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Title: Are you as thrilled as I am to learn that the recession is over?
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URL Source: http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerkimbal ... ical-thinking-of-barack-obama/
Published: Sep 21, 2010
Author: Roger Kimball
Post Date: 2010-09-21 11:37:48 by no gnu taxes
Keywords: None
Views: 3113
Comments: 9
Are you as thrilled as I am to learn that the recession is over? Heck, according the FED, it hardly happened — well, that’s not quite right. They acknowledge that it was the worst recession “since the Great Depression.” That’s the standard formula isn’t it? But not to worry. It ended ages ago. In June, 2009, if you can believe it. No, I don’t believe it either. Even The New York Times has registered the problem: “Second-Quarter Economic Growth,” blared on column, “revised down to 1.6%.” Meanwhile, nationwide unemployment is hovering close to 10%. In Nevada — so long, Harry Reid! — it’s a whopping 14.4%. The Washington Times put it well when it said Recession over, but recovery not felt. The operation was a success, madam; unfortunately, the patient died. Nevertheless, the President thinks that “we’re moving in the right direction.” He actually said that to a lady at a Townhall-style meeting the other day. I like that lady. Here’s what she said to the President: “I’m one of your middle class Americans. And quite frankly I’m exhausted. I’m exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantle of change I voted for, and deeply disappointed with where we are right now.” The frozen smile on the President’s face is something to ponder (“Who let her in here? Why wasn’t she vetted?”) His response was of the “Rome-wasn’t-built-in-a-day” variety, and ended up with “we’re moving in the right direction.” I guess that must be part of the official White House play book. Vice-President Joe Biden wheeled it out a few weeks ago, to universal derision. No matter. Someone obviously likes the way it sounds: “We’re moving in the right direction,” i.e., we’re whistling the the dark to keep up our courage. During the 2008, many commentators, myself included, highlighted Obama’s total lack of executive experience. What did he have going for him? A left-wing ideology and a mixed-race background that could be counted upon to appeal to white liberals intoxicated by the multicultural agenda. Noting the contrast between Obama’s high-flown rhetoric and his almost comical lack of substance, many commentators (again, myself included) compared Obama ti the Wizard of OZ who nervously tells Dorothy to “pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.” The more I think about it, though, the more I suspect that The Wizard of Oz is not really the right children’s book character for Barack Obama. A much closer parallel is to be found in Humpty Dumpty, as re-imagined by Lewis Carroll. The Wizard of OZ, after all, is a kindly figure who means well. He has none of the arrogant presumptuousness or magical thinking of Humpty Dumpty. Consider this exchange, excavated from an unpublished working draft of Through the Looking Glass: Or, Economics According to Barack Obama: `I don’t know what you mean by “moving in the right direction”,’ Alice said. Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. `Of course you don’t — till I tell you. I meant “there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!”‘ `But “moving in the right direction” doesn’t mean “a nice knock-down argument”,’ Alice objected. `When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, `it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’ `The question is,’ said Alice, `whether you can make words mean so many different things.’ `The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, `which is to be master — that’s all.’ I don’t know that the egg’s explanation satisfied Alice. Probably not. “ ‘Of all the unsatisfactory people I ever met’—She never finished the sentence, for at this moment a heavy crash shook the forest from end to end.” Come November, remember the original poem: Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall: Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the King’s horses and all the King’s men Couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty in his place again.
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#1. To: no gnu taxes (#0)
I've lived through a couple and never knew when they were over either or even when they began. I must live in a good part of the country.
Because recessions happen to other people. Depressions happen to you. And in Depressions, news just doesn't make it out. Not for a while anyway. Starts as rumour. Like, why is GMAC/Ally stopping it's affidavit process? And speaking of Fresno. $1 per lb cotton. And up the limit today. Pakistan cotton gone. We all knew that. Flood Brazil cotton gone as well. We didn't know that. Drought. Agrimoney: Higher share The officials added that they expected the US, the world's top cotton exporter, to pick up the bulk of Brazil's extra imports, with shipments hitting an all-time high of 1.10m bales – three times the previous record. This would represent a market share of at least 80%, higher than the historic levels of 60%. And who says the US can meet the demand? 8D NSIDC told me that as of Wednesday, it’s “only in the E. Siberian Sea where you’ve had consistent ice growth over the last few days, whereas the other seas still show decreases, or oscillate between increases and decreases.” So it seems possible to me that volume never went back up and could possibly have continued declining, as the thicker ice continued to be melted from underneath. But there is no real way of knowing at this point.
ping. COMEX and the Memphis Cotton Exchange would be fun to visit today. 8D
Because they got caught stealing on a massive scale.
In the thirties, one gramps lost the ranch (and gambled the rest away I might add), the other actually had a thriving business in auto repair and said he took little notice of the effects of the Great Depression. And bought cheap properties. Both lived in California
All this did was remind average Americans just how out of touch with reality Washington DC, and this administration, truly are.
Obama's first all-by-his-lonesome budget, btw, calls for a $1.17 trillion deficit.
But they haven't been caught....yet....8D Soon though. "Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism continues her documentation of the mortgage system unraveling. As I’ve written about several times before, the sale and securitization system has devolved, with mortgage mills set up to evade many layers of local and state taxes while the mortgages themselves are disintegrated into a mind-boggling atom-smasher of tranches of CDOs and CDOs of CDOs. The physical note often disappears somewhere along the way. Nobody could legitimately figure out who actually owns these mortgages, in many cases. The mortgages themselves have effectively ceased to exist." http://attempter.wordpress.com/
In the thirties, one gramps lost the ranch (and gambled the rest away I might add), the other actually had a thriving business in auto repair and said he took little notice of the effects of the Great Depression. And bought cheap properties. Both lived in California In the thirties, one gramps bought cheap properties. Actually had a thriving business as a rentier, gin operator, software goods operator. The other was a baker and Oppenheimer's electrician. My Dad took little notice of the Depression. Then both Gramps died. Too bad for me, eh? 8D
How's the Gulf Coast evacuation progressing, mcclown? Is it being done in secret? Is the MSM not reporting the millions of dead as a result of Obama's oil disaster?
#2. To: mininggold (#1)
(Edited)
I've lived through a couple and never knew when they were over either or even when they began. I must live in a good part of the country.
#3. To: war, All (#2)
#4. To: mcgowanjm (#2)
Like, why is GMAC/Ally stopping it's affidavit process?
#5. To: mcgowanjm (#2)
(Edited)
Depressions happen to you. And in Depressions, news just doesn't make it out. Not for a while anyway. Starts as rumour.
#6. To: no gnu taxes (#0)
#7. To: Andrew Jackson (#4)
Because they got caught stealing on a massive scale.
#8. To: mininggold (#5)
#9. To: mcgowanjm (#2)
So it seems possible to me
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