S&P downgrades U.S. debt

[smockers83]

Also, I cringed at the fact that everyone involved in the deal was more interested in their political standing for 2012 that the betterment of their country. This went for both sides.

But I also have to share my favorite quote of the week: "'It happened on your watch, Mr. President,' screamed Michele Bachmann, exhibiting the full extent of her knowledge of economics."
--Some editorial I read, don't remember where it came from

At this point, I'm convinced that economists should take over DC and fix the country, since they at least can think about what works and doesn't work in terms of decisions on taxes, the economy, the debt...which is basically all the decisions they need to make. Yes, there are differences among economists about what works (supply-siders vs. Keynesians), but at least they all understand it and know how a free-market economy works.

[szh]

I am quoting this in hopes that the president googles something which would bring this up.

Send it to him.

He has e-mail - there is also a White House web site that you can send it to. And also there is a twitter account that some staffers of his send stuff out to and can forward as needed.

Z

[szh]

Also, I cringed at the fact that everyone involved in the deal was more interested in their political standing for 2012 that the betterment of their country. This went for both sides.

Exactly right!

Z

[smockers83]

tms, loved the video. He's fired up the same way I'm fired up. I've always liked him. He knows his stuff.

Love the girl in the background that keeps looking to see what's going on.

[themadscientist]

I like the way everyone looked real scared like he was going to come across that table and bitchslap them if they interrupted. He's calling for exactly what I have said the President needs to do, come out and tell the people what the deal is and align himself with us. I'm not a supporter of this President, but congress is the problem here. Obama can't make them do anything and while that is one of our valuable checks and balances people seem to forget who the problem is here and while he may say things some people don't like it's people like Pelosi and Reid and Boehner and McConnell causing this political quagmire.

I would give Obama a thumbs up and a F-yeah Mr. President if he held a press conference and said,

America, s***'s f*** up and I've tried to get these people to work together, but they are just a bunch of selfish ***holes who don't give two s*** about this country. I encourage you to make sure they hear your voice because I do. We have our difference, yes, and we have different ideas on how to get out of this situation, but I think we all agree that the current condition is unsustainable and that the political s*** needs to be tabled and a real discussion commenced. I'm a Democrat, yes, but I am an American first, and what is going on here is juvenile and we no longer have the luxury of putting party before country, credit before progress, and egos before action.

It would be cool if he added

I have been a nice guy up till now. That s*** is over. I am announcing today the appointment of some new staffmembers. A Mr. Greg Childs will be placed in charge of the FBI and charged with digging up all the dirt on every congressman and woman. He has an established track record of "PWN the scammers" and i think we have quite a bit of that down the street. A Mr. Madscientist will be placed in charge of a special communications enforcement division and you may expect to see an elevation of the quality of questions expected and answers given and a lowering of tolerance for anything asinine and irrelevant.

He is currently en-route to Donald Trump's house with a copy of my birth certificate and the stated intent, and I quote, "to staple it to his f*** toupee and tell him to learn how to quit losing his own money before suggesting what America should do with it's money."

From there I am told he will be meeting Michelle Bachman on the campaign trail to give her a history book so that she might start to resemble someone who actually has a clue. He will be taking a weekend hiatus to meet with Sarah Palin to encourage her to fade into the obscurity she so richly deserves, shoot some guns and lay her out on a bear skin rug before providing her his "stimulus package." Upon his return to Washington, after delivering a monogrammed White House souvenir handkerchief to John Boehner, he will take up his post.

Per TMS' advice I will dispense with using a teleprompter, even though many people use them and nobody seemed to care. He thinks it will force you, again these are his words, "partisan hacks posing as objective professional journalists to fumble into real stories much like your adolescent gropings that lead top your first hand jobs." I will not resort to writing notes on my hand, but will instead look to my predecessor for guidance and biting my lower lip pause before multisylabic words before coining new terms on the fly like "terrorizors" or pasting in Who lyrics to common terms and then laughing about it before retiring to my new ranch that Tony Resco got me a sweet deal on.

TMS will stand beside me ready to wade into the crowd an backhand reporters who ask stupid questions so either start asking better questions or develop a tolerance for pain.

I'll be honest. I did this President thing because it looked cool, but truth be told it's a bunch of work and people are really pissed off at me. I'm here, though, so I'm going to try to see if we can get some things done.

[themadscientist]

China smells blood in the water, downgrades further.
http://www.321gold.com/editorials/sirch ... 81111.html

Now that i have to take issue with. I do think the S&P downgrade was ovedue, but this move is transparent as hell. China is the largest holder of our debt. If they can get our debt further downgraded internationally with tricks like this they can push interest rates higher for the treasuries they buy in the future.

[AZhitman]

Yes S&P downgrades US debt

This is the same company that gave AAA ratings to mortgage backed securities a few years ago just before the housing market crashed.
Just the fact that the herd mentality that sold stocks yesterday and rushed into the same treasury securities that S&P just downgraded tells you something about how well regarded S&P really is.
Their math skills are poor also.

They suck

Telcoman

^ THIS.

...who said I never agree with Howie?

[AZhitman]

I like the way everyone looked real scared like he was going to come across that table and bitchslap them if they interrupted. He's calling for exactly what I have said the President needs to do, come out and tell the people what the deal is and align himself with us. I'm not a supporter of this President, but congress is the problem here. Obama can't make them do anything and while that is one of our valuable checks and balances people seem to forget who the problem is here and while he may say things some people don't like it's people like Pelosi and Reid and Boehner and McConnell causing this political quagmire.

I would give Obama a thumbs up and a F-yeah Mr. President if he held a press conference and said,

America, s***'s f***ed up and I've tried to get these people to work together, but they are just a bunch of selfish ***holes who don't give two s*** about this country. I encourage you to make sure they hear your voice because I do. We have our difference, yes, and we have different ideas on how to get out of this situation, but I think we all agree that the current condition is unsustainable and that the political bullsh*t needs to be tabled and a real discussion commenced. I'm a Democrat, yes, but I am an American first, and what is going on here is juvenile and we no longer have the luxury of putting party before country, credit before progress, and egos before action.

It would be cool if he added

I have been a nice guy up till now. That s*** is over. I am announcing today the appointment of some new staffmembers. A Mr. Greg Childs will be placed in charge of the FBI and charged with digging up all the dirt on every congressman and woman. He has an established track record of "PWN the scammers" and i think we have quite a bit of that down the street. A Mr. Madscientist will be placed in charge of a special communications enforcement division and you may expect to see an elevation of the quality of questions expected and answers given and a lowering of tolerance for anything asinine and irrelevant.

He is currently en-route to Donald Trump's house with a copy of my birth certificate and the stated intent, and I quote, "to staple it to his f**king toupee and tell him to learn how to quit losing his own money before suggesting what America should do with it's money."

From there I am told he will be meeting Michelle Bachman on the campaign trail to give her a history book so that she might start to resemble someone who actually has a clue. He will be taking a weekend hiatus to meet with Sarah Palin to encourage her to fade into the obscurity she so richly deserves, shoot some guns and lay her out on a bear skin rug before providing her his "stimulus package." Upon his return to Washington, after delivering a monogrammed White House souvenir handkerchief to John Boehner, he will take up his post.

Per TMS' advice I will dispense with using a teleprompter, even though many people use them and nobody seemed to care. He thinks it will force you, again these are his words, "partisan hacks posing as objective professional journalists to fumble into real stories much like your adolescent gropings that lead top your first hand jobs." I will not resort to writing notes on my hand, but will instead look to my predecessor for guidance and biting my lower lip pause before multisylabic words before coining new terms on the fly like "terrorizors" or pasting in Who lyrics to common terms and then laughing about it before retiring to my new ranch that Tony Resco got me a sweet deal on.

TMS will stand beside me ready to wade into the crowd an backhand reporters who ask stupid questions so either start asking better questions or develop a tolerance for pain.

I'll be honest. I did this President thing because it looked cool, but truth be told it's a bunch of work and people are really pissed off at me. I'm here, though, so I'm going to try to see if we can get some things done.

"SIT DOWN! I'm not done.

...tomorrow at 4pm, we're taking all the Somalian and Pakistani aid money and giving it to a group of geneticists from India who are going to bring Ronnie James Dio, John Bonham and Randy Rhoads back to life, because they're gonna play at my re-election party on the White House lawn.

Wednesday, before we sit down with the people who run Wal-Mart (to figure out how they stay profitable year after year), we're gonna take away the tax-exempt status of every feel-good agency in the nation, including NOW and the NAACP (I got here, 'nuff said, yo). Later in the afternoon, I'm signing a bill that will take marriage out of the legal system and put it back in the churches, so you can marry whoever the hell you want, and you can smoke a big fat joint while you do it, because that's getting legalized on Thursday. Deal with it.

Friday morning, I'm gonna be busy as hell signing dismissal letters for all sitting members of Congress, but as soon as that's done, we're gonna roll back the legal drinking age to 18 for all members of the US military, because they'll all be coming home by next Monday and we want them to be able to have a cold brew with their brothers and sisters. At 2pm, I'll announce that half of the money we're gonna save on rebuilding craphole countries that I can't pronounce will instead be diverted into a special fund for policemen, EMT's, teachers and firefighters, effectively doubling their current income. The other half will go to funding college educations for any high-schooler with a 3.5 gpa or higher, so hit the books, kiddies - The rest of you will be issued a shovel, a spatula, or a paintbrush - since the military won't need them anymore.

Friday night, I'm gonna sit on the front porch of the White House, smoke a Cuban cigar with my new Cabinet members, pray to my God that the American people can somehow get behind this new direction we're taking, and if they don't want me back in 2012, I'll sleep well at night knowing I sacked up and implemented REAL hope and change.

God bless you all, and God bless the US of A. Peace out."

[PapaSmurf2k3]

*fist bump*

[themadscientist]

What do you think Howard Dean?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouzVmWXpamE[/youtube]

[themadscientist]

The government is trying to punish them now.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/SEC-revie ... 1.html?x=0

SEC reviewing S&P handling on downgrade

Thank god the SEC is coming to the rescue. You remember them, the regulating body that let the subprimes run their course and was blind as Madoff bilked his investors. S&P who also miscalled the housing market gets punished for making a correct call by government stooges who continue to want to aid and abet a fantasy economy.

Let's see the numbers SEC, show us how the U.S. debt is nothing, I dare ya.

[IBCoupe]

You know, I can't bring myself to side with either one of them. Either way, our economic policy should be driven by our economic conditions. Increase spending and cut taxes. Deal with the debt when we can afford to. This is how responsible governments operate.

[themadscientist]

I believe in natural states for systems. We have been forcibly held out of equilibrium for a very long time, but the pull cannot be held off forever. The scrambling of institutions and governments grows more frequent and frantic as this truth brings itself to bear.

[IBCoupe]

The institutions are scrambling not because the pull is greater, but because they failed to follow through on the other half of economic policies. The point of counter-cyclical policies is not to control the economy, but rather to lessen the burden on individuals affected by the market's whims.

[szh]

Elementary control theory ... you don't pull in the direction of the swing. This increases the oscillations.

The right approach is to increase damping.

Want the geeky math?

Z

[stebo0728]

Elementary control theory ... you don't pull in the direction of the swing. This increases the oscillations.

The right approach is to increase damping.

Want the geeky math?

Z

Depends on how high up the string you pull. If you pull in the middle you create an oscillation wave in the string, then the whole system goes to hell.

[themadscientist]

Try calling the string an obstructionist.

[AZhitman]

The current Administration believes in pushing the string across the table. Tangled mess ensues.

[IBCoupe]

'Tis a silly place.

[themadscientist]

Hey SEC, careful about getting people asking questions. You might have to start answering a few yourself.

The SEC, which recently launched a whistle blower program that offers financial rewards for people who report securities violations, now has one of its own attorneys alleging that the agency destroyed thousands of documents involving banks and hedge funds, Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi reported.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/sec-atto ... z1VLkqKZ1f

[themadscientist]

Crazy trading day. Chaves wants his gold, gold is back up over 1800 as I write this.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... ASFGQH.DTL

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered the central bank to repatriate $11 billion of gold reserves held in developed nations' institutions such as the Bank of England as prices for the metal rise to a record.

Venezuela, which holds 211 tons of its 365 tons of gold reserves in U.S., European, Canadian and Swiss banks, will progressively return the bars to its central bank's vault, Chavez said yesterday. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Barclays Plc, and Standard Chartered Plc also hold Venezuelan gold, he said.

Russian market shut down.
http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2011/08 ... _news_blog

Dow Jones reports that trading on Russia’s Micex has been halted for technical reasons.

Russia’s RTS index, which has been the strongest in Europe this year, up 10.8%, was only down 2.25% at last check today.

NYSE opens under rule 48 parameters.
http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/electr ... /231500236

Rule 48 allows the exchange to suspend price indications that help determine the floor price at the open during regular sessions. Bypassing the requirement helps speed the beginning of trading.

[telcoman]

This spending battle needs to be happening, and I'm ashamed the right caved, and failed to push CCB.

Why is the right so consistently wrong?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/18/busin ... f=business

"A successful case or settlement against a giant like S.& P. could accelerate the shift away from the traditional ratings system. The financial reform overhaul known as Dodd-Frank sought to decrease the emphasis on ratings in the way banks and mutual funds invest their assets. But bank regulators have been slow to spell out how that would work. A government case that showed problems beyond ineptitude might spur greater reforms, financial historians said."

Telcoman

[themadscientist]

The ineptitude is on the government's side.
http://www.newser.com/story/126178/sec- ... lower.html

Police aren’t generally in the habit of destroying evidence from failed investigations—but the SEC is, according to one whistleblower. SEC attorney Darcy Flynn spilled the beans to Congress in July, saying that the SEC routinely destroys all documents related to its preliminary investigations if they don’t proceed. That appears to violate federal law, writes Matt Taibbi in a lengthy piece in Rolling Stone, making it “far more than an administrative accident or bureaucratic f***-up. It's a symptom of the agency's terminal brain damage.”