The RNC Survey

[hazzardm]

Originally Posted by boxcar

Some of you guys will go to the greatest lengths in order to spin something. But allow me to preface my remarks with this disclaimer about Robertson's sign: I think it was in poor taste. Not a sign I would carry. Having said this, however, the intent of the sign is not racist. Read the sign again:

He's comparing Congress to Slave Owners and ALL Taxpayers of ALL COLRS to Congress' "niggars". He's making a point by drawing upon an historical analogy. Was there not slavery in the U.S. at one time? Were not the Southern plantation owners also Slave Owners? Were not the slaves black? All he's saying is that in this day and age, there are still Slave Owners, i.e. Congress this time around. And the "blacks" are ALL TAXPAYERS who are at the beck and call of their merciless masters -- slave owners who are never satisfied with the work of their "slaves" because they always, always want more of ourr money.

Is this the best you have for proving how racist the people were at these tea parties?

Boxcar

Linguistics do not hide the ugliness expressed in many of the photos.

I am not out to prove anything, I am just very leary of associating my vote with that group.

Always enjoy the banter, I'm off to embibe at Cby. Happy New Year, and here's hoping for fewer people like Dick Robertson in this country.

[riskman]

Originally Posted by Tom

Republicans are not a viable alternative. They do not stand for anything. Their leader is a token chosen soley for his color. Repubs are nothing more than whores - they will do anything to get a vote. Their talk of a bigger tent is absurd. After all this, they still have no clue at all. McCain is a poster boy for ignorance.

I have one - third party. Tea Party.

Everything you said could also be attributed to the Democratic Party. Just substitute Democratics for Republicans and substitute Obama for McCain.

[Tom]

Originally Posted by hazzardm

Linguistics do not hide the ugliness expressed in many of the photos.

I am not out to prove anything, I am just very leary of associating my vote with that group.

Always enjoy the banter, I'm off to embibe at Cby. Happy New Year, and here's hoping for fewer people like Dick Robertson in this country.

You obviously choose to ignore the facts here. Did you ever go to a tea party? You will find most of the people honest, decent people who are tired of the abuse and are now going to stand up against it. Is the Green Football site - seriously - the best you could find to back up your smears?

[Tom]

Originally Posted by riskman

Everything you said could also be attributed to the Democratic Party. Just substitute Democratics for Republicans and substitute Obama for McCain.

\

Oh, I've been saying that for years!

[boxcar]

Originally Posted by Tom

\

Oh, I've been saying that for years!

I disagree with you both. The Democrat Party does stand for something. The majority of them are dyed-in-the-wool socialists, and I might add very, very staunchly committed socialists to boot. For example, they are willing to sacrifice the short term election outcomes for the more important long term socialist goals which will be greatly advanced with the health care bill is finalized.

The Republicans on the other hand stand for nothing and, therefore, are committed to nothing. They have lost their moorings, lost their moral compass, lost their conservative ideals, lost their conservative principles and values, lost its soul and have become as a rudderless ship at the mercy of the high sea -- being tossed about by every political whim and fancy of the moment, standing for everything but believing in nothing, becoming the proverbial fence straddlers, which we voters never really can be sure which side of the fence their legs will swing on any given issue on any given day.
They are as spiritually and morally dead as their Democrat counterparts -- but at least with the Democrats you know what most of them represent -- for what they really stand. Perhaps this fact makes the Dems slightly less repulsive.

Boxcar

[Saratoga_Mike]

Originally Posted by boxcar

I disagree with you both. The Democrat Party does stand for something. The majority of them are dyed-in-the-wool socialists, and I might add very, very staunchly committed socialists to boot. For example, they are willing to sacrifice the short term election outcomes for the more important long term socialist goals which will be greatly advanced with the health care bill is finalized.

The Republicans on the other hand stand for nothing and, therefore, are committed to nothing. They have lost their moorings, lost their moral compass, lost their conservative ideals, lost their conservative principles and values, lost its soul and have become as a rudderless ship at the mercy of the high sea -- being tossed about by every political whim and fancy of the moment, standing for everything but believing in nothing, becoming the proverbial fence straddlers, which we voters never really can be sure which side of the fence their legs will swing on any given issue on any given day.
They are as spiritually and morally dead as their Democrat counterparts -- but at least with the Democrats you know what most of them represent -- for what they really stand. Perhaps this fact makes the Dems slightly less repulsive.

Boxcar

I think this is about right, except I think the Dems are betting their political fortunes will change between now and Nov (e.g., a better economy would help).

[boxcar]

Originally Posted by Saratoga_Mike

I think this is about right, except I think the Dems are betting their political fortunes will change between now and Nov (e.g., a better economy would help).

Only if you consider growth of the public sector and the continuing shrinkage of the private sector contributing to a "better economy".

Boxcar

[Saratoga_Mike]

Originally Posted by boxcar

Only if you consider growth of the public sector and the continuing shrinkage of the private sector contributing to a "better economy".

Boxcar

It might be ephemeral, but I expect the private sector to start to add 100k to 200k jobs/month by late summer 2010.

[boxcar]

Originally Posted by Saratoga_Mike

It might be ephemeral, but I expect the private sector to start to add 100k to 200k jobs/month by late summer 2010.

The current unemployment numbers do not and cannot tell the whole story. For example, you are aware that all self-employed people who can no longer support themselves are not counted as being unemployed because they're not eligible to collect unemployment benefits. I just heard on the radio today by a self-employed tractor/trailer driver that things are very bleak right now for independent haulers of freight because there's no freight to be hauled. More and more independent drivers are going belly-up. No freight to move, no work. No work, no money.

Plus someone else was telling me that UPS was laying off about 1,200 or so drivers? (Anyone else hear about this?) The economy is still contracting and I don't believe current policies are going to reverse this trend.

Plus a large supermarket chain (nationwide) is moving out of my area altogether. They're closing up all their stores. They started the process over six months ago, and it appears now the chain is pulling out of the area entirely. Thousands more will be unemployed very shortly.

I still believe this is all designed by the BO administration because they want to get as many people on the public dole as possible. Socialists have never been big fans of individual liberties or independence.

Boxcar

[Saratoga_Mike]

Originally Posted by boxcar

The current unemployment numbers do not and cannot tell the whole story. For example, you are aware that all self-employed people who can no longer support themselves are not counted as being unemployed because they're not eligible to collect unemployment benefits. I just heard on the radio today by a self-employed tractor/trailer driver that things are very bleak right now for independent haulers of freight because there's no freight to be hauled. More and more independent drivers are going belly-up. No freight to move, no work. No work, no money.

Plus someone else was telling me that UPS was laying off about 1,200 or so drivers? (Anyone else hear about this?) The economy is still contracting and I don't believe current policies are going to reverse this trend.

Plus a large supermarket chain (nationwide) is moving out of my area altogether. They're closing up all their stores. They started the process over six months ago, and it appears now the chain is pulling out of the area entirely. Thousands more will be unemployed very shortly.

I still believe this is all designed by the BO administration because they want to get as many people on the public dole as possible. Socialists have never been big fans of individual liberties or independence.

Boxcar

Just a point of clarification - the unemployment rate is not calculated from the weekly first-time jobless claims numbers. It's calculated by something called the "household survey," as the name implies, it's a survey of households. Interestingly enough and to your point, the jobs lost in the household survey over the past few months have been much more severe than the "non-farm payrolls" number (the Dec 09 minus 85k number that you probably read about today). Many criticize the non-farm payrolls survey for not capturing small-business activity (just as you reported) accurately. All of this said, I'm more optimistic than you are, at least, in the short term.

At this point, there aren't enough shackles on the economy to keep it from recovering, imo, at least in the short term. There was a huge reduction in inventories last yr (that goes into the "I" part of C+I+G, less net exports, but note the "I" in that formula stands for investment, not inventory). Just as you saw in the semiconductor industry last spring, I believe we're starting see inventory restocking across other industries. This is how most recoveries start.

At a higher level, if you look at the contraction in credit spreads (yields on low-rated bonds less the yield on the 10-yr treasury) over the past 9 months, that should make you more hopeful about the employment situation, imo. Historically credit spreads have done a very nice job of predicting weekly jobless claims, which one can in turn correlate to job growth/destruction. The relationship has held very well this cycle, and it tells me things will continue to improve over the ensuing quarters.

You could actually see decent job growth in 2010 and the unemployment rate not decline much. Why? Because the labor force (that's the denominator in the unemployment rate calculation) actually contracted in 2009 vs 2008, the first y/y decline since the 1960s. As things start to pick up, more people will re-enter the labor force and that makes it tougher for the unemployment rate to decline much. What happens to the labor force is a very important question for 2010.

[exactaplayer]

Originally Posted by boxcar

If you want to know what I believe (which I know you really don't, anyway, because you're here to only antagonize) then google the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith. Have fun with that...and feel perfectly free to not ask me any more stupid questions.

Boxcar

Well I never thought you would fail to answer a simple question. But in reality this is better then one of your lengthy diatribes. And I knew your thoughts are based on something from 300 plus years ago.

[BlueShoe]

Originally Posted by hazzardm

Just a few more of the racists at Tea Party parties ......

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...a%3DX%26um%3D1

Racists? I dont see any racists, just angry citizens fearing for the survival of the republic. Did see several clever signs that showed creativity. Once again we get the same old tired whining from the left about racism directed at any person opposed to Obamas policies.

[Rookies]

Originally Posted by hazzardm

and now here we have Dale Robertson, leader of TeaParty.org, in trouble for appearing at the February 27, 2009 Houston Tea Party with a sign containing a racist slur

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/arti...he_Tea_Parties

He should meet the other guy with that Sign of the Decade:

" Get a Brain Moran "

[boxcar]

Originally Posted by exactaplayer

Well I never thought you would fail to answer a simple question. But in reality this is better then one of your lengthy diatribes. And I knew your thoughts are based on something from 300 plus years ago.

Only because that Confession is based upon something even a lot older than a mere 300 years. Too bad you're incapable of recognizing that some things are timeless. Some things transcend time. But then to people who have lost all sense of eternity or eternal things, Time becomes their god. Look at how Time is used in "climate change" debate. Or how Time is the superhero in evolutionary theory, etc. Time is all you have. Tick, tock, tick, tock...Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we all die. Live for today because we know that our fate is sealed for the 'morrow -- but what about the day after?

Boxcar

[sandpit]

Originally Posted by boxcar

The current unemployment numbers do not and cannot tell the whole story. For example, you are aware that all self-employed people who can no longer support themselves are not counted as being unemployed because they're not eligible to collect unemployment benefits. I just heard on the radio today by a self-employed tractor/trailer driver that things are very bleak right now for independent haulers of freight because there's no freight to be hauled. More and more independent drivers are going belly-up. No freight to move, no work. No work, no money.

Plus someone else was telling me that UPS was laying off about 1,200 or so drivers? (Anyone else hear about this?) The economy is still contracting and I don't believe current policies are going to reverse this trend.

Plus a large supermarket chain (nationwide) is moving out of my area altogether. They're closing up all their stores. They started the process over six months ago, and it appears now the chain is pulling out of the area entirely. Thousands more will be unemployed very shortly.

I still believe this is all designed by the BO administration because they want to get as many people on the public dole as possible. Socialists have never been big fans of individual liberties or independence.

Boxcar

As someone who has been looking for a job for several months, I amazed by how many truck driving positions are available at all the national carriers. Either all of them must be awful to work for, the pay must be horrible, or else they have plenty of demand for their services. This doesn't take into account the individual o/o, who face a different set of issues in terms of employment.

Yes, I heard it was 1800 that UPS was laying off, white collar jobs not based in Louisville, their headquarters. Most of them are coming through attrition, but no drivers will be affected. UPS has something like 350K employees, so at least the percentage of layoffs is not great.