OP ED-"Little Timmy Wants to Know Why Nobody Likes Airplanes Anymore?

[flyboy0681]

Flyboy, that's a great observation, but if Paul Volker didn't push the discount rate to 20% and if Reagan have never been elected, but Carter had been reelected and he continued with his energy plan, and if Ted Kennedy had had his way to ration gasoline because he claimed that allowing gas to seek it's own level was only rationing according to the wealthy, and if IRA accounts had never been allowed because they were tax breaks for wealthy investors, so that Bill Gates and Steve Jobs woiuld have had to seek capital from the banks instead of from the capital equity markets and those little companies like Microsoft and Apple had never existed.... Well then things might have gone the way they were going.  It took changes to start the boom of the eighties and nineties.  I don't even think that Reagan was fully against tax increases, but he would always say that if we tried to raise taxes to fight the deficit, then for each dollar raised congress would spend two.  -  There is no way that Carter was going to dismantle the Civil Aeronatics Board that used to set the minimum price for the cost of flying between any two cities.  There was no way Carter would have deregulated trucking.  Perhaps a majority of Americans believed at the time that the best way to slow Japanese imports was to fight them with tariff taxes.  Reagan was a true capitalist.  The liberals hated him and still do.   I think that if any other member of congress had been elected president at the time, that they would have just gone with the flow and our economy would have gone flat the same way things went flat in Japan.  Japan had a huge real estate bubble followed by terrible deflation and recession that still continues today. 

 

You'll get no arguments from me.

[flyboy0681]

I had a brand new Fiat X1/9...Paid cash. No debt. First car. In High School. Liberal parents. Voted for Carter...Ignorance was bliss. I grew up...became educated...and became a Conservative.

I don't doubt you for a minute, but as a percentage of the average American's annual salary needed to buy a new car now versus 1980 it's about the same - and look how much you get as basic equipment now versus then (including A/C and power windows!). And adjusted for inflation, gas is cheaper now.

[marks]

Great acheivement.  You saved and saved and then you spent!  How did that investment work out for you?  I agree with Flyboy. The car wasn't like a car today.  No airbags.  No O2 sensors.  No electronic ignition.  How many hours of labor did you have to put in to buy that car?   - -  When it comes to inflation, LBJ got the show rolling.  He spent for going to the moon, spent for Vietnam, spent for all the new social programs, then we brought back a half-million men from Vietnam to no jobs.  -  Nixon didn't know what to do about inflation.  He tried to outlaw it!!  He declared a price and hourly wage freeze, but it didn't work.  -  Ford printed buttons the said "WIN" for the words, "Whip Inflation Now" but it didn't work.  Jimmy Carter was a nice man.  He tried to negotiate away inflation by talking to the unions and in exchange for stopping strikes and accepting smaller wage increases he would try to get management to cut back investment in automation and guarantee job security, but it didn't work.  Meanwhile in congress Kennedy passed the COLA, that's the Cost Of Living Adjustments for Social Security with nothing to pay for it.  He passed all sorts of spending plans and help for veterans and many nice ideas and there wasn't a program he didn't like, but it sure didn't help inflation.  -  Then Reagan came to office and he told the people that he could cut taxes across the board and beat inflation.  Democrats honestly believed it was impossible.  It's true that the Laffer Curve was an exaggeration of the truth, but deregulation, cuts in the growth of spending, tax cuts for investments and accelerated depreciation, and key cuts for taxation to provide liquidity such as the introduction of the unlimited marital deduction that help eliminate the "widow tax", all helped to get the ecomomy growing faster than the deficit. Reagan had his own spending programs that might have slowed things a bit like "star wars", but all in all, nothing was going to stop economic growth.  Tax receipts did rise along with total goverment debt, but the deficit grew slower than total production.  We were paying our old bills as we grew!  This nation became like a man who had the biggest debt in the neighborhood, but our house was biggest by far, and Daddy made more money than any man on the block!   -  Scott, I love ya' but after all that work you should have invested the money instead of buying a Fiat!  What a little consumer you were!!   (truly teasing but true)

[Guest]

I hope Timmy doesn't find the keys to Grampa's gun cabinet, he may just off himself.

Clarence

[marks]

The economic engine can be found in the hearts of almost every person on earth.  Nearly everyone is willing to work if it will make them financially secure and more wealthy.  People on welfare are not willing to work if their income will get them kicked out of section 8 housing and their EBT cards get turned off.  However, most welfare cheats are quite willing to work under the table and many are willing to take a chance of going to jail for dealing drugs if it will make them richer.  In fact, everyone from drug lords to mafia underbosses are willing to kill you if they think it will make them richer.  Many Americans are not willing to go to war if they think it will make them and the nation poorer, no matter how noble the cause.  This is a basic economic law.  Sadly, the second economic law is that no one, not even deeply conservative republicans will turn down free money.  So in the farm states no congressional representatives will favor cutting out farm subsidies and government price guarantees.  In the central and lower plains states you won't find conservative talk show hosts finding fault with federally financed National Flood Insurance.  Even Rush Limbaugh won't find fault with Obama's open wallet for National Disaster Relief when the tornados hit.  Interestly, the government often provides relief for "uninsured losses".  If the home owner spent the money to insure his home he generally gets nothing, but if you're not insured your neighbors and the federal and state governments will help you.  -  Illegal aliens by the millions will brave the desserts and shark infested waters to come to America.  Many will try to get something for nothing, but even those people will work at the very same time back breaking hours to get something for something.  -  Scott, you are a conservative but I bet if the illegal son of an illegal alien shows up at the front door of the hospital with his little boy in need of an appendectomy, you would not deny it to him and leave him on the sidewalk. - I have been to some very poor places in this world and everyone wanted to work, so many were paid pennies.

[flyboy0681]

Great acheivement.  You saved and saved and then you spent!  How did that investment work out for you?  I agree with Flyboy. The car wasn't like a car today.  No airbags.  No O2 sensors.  No electronic ignition.  How many hours of labor did you have to put in to buy that car?   - -  When it comes to inflation, LBJ got the show rolling.  He spent for going to the moon, spent for Vietnam, spent for all the new social programs, then we brought back a half-million men from Vietnam to no jobs.  -  Nixon didn't know what to do about inflation.  He tried to outlaw it!!  He declared a price and hourly wage freeze, but it didn't work.  -  Ford printed buttons the said "WIN" for the words, "Whip Inflation Now" but it didn't work.  Jimmy Carter was a nice man.  He tried to negotiate away inflation by talking to the unions and in exchange for stopping strikes and accepting smaller wage increases he would try to get management to cut back investment in automation and guarantee job security, but it didn't work.  Meanwhile in congress Kennedy passed the COLA, that's the Cost Of Living Adjustments for Social Security with nothing to pay for it.  He passed all sorts of spending plans and help for veterans and many nice ideas and there wasn't a program he didn't like, but it sure didn't help inflation.  -  Then Reagan came to office and he told the people that he could cut taxes across the board and beat inflation.  Democrats honestly believed it was impossible.  It's true that the Laffer Curve was an exaggeration of the truth, but deregulation, cuts in the growth of spending, tax cuts for investments and accelerated depreciation, and key cuts for taxation to provide liquidity such as the introduction of the unlimited marital deduction that help eliminate the "widow tax", all helped to get the ecomomy growing faster than the deficit. Reagan had his own spending programs that might have slowed things a bit like "star wars", but all in all, nothing was going to stop economic growth.  Tax receipts did rise along with total goverment debt, but the deficit grew slower than total production.  We were paying our old bills as we grew!  This nation became like a man who had the biggest debt in the neighborhood, but our house was biggest by far, and Daddy made more money than any man on the block!   -  Scott, I love ya' but after all that work you should have invested the money instead of buying a Fiat!  What a little consumer you were!!   (truly teasing but true)

 

Johnson's expenditures for the space program was money well spent. I sure got a lot of enjoyment out of it as a kid and it didn't cost each American household all that much. 

 

I think I still have a WIN button in the bottom of a drawer.

 

While you would be hard pressed to find anyone that is in favor of regulation, some deregulation over the past few decades have led to disaster. First up was deregulation of the Savings and Loan industry, which would lead to the first post-depression banking crisis, circa 1989 (a Republican sponsored bailout). Then the second round arrived with investment banking deregulation, and we are still licking our wounds on that one and will continue to do so for years to come. One piece of deregulation legislation that worked out well was the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. I guess Carter did one thing well.

[marks]

I am not in favor of all deregulation, nor am I against all government spending. (including the space race)  I was only comparing money coming in vs. money going out.  Are you sure you're a conservative?  Do you wish we had a few more bureaucrats in the government regulating business and banking?  Would you give them lifetime pensions?  Do you really trust the government to be sure they can force businesses to do a better job than they would do without goverment bureaucrats watching them?    Really, are you sure you're a conservative?   I guess if we both believe in some good ol' regulations maybe neither of us are conservatives?

[flyboy0681]

I am not in favor of all deregulation, nor am I against all government spending. (including the space race)  I was only comparing money coming in vs. money going out.  Are you sure you're a conservative?  Do you wish we had a few more bureaucrats in the government regulating business and banking?  Would you give them lifetime pensions?  Do you really trust the government to be sure they can force businesses to do a better job than they would do without goverment bureaucrats watching them?    Really, are you sure you're a conservative?   I guess if we both believe in some good ol' regulations maybe neither of us are conservatives?

 

You must have me confused with someone else, I'm a smack, dab in the middle moderate. Washington did a good job of regulating the banking industry up until disaster struck and it wouldn't have required any more bureaucrats to keep it going that way. How could anyone explain that the industry was sound from the time of its Depression era legislation until a couple of years after Clinton signed the Gramm-Leach-Billey act? What's funny in retrospect is that Gramm said that banks would regulated themselves - yea, regulate themselves right out of existence.

[marks]

Oh Yes I did.  Sorry flyboy.  Those non-conservative attacks made me jump too fast.  I think I was a middle-moderate, but as the rest of the country moved to the left I felt like I was a reasonable conservative even though I never changed.  Three way discussions are tough.  I think we lost everyone else.  There are many factors that take a long time to explain.  There are always rules and laws that help regulate every kind of commerce and many go too far while others allow too much intervention.  Even the most well educated and experienced economists in this world are still trying to get it right.  Marx and Engles were brilliant men but they were just plain wrong.  I believe that the last great crash was more the fault of Rep. Barney Frank than anyone else.  Sometimes a politician has a very bad idea, but as long as the time bomb doesn't go off (such as government guaranteed loans that have yet to crash) everyone including Wall Street are happy to go along and sell the real crap into world markets all over the globe.  A lot of "free market" guys are happy to go along.  Many people learned all about the failures with 20/20 hind vision.

[flyboy0681]

Oh Yes I did.  Sorry flyboy.  Those non-conservative attacks made me jump too fast.  I think I was a middle-moderate, but as the rest of the country moved to the left I felt like I was a reasonable conservative even though I never changed.  Three way discussions are tough.  I think we lost everyone else.  There are many factors that take a long time to explain.  There are always rules and laws that help regulate every kind of commerce and many go too far while others allow too much intervention.  Even the most well educated and experienced economists in this world are still trying to get it right.  Marx and Engles were brilliant men but they were just plain wrong.  I believe that the last great crash was more the fault of Rep. Barney Frank than anyone else.  Sometimes a politician has a very bad idea, but as long as the time bomb doesn't go off (such as government guaranteed loans that have yet to crash) everyone including Wall Street are happy to go along and sell the real crap into world markets all over the globe.  A lot of "free market" guys are happy to go along.  Many people learned all about the failures with 20/20 hind vision.

 

You are a moderate conservative, which is the best type, and a Republican whom I can actually vote for. While 20/20 hindsight has its place, there were plenty who warned us against the fallout  from these pieces of legislation, Dr. Doom being one of them.

[carusoam]

So...

What's your thoughts on the elimination of the up-tick rule...?

Scott, Fiat? Really? (At that time) Buy American! The job you save may be your own!

How long did it last?

Current financing advertised on TV, 6 years @0%. Indicating that cars last a lot longer than they used to.

I'm still observing the conversation. ....

I truly appreciate the memory skills you guys have.

Keep going,

-a-

[flyboy0681]

So...

What's your thoughts on the elimination of the up-tick rule...?

Scott, Fiat? Really? Buy American! The job you save may be your own!

I'm still observing the conversation. ....

I truly appreciate the memory skills you guys have.

Keep going,

-a-

 

Isn't FIAT an acronym for "fix it again Tony"?

[carusoam]

That is currently a racial slur. Times have changed...

I have a pair of pontiacs in case you want to use another one...

Fortunately we grow with the changes...

Best regards,

-a-

[flyboy0681]

That is currently a racial slur. Times have changed...

I have a pair of pontiacs in case you want to use another one...

Fortunately we grow with the changes...

Best regards,

-a-

 

 

Ok, ok, how about:

 

Fix it again Tomas

Fix it again Theo

Fix it again Taj

Fix it again Temir

[marks]

Scott, IF I am a moderate (and I guess your Highness must be the ultimate judge) Then that's exactly what I want to be.  If you are conservative then I have done my best to inform you of what little I have learned in my life as a dedicated economist and dedicated Fiancial Advisor.  Perhaps some of the facts and figures, but not my opinions, can assist you in becoming more sure of yourself and firmer in your own convictions.  BTW, the total value of all qualified retirement accounts in the nation, such as IRA's and 401ks as of the end of 2013 was 23 Trillion dollars.  Note that the amount is almost exactly double of the entire M2 money supply.  In this case, the investors have decided to exchange their dollars for ownership in corporations of all types through stock and mutual funds as well as the promisary notes and bonds of companies promising to pay.  Many times foreigners, through their own investment firms, also would rather have our investments rather than their currencies.  Personally, I think world intertrading and investing helps the cause of peace.  No one wants Putin to shut off the gas, but right now ideas are hatching everywhere how to get free of this relationship and put some competition into the picture.     

[marks]

The uptick rule is a good idea that may be adjusted again.  Personally, I think investors should be able to borrow stock and go short on a downtick, but only if they are long in the stock.  So if you are covered and own a thousand shares of IBM, then you should be able to go short on 1,000 shares to hedge your investment.  Right now the big problem is that super-speed computer trading with software programs, might all buy at the same time and go short together without owning any of the stock.  This we call "running naked in the street".  We call it that because if you are "uncovered" (don't own the stock) but you're going out to the street (Wall Street) to pay to borrow stock for a short time and sell hoping the stock will fall so that you can buy if back at a lower price and give it back to the owner and keep the difference.  Clearly, micro second trading isn't about raising capital.  In truth, micro second traders can lose money just like everyone else, and the reduction of the difference between the bid and asked price has been a small help to investors, but in my opinion any investor should be required to own a stock for at least one minute and if you're uncovered and don't hold the stock, you should be allowed to go short only on an uptick.  -  I hope this doesn't sound like techno- babble.

[marks]

Flyboy, I was thinking about your comments on deregulation and of course those comments are well considered.  I would like to say that I believe in deregulation when the result increases competition, but of course I don't believe in eliminating regulations such as bank reserve requirements, that's crazy.  There are many other rules and regulations in this country that have been agreed upon by all sorts of people so that the regulations aren't right or wrong but rather reflect the will of the people.  A good example would be zoning laws.  Here on Martha's Vineyard off-islanders from out-of-state have often tried to build all sorts of fine homes in zones that have been voted as "Historical" with a ton of rules and regulations.  On a number of occasions many of hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent to build houses in obvious violation of the local building zoning laws and after going to the state supreme court the house has been completely torn down!  -  In America some things are a matter of right and wrong, some things are a matter of opinion, and some things are a matter of the will of the people. 

[flyboy0681]

Flyboy, I was thinking about your comments on deregulation and of course those comments are well considered.  I would like to say that I believe in deregulation when the result increases competition, but of course I don't believe in eliminating regulations such as bank reserve requirements, that's crazy.. 

 

Either I wasn't clear or my reply was misinterpreted. What I meant is that deregulating industries as a whole is a good thing, but regulations that govern industries are sometimes essential. For example, deregulating the airline industry was a good thing but the airline industry itself still needs some very strict regulations. Same goes for banking.

[flyboy0681]

In retrospect I wish I had bought a used Boss 302 and flogged it...and saved it. I could have put my kids through college on the sale...

The Pontiac Fiasco and the Toyota MR2 copied the X1/9, but the styling wasn't close to my fuel-injected Fiat.

 

 

We don't always agree on things but I'm right with you on this one.

[marks]

Flyboy, I don't think we misunderstood each other.  I think as regards regulation and deregulation we agree in full.

[flyboy0681]

Beautiful piece by Sarah titled "Gov Perry indicted: Everythings big in Texas even this B.S.

I wouldn't read it though as anyone "who can't speak the King's English" as some see fit are simply "Not Worthy"...

Remember: It is not WORDS alone that make one a successful leader. It is ACTIONS and CHARACTER-HONESTY-INTEGRITY...

All Libs have is hate filled rehetoric and "Chicago Style" tear them down agenda...

Choose someone with CHARACTER BEFORE words spoken in the Kings language. "You didn't build that", "If you want to keep your plan, you can keep your plan", "I have a pen"..."What difference does it make". Kings language? YES.....but

 

Two thoughts on this. The writing style of this piece is such a departure from her usual style that one can only conclude that Fox had an editor work with her on it. I have no doubt that it's her thoughts, but do doubt she wrote it as presented.

 

Second, which deals with the content of the story itself, any other state or municipality would give the employee a chance to keep their job in exchange for attending a substance abuse program, but due to partisan politics Perry, wanted he out. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200.

[flyboy0681]

"You Didn't Write that"...

 

 

There are many things that 'O has said that wound up biting him in the ass, one of them you had pointed out: If you like your doctor, yada yada yada.

 

But there is one thing that he said that's has been taken so out of context that it drives me nuts, "you didn't build that". If you were to read the speech, you would see that he was talking about how American business utilizes and was built using a vast array of infrastructure built by the government such as the Post Office, roadways, airports - what have you. His comment was that American business did not build them, the government did to better the country. Could he have phrased it better so that it wasn't parsed as it was - absolutely. Just as Bush could have with "Mission Accomplished".

[flyboy0681]

Unfortunately there are many things he has and haven't done that have, are and will continue to "BITE the American people in the ass".

 

 

As did Bush, like send over 4,000 American men and women to their deaths (not including hundreds of contractors and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens) and plundered over a trillion dollars in the effort. And for what?

[flyboy0681]

Bush I&II ultimately DID accomplish the mission...only to see the efforts (financial and human capitol) wasted through ineptitude. Reset. Begin again. Or not.

I have read the speech AND heard it. Nice historical revision...

 

Now that you have heard the revisionist version, what's your interpretation? Enquiring minds want to know.

[John Pleisse]

You must have me confused with someone else, I'm a smack, dab in the middle moderate. 

 

There is no such thing. It's like "just being friends" with the hottest chick on the planet or likely an intentional masquerade.