moon, I think you’re right that the “Tea Party” is too ill-defined to continue to make headway. To be fair, that’s the nature of political parties, morphing all the time.

I think the even bigger reason they won’t add up to much is because most of their supporters will “come to Jesus” and vote GOP in 2012, after the GOP does the usual job of trying to convince the great unwashed that whoever they are running against (presumably Obama) is a threat to their way of life, a bad person, wants to kill babies, may be in collusion with mortal enemies, and is using flouride to pollute our precious bodily fluids.

The Tea Party had power circa 2010 for that instant when they REALLY DID NOT CARE whether the GOP’s share grew or sunk. Similarly Ralph Nader had a real effect on pushing the Democratic Party leftwards after 2000, when he actually cost them an election.

But the Tea Party members’ priorities correlate closely with the marketing points that the GOP has used to get rubes to vote for them decade after decade, so I assume they will give in and mostly vote Republican and become a footnote in history.

What we need is an ANTI-PARTY. http://antiparty.wordpress.com/

Big Dog

July 15, 2011 at 12:01 pm

http://www.theonion.com/articles/china-agrees-to-erase-portion-of-us-debt-if-americ,20913/

Finally, some good news on how to reduce the debt.

And the Tea Party folks have already given us a head start!

Morris Davis

July 15, 2011 at 12:12 pm

@Steve Thomas

I have no doubt that some things cost more in Alaska than in the lower 48, particularly fresh fruit and produce and other things with a short shelf life and high transportation cost. Slim Jims, however, aren’t in the class. A box of Slim Jim’s that sells for $13.55 at the Sam’s Club in Woodbridge sells for $15.28 at the Sam’s Club in Anchorage.

There are 3 possible reasons for Palin’s false assertion that a 99 cent Slim Jim has skyrocketed to $2.69. (1) She made up facts to support her narrative, (2) Todd is a lousy consumer and got seriously ripped off, or (3) Todd bought something other than a 99 cent Slim Jim (they do make some super-sized and flavored products that cost more) and Palin was too lackadaisical to realize she was comparing apples to oranges.

Pat.Herve

July 15, 2011 at 2:11 pm

Is there anyone that seriously thinks that there is no room for tax reform?

That there is no loop hole to be closed, no tax that can be changed?

Big Dog

July 15, 2011 at 2:15 pm

http://www.economist.com/node/18958711

“Many are under the misapprehension that it is a vote to authorise
new spending, not permission to pay the bills that this and
other Congresses have already run up.”

The cost of slim jims in Alaska is among the least of our problems.

Moon-howler

July 15, 2011 at 3:48 pm

Big Dog, I think you are right about people thinking that raising the debt ceiling is to increase spending rather than pay bills. Of course, many of those same people hadn’t heard of the debt ceiling 6 months ago.

Big Dog

July 15, 2011 at 2:37 pm

http://manassaspark.patch.com/articles/257th-army-band-to-perform-free-concert-friday-night

Great Army band – free – tonight- 7:30- Harris Pavilion- Old Town Manassas
Everyone welcome (may want to bring lawn chairs).

Steve Thomas

July 15, 2011 at 4:45 pm

Moon-howler :Big Dog, I think you are right about people thinking that raising the debt ceiling is to increase spending rather than pay bills. Of course, many of those same people hadn’t heard of the debt ceiling 6 months ago.

If we have to go deeper into debt, to pay our bills, then we have too much debt to begin with, and we need to cut spending. Also, the first rule of holes applies: when you are in one, stop digging.

Moon-howler

July 15, 2011 at 9:39 pm

@Steve, one doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive of the other. I think the problem is agreeing on what ‘cut spending’ means. The term ‘cut spending’ is just words right now. ‘Quit digging’ is a simplistic answer to a very complex problem.

Let’s decide who doesn’t get their check–military? SS recipients? docs who provide medical services for medicaid and mediCARE? Defense contractors? Federal employees? School lunch services? Border patrol agents?

Not sure where I would start. That is the difficult part, but right now, it simply isn’t a binary problem.

Big Dog

July 15, 2011 at 5:08 pm

“Those who, through no fault of their on, must depend on the rest
of us – the proverty stricken, the disabled, the elderly, all those
with true need-can rest assured that the social safety net of programs
they depend on are exempt from any cuts.”

President Ronald Reagan

Big Dog

July 15, 2011 at 5:29 pm

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/11/13/weekinreview/deficits-graphic.html

Good luck!

Wolverine

July 15, 2011 at 8:36 pm

I was doing some reading on grocery costs in Alaska. Some of this was in the form of shopping advice for new residents as well as visitors. With regard to Moe’s mention of Sam’s Club in Anchorage, much of this advice focused on a couple of places in Alaska, Sam’s Club in Anchorage being one of them, where you might not have a total wallet meltdown while shopping. But, once you move away from Sam’s Club and the further away you get, especially outside of Anchorage, the more likely it is that you may go ballistic and bonkers over the high prices. One guy mentioned $50 for Doritos. I don’t recall how big that bag was, but “Good Lord!” Fortunately, many salaries are also inflated because of the cost of living. This advice applies to all grocieries — not just fruits and vegetables, which are almost all imported with the exception of some items during the short local growing season. However, seafood and wild game is still rather reasonable. It pays to know how to field strip a moose.

Big Dog

July 15, 2011 at 9:27 pm

If you are in the area, drive by the Old PW Courthouse at the corner
Lee and Grant in Manassas. As part of the preparations for next
week’s reenactment of the 1911 Peace Jubilee, a huge United States
flag has been attached to the CH.

clueless

July 15, 2011 at 9:56 pm

@Big Dog
I drove by there today. It looks great. There was also a person refurbishing the monument.

Pat.Herve

July 16, 2011 at 7:31 am

On a Rant.

Why is there little or no enforcement on 66 of no trucks in the HOV lane? Trying to commute out of DC this week, and there were many commercial trucks – some with trailers in the HOV lane. We passed by many trooper cars, and no action.

/Rant

Moon-howler

July 16, 2011 at 1:46 pm

Probably because they don’t give a damn, I am sorry to say.

Pat, you are also right about the tax cuts.

I am very worried about the debt ceiling and my attitude reflects it. Some of them said they would do anything to get rid of Obama. I guess that even includes shaking the core of our economy.

Morris Davis

July 16, 2011 at 2:14 pm

@Pat.Herve

Pat,

I use 66 regularly to get in and out of DC and I share your frustration about trucks in the HOV lane. Commercial vehicles are not allowed in the HOV lane, but the threshold for what the DMV considers a commerical vehicle is pretty high — a gross vehicle weight in excess of 26,000 pounds. I often see lawn service trucks with trailers, paint crews, and dump trucks in the HOV lane. As long as they have at least 2 people in the truck they satisfy the requirement to use the HOV lane.

Big Dog

July 16, 2011 at 4:47 pm

http://blogs.roanoke.com/datasphere/2011/02/two-northern-virginia-localities-now-more-than-30-percent-hispanic/

FYI – In case you missed these numbers from the 2010 census reports.

Moon-howler

July 17, 2011 at 8:10 am

Bristol Palin needs to work on that grammar along with her new plastic surgery face. Appearing on Faux and friends this morning, when asked why her mother would make a good president, Bristol responded that her mother HAD RAN her own company.

Bristol plans to work with several others on a reality show to appear this fall. So far, it has no name. 🙄

Morris Davis

July 17, 2011 at 9:10 am

The Newsweek interview with Sarah Palin is in the current edition and it’s available online. http://www.newsweek.com/2011/07/10/palin-plots-her-next-move.html

Her shocking revelation about hyperinflation hitting the jerky market was made in the context of a discussion on economic policy. Here’s the passage from the story:

Palin has also become conversant on the subject of quantitative easing, the inflationary effects of which she illustrated with a personal anecdote. “I was ticked off at Todd yesterday,” she said. “He walks into a gas station as we’re driving over from Minnesota. He buys a Slim Jim—we’re always eating that jerky stuff—for $2.69. I said, ‘Todd, those used to be 99 cents, just recently!’ And he says, ‘Man, the dollar’s worth nothing anymore.’

So, our debate over Slim Jim prices up in the last frontier was off the mark as the purchase took place somewhere along the road from Minnesota (where Palin said they’d left for the drive over to where the interview was done) in Iowa, which is centrally located between Con Agra’s headquarters in Nebraska and their Slim Jim plant in Ohio.

Moon-howler

July 17, 2011 at 10:00 am

The slim jims must explain the bad grammar. @ Moe

Big Dog

July 17, 2011 at 1:06 pm

http://www.roanoke.com/columnist/casey/wb/293194

“In the past, local governments had some bargaining power
with Comcast … but the General Assembly took it away.”

Comcast — the most hated company in Virginia?

Morris Davis

July 17, 2011 at 2:08 pm

A few months after the federal government approved the Comcast-NBC merger Comcast executive David Cohen raised over a half-million dollars for the Obama campaign perpetuating the perception that the entire government is the finest money can buy. If the Supreme Court is right that money is speech then I bet President Obama thinks Mr. Cohen has a beautiful voice.

Wolverine

July 17, 2011 at 5:08 pm

Doggone it, Moe! Causing me to waste time reading about grocery prices in Alaska! I’ll get you for that!!!

BTW, I posed a question about grocery prices to Mrs. W, the reigning expert hereabouts with regard to Safeway, Giant, Wegmans, and Costco. Her reply was that, if you do not know that the grocery prices have been really rising around here, you haven’t been eating. Don’t know about Slim Jims though. I think that, if she ever caught me noshing on a Slim Jim, it would wind up in the same place as that $2.00 cucumber in Alaska.

Wolverine

July 17, 2011 at 6:40 pm

Japanese women beat our gals for the world title on penalty kicks. Absolutely the lousiest part of soccer: penalty kicks. Always leaves the losing goalie in the crap hole no matter how well he or she has played during the match.