toffee 2 of 4

Ok, here we go....... Take one stick of the 4 sticks of butter, in a one pound box(one pound butter = 2 Cups)(With Salt(FYI there is salted butter and unsalted)) Spread some butter on a cookie sheet(your not using the whole stick, just a bit of it). You're greasing the cookie sheet. Spread 1/2 to 1 cup ground chocolate on the pan(300-1000 calories) Then spread 1/2 to 1 cup ground nuts on the pan. (Notice the towel under the pan, insulation from the counter will be important later, as I poor 2 pounds of 300 degree sugar and butter onto it.)

It is Key that you have 1/2 -1 cup ground, both nuts and chocolate sitting in reserve at this point. At this point go Pee, take a crap, take the garbage out... Whatever, cause your going to be busy once you start the next step... In 45(can be less) minutes this batch will be done. and you get to stir that whole time..... you may need a sidekick.A Sancho to your Don Quixote.

Ok, Seriously Game on!!!!!!!! Put that game face on and get ready to dig in, Stretch it out, breathing and focus exercises. Time to Rock!!!!

The rest of the 1 lb box of butter(4 sticks including the one you greased the pan with), and 2 cups sugar into the pan med to medium high heat(sure, you can melt the butter first then add the sugar, that's safer. I usually just put it all together and run and check my e-mail). Go medium if your using stainless steel I've done toffee on High heat, but seriously I paid for my Hubris. It is possible but it's way advanced and I don't do it anymore. As the butter melts you still have time to Pee or whatever... but after that your screwed once the butter melts you get to stir constantly till it's done.

Have I made it clear enough that the stirring is everything in Toffee, As a kid me my mom and my sister all had to take turns as the lactic acid built up in our arms... As cyclists be weary of that build up and that this is where your backup/sidekick comes in.... I on the other hand have built up the slow twitch necessary to do this on my own... I suspect that most of your Cardiovascular abilities are up to this task of stirring a pot for 45 minutes, but do not take this lightly... or you end up with a pot full of ($5-$10 worth)Burned Sugary gue at the end of this process.

Toffee 3 of 4

The Stirring.... Ok, it's all about state changes.... first the butter and the sugar don't mix at all(from previous post) and over a few minutes the two will combine and you kind of get this Foam like bubbly stuff.

Ok, I'm going to stop and talk about candy thermometers... I have 2, I hate them both. Nothing like a thermometer to screw up some toffee. Hard Crack is what we are going for..... These are the Candy states in order.... Soft Ball, Hard ball, Soft Crack, and Hard Crack.... all the ones below hard crack are a bunch of silly stuff like Caramels, and Nut Brittle, and divinity(which is fucking hard to do "Divinity", problem is in the end all you get in divinity(tastes like a bad marshmallow... But according to some it "Tastes like heaven"). There is only Toffee in Bob's world.... That's it... there is no substitute...

Ok Hard crack BTW is 300+ degrees, here in Utah you have to go to about 310 because of the altitude. Now the names of these candy states have to do with this:

What happens, when you put some of your confection in a glass of water with ice... Soft ball, hard ball, soft crack, hard crack. you taste it!!! hard crack shatters in your teeth, not shatters your teeth. but should literally smash into powder.

5 minutes of stirring.Ok, state 1 Soft Ball....(below) what starts happening is that the butter starts to separate out of the mix(much less foamy)... and you have to stir progressively harder to get the butter back into the mix.(it's probably more the fat from the butter... but ..)

State 2 hard ball (below) ok its very hard to keep the butter/fat in the mix. 15 minutes of stirring. This may give you some idea of how hard I'm stirring at this point(below)

Hand of Bob!!!... are you tired yet.... about half way done......

Toffee post 4 of 4

Ok, so your stirring is getting difficult, almost impossible to stir it enough to keep the butter/fat into the mix.... This is good news your 15 minutes from being done. See how it's impossible now to keep it together....

At this point I'm stirring just short of making it fly out of the pan..... Just let me warn you how tragic 2 pounds of 300 Degree sugar and butter would be if it did come out of the pan, and landed on you or someone/something you care about.... These colors are not indicative of the color toffee should be at this point. if your toffee is this dark... you may be in trouble... if your done and it's this dark you may be ok.

Ok the Below color is representative of what it should look like. and notice it's getting smooth and the butter fat is coming back into it.

Ah Ha..... Sugar and butter are now one again...... This is Soft Crack!!!!!!!! this is not the proper color(damn camera)... Here is the next key... there is still a slight granular texture to the Toffee... and that goes away at hard crack.But you can use the water glass method...or... a thermometer... but realize sometimes the thermometer is measuring the butter fat and not the sugar....

What happens in the next 5 minutes is the difference between good toffee and Great Toffee... Ok here it is again (below) This is very close. at this point it's would be much easier to do in a stainless pan at lower heat because the state change isn't as fast. .... The Glass of water.... Ok at this point you start putting it into the little glass of water next to you.... When you taste it.... what should happen is that it should almost shatter in your teeth, throwing a beautiful powder around your mouth *Crunch* *Poof* It should not be chewy... But if that's what you get its still Yummy.... Also you must still rapidly stir... at this point the more you stir the less "Smokey" it will be.... Ok, one year I worked my ass off and my toffee was White as snow, no "smokiness" at all.... it was awfully... Toffee has to be a little brown. But it's like when you cook marshmallows by a camp fire... There is a light brown caramelized.. and then there is burned sugar that gives you heartburn.

So I don't have a picture of a final product in the pot, because the time to take a picture could mess it up.. So Seriously what is slightly granular above goes away(without burning.... If it starts to smoke. give up and throw it on the cookie sheet, better to have underdone toffee(soft crack, slightly chewie, than burned toffee.) don't waist $5 of chocolate and nuts on $5 of burned sugar... Know when to give up and toss it.... you may lose 5 but you won't lose 10.

Once the toffee is done quickly stir in a Teaspoon or 2 of Vanilla(Optional) Other options would be to add Almonds or the other nuts just as you pull it off the stove. if they are unroasted nuts you need to add them 5-10 minutes before this

then poor the mix onto the sheet.

ok throw the pan in the sink after your done poring and throw the nuts on it, then give it a few moments and start the chocolate... You want to put the chocolate on top at the point that it doesn't sink into it completely. your just trying to coat the outside with chocolate. Notice there is a towel under the cookie sheet... this shit is hot....

5-7k Calories of Toffee Joy

Alright get that pan clean as you let it cool Nonstick this takes 2 minutes, stainless steel. this could go for 30 minutes.When you scorch the stainless pan while stirring, don't grind at it with your spoon... try and keep the scorched toffee from building but don't grind at that stuff or it will ruin the whole batch.... From what I remember about stainless steel toffee making..... also you have to stir twice as hard with stainless. and twice as long... but to be honest I bet with stainless you burn 300-400 calories per batch. as opposed to maybe 200-300 with Teflon.

After the pan is clean, I take the pan of toffee out to the porch outside to cool off(away from animals).

in an hour or 2, bring it back in and break the toffee into small pieces.. make sure the whole pan is cool.

3 batches of toffee.

*Plonk*... This is where I'm a total snob.... The top one was 1 minute from being perfect. middle needed about 30 seconds more... but it's excellent. Bottom one was a bit overdone.

It took me till noon the next day to recover from the 600-800(probably 6-8 pieces) calories of pure toffee bliss I ate, just testing it out. I try and have food on hand like soup or something while I'm making it or I tend to eat tons of toffee, which if your going to kill yourself with food, is the way to do it. If your going to be Tubby, this is it. don't waist your time on shitty cardboard Burgers...

Dogbert figures out subprime.

Grand Torino

I saw, the clint eastwood movie. It's not million dollar baby, but it's solid.

I made my first batch of toffee. Not good for me, I like to toffee... You all have no idea how obsessive I am about it. Not only do I have to have it be good, but I'm always working on that "perfect toffee"..

I guess it's like people, "All toffee is perfect, but it could use a little work."

of course then we burn it sometimes... Not sure how it applies to life.

I hate christmas, just a few more days left, then new years and it's all over. Then it's just a few months left, and winter is all over.... Yippee...

Damn I hate Christmas...

"I did say the movie was just 'ok', didn't I".

We do get a reprieve of the Clint Eastwood singing career. I'm not sure how I feel about the Jesus stuff, in the movie.

Red Dawn

I figure it's the Armageddon MEME going around these days, but some of the movie channels have been running "RED DAWN". What a great movie... You just have to love it.

Patric Swazie's Character's dad,"You know boys, I was hard on you, sometimes even did things that made you hate me... You understand now!, don't you!?"

"Cant afford to be crying now, I don't want any of you boys to ever cry for me."


And how hot was Jennifer Grey, Skrewed herself up with that nose job, silly girl.

Also Did you hear Patrick Swayze has pancreatic cancer, I suspect the prognosis isn't good.

It also brings a question up, "Are Eagle Scouts, Leaders of a Paramilitary organization?"

You know, Sometimes we have to ask, then answer "Who are we?, and What's the point?"(sorry different media reference.)

Some days

I look out from my little terminal here, and it's like I can see across the planet, into infinity.

Then there are the days that I sit here, and it's like looking at a brick wall.

The Buddha sat in front of a wall and when he arose he was enlightened.....

*Shrug*

Here we go again

... I haven't posted in a while, the thought occurred to me that Art was dying to know what I think of the auto bailout/Rescue, or not, or he assumes he knows.

To start off I'm agnostic about it, I suspect that to some of you it's a moral question. To me I just want to know what is going to happen, and bet accordingly.

I stated before that this thing will resolve in some kind of "moral Collapse", I was pointed to a story a few months ago "The Fable of the Bees", in the story there is a breakout of Morality, and the bees refuse to work because of it and the hive failed. If it's "Price Controls" or a Trade War... or something, I think in a socioeconomic way, that is the outcome that is most probable.

Congress is all abuzz about how once the banks got the money "they havn't lent it.". Well, half the banks didn't have strong enough ballance sheets to take that risk. Most are waiting for a more meaningfull recovery in the economy, so that they know they won't need aditional money for loan loss reserves. And those with excess money, well... do we realy think that they should just throw 250 billion into the pockets of the first drunks that show up at the teller windows. My point is that Congress is poised to do some very stupid things, out of moral outrage.... Sort of a "I'll show you, I'll cut my nose off to spite my face"

The problem I see... When you provide "Bridge financing" what a company will do, instead of making cuts, and getting Leaner, is that they will just shove their heads up their ass and pretend it's all not happening. I'd propose that the car manufacturers will do the same thing.

If one has a conversation with me about cars IRL, I like to point out that there are only about 5 types of cars, and the only difference is slight differences in the shapes, Very slight. Seems like we could use about 20 less models. And I'd love for a new line to come out "The Functional" Comes in white black red blue, a 2 door, a 4 door, a Minivan, and a truck. Has no features and is very light, all models get over 30 MPG.... that advertisement says "gets you where you are going".

Morning

I had a lousy run this morning. Seems like I'm getting some Fatigue... Need to check my diet today. It's very cold at 4am, More like an Icy walk. Don't get me wrong, there was running... but it's very cold. I'd rather run in the evening, but I keep hoping to work some evening Yoga in.

I felt lousy... Felt like I run like a girl... I think that is just a psychological problem though too much time talking about goth music I guess...... LOL...

hmm

some Random Blogging.

I use a feed reader to read all my blogs... point is that when somebody posts to a blog I subscribe to, it just gets sent to me. Unfortunately, there seem to be errors and a subscription fails over time, I don't notice... I just think somebody quit blogging...

so is the case with Known Side Effects, somehow I was Trolling new cycling blogs and realized that there were a ton of new posts, that I hadn't read....

sorry.

Yogurt

I love yogurt.... (of course give me a few more months). I'm thinking about going to plain and adding my own "Stuff" and I kind of like it all sour... Well that is an interesting post..

Astrology

So, You read your horoscope 50 times, either as a lark or cause you think it's important.

either:

• It inspires you to do what it says and make it happen, Or it doesn't and you dismiss it.
• What ever it says happens and you remember the one of 50 that said something similar, and you dismiss the other 49 that didn't.

We only remember what validates us, and dismiss the remainder. If your astrology inspires you to do something, then it's a good thing, and significant and valid in your life.

If it's that, or any number of "Thousand Typing monkeys" out there. But it's important that you don't live your life by some random Tidal influence, Among the Typing monkeys it's important to discern what is important to you, and what is just Random Noise. There is also some random noise that is more "What we want to believe"....

something....

Art of the Bauhaus

Ok, I'm about to get Super Nerdy here... Art Nerdy.

Many people don't know but at the Turn of the Century Germany(Wiemar) was at the Pinnacle of Europe. As France was in the 17th century, and England was in the 18th. As Germany felt more and more Entitled as a cultural and industrial leader. This is feeling of entitlement, and dominance is part of what Lead to WWI. Great artists like Klimt, and a little known Thinker named Einstein came out of this Era, and region of Germany(Wiemar).

Turn of the Century, artists wanted to rethink art, as Industrialization was remaking our world. The movement, inspired by the Culture of "Rebirth" prompted by what was seen to be a New age in Humanity; Acceptance of the theories of Darwin, Some of the ideas of Karl Marx, Larger Availability of books and education, progress made by fabric Looms and the printing press, and further industrial production, All of this remade our Civilization. During all of this there naturally was a move to remake art.

As life imitates art and art imitates Life. Modernism is to Art, what Industrialization is to production/business. Art of the Bauhaus, is art that came out of the Named School, Between WWI and WWII when the Nazis closed down the School. It's interesting to think about the word Modernism as always what is Now modern, but you have to realize it's the beginning of the Modern Age, Which is where you get the term Post modern art, and that reference should be used as the Christians use Jesus. There is Pre Jesus, Jesus and Post Jesus. Post modern art.

When rethinking art for the "new Age", They started with basic forms 3 Perfect Shapes.

Circle
,
'perfect square'
,
Equilateral triangle.

And ONLY BLACK AND WHITE. This is pure modernism, and rigid fundamentalist art of the Bauhaus.

As time went on this was expanded to the Primary colors

Proper Bauhaus is a combination of these shapes and colors,

Like the Cradle Below

Another element is the use of new manufacturing Methods and materials(this isn't unique to Modernism, apply the newest techniques and materials is common to most art movements). Examples are bent Plywood, and Tube steel.

Le Corbusier.

The above chair is a great example, and possibly similar to something you may have in your home. Great Simple Black Squares, and bent tubular(circle) steel Great example of Early Bauhaus.

Ludwig mies Van der rohe

Now using a Partial Circular form for the frame of this chair, some Great red Squares for cushions. Unfortunately the Liberal use of the curve in the other leg of the chair, and both legs of the footstool, Is a NO NO to purists. Of course the use of color, also points to a later period in the form.


As time progressed broader interpretations, and just the use of Generic Geometric forms became acceptable.

Sometimes with Creativity, the secret is to have confines, and to still be able to express yourself within them.... Feels like some kind of Life lesson there.

Yep... Too many art Classes..... And I can do math. Like being locked in hell. And I can't stand Fractals BTW. I knew this engineer once who though He could "Do art" using Fractals. Grrrr One could use Fractals to express art, but a Fractal is not art. Only an engineer would think a fractal was art, just as every 4 year old thinks that Mountain with a deer out of Macaroni is art... Cause they did it in art class.

Damn, I'm a snob.

Wierd Universal Vibes

Well, I managed a decent run this morning. It was one of those cold morning runs. I much prefer to run in the morning. But It's getting Icy... Seems a little colder this year than last. Things are going well with the diet, not quite as strict As I'd like but, it's something. I get a little sketchy about limiting carbs, since without them All I want to do is Sit on my ass and watch T.V. or Nap. I guess it's good to spread them out.

A ton of Astrology posts over the past few days. Lets see if I can make this point without getting too sidetracked. I was just watching a Nova about the new Hominid bones they found, which they colloquially call "Hobbit". My spider sense says, we don't understand them well enough yet. And how charming is it that they found them at the same time the "Lord of the Rings" movies were at their Apex. They would be more Acceptable if the scientists said "We aren't sure, but have these possibilities"...... Seems like the almost want to believe it. Not that it's impossible, undiscovered species are likely. It's some of the explanations that are far fetched. One of the Scientists Said "I Believe it"..... Personally I try not to believe in much.

Sometimes out there in the Universe we hear things that kind of make our ears perk up, and we tend to think it's significant. Our ears hear so much information, Our eyes read so much text.... that some of it has to be significant.That tends to hit what some call a harmonic Cord in our mind, it makes our ears perk up, is because it is significant..... of course sometimes the significance is just that it's something we "Want to believe".

In my life I've spent some time with the Joseph Campbell "Power of Myth". Myth provides a sort of Skeletal structure for our lives, and culture. Give us some guidelines for our "Path", For the most part we can sort of Smell and use that Harmonic cord as part of our guide for our life.... But sometimes the questing isn't "The Path" we should chose, but how to move down that path.

Life Is a Journey, not a destination...

DubJa

Word on the street was, that for a rescue package for the automakers, Our president wanted a trade deal with Columbia.

I'm not taking a side on either issue, But Does Bush want another Failure under his belt... I'll be amused if congress passes something and he veto's it.

better to burn out than to fade away I guess.

I'm logged into this blog so...

I was going to comment yesterday about my conversation with my nonexistent son, about the importance of a Classical Education.... Yep.

I use a feed reader to read all the blogs I read, and for news. I have this nasty habit, I'll read a blog thinking it's one person, then about half way through I realize.... OH!! that isn't Straight out of Provo, it's adding fuel to the fire...

Well it's not all that interesting...

witch's claw

I just had a dream that a "witch's claw" used in an idol-ic way saved me from a werewolf or a Lion or something. What is interesting about this is that I've decided at this point in my life(well Months ago), to actually become an Atheist. (If you are god folk, you are warned... I'm about to go on, and I hope not to offend... so be warned.)

For the longest time, My reservation was more that I felt like 'you couldn't Rule out god'. Then I realized that Like Unicorns, Greek gods, Witch's, Bogymen, Black Helicopters, and the usual Conspiracy's... I actually could.

Much of this started when an Atheist friend, tried to convince me that 9/11 was some kind of bush conspiracy, and there was some kind of explosive charges Planted. That a Building could never be blown down by a Plane. My easy counter argument was that I've seen buildings built, and with all the mouth breathing dopes who do it, I'm surprised they hold up to the wind.

Later I realized that he wanted to believe it, which made him susceptible to what was a very lousy documentary, that obsessed over minutia that your average brain finds curious, Until you further understand how the building was constructed, and basic physics. The point was that even very smart people, who "Want to Believe" can be convinced into the most ridiculous things.

Since this time, I've done my best to try and evaluate many of my own perceptions, especially when for one reason or another "I want to Believe.". Primarily, things I have a Vested interest in. Overall, the rough theme has been that due to our desire for "Infinite Knowledge", we tend to revert to a Delusional Groudfull Knowledge, as apposed to a More Realistic Groundless Knowledge.

Overall, since I can then apply this to Theology. I then realized that for the most part Atheism is not Anti-Theism. Which was how I precieved it. I have no desire to be Anti-God(not that Theism is god), nor am I Agnostic about god/Theism anymore. Previously I didn't have any specific theory that had Excluded God from the equation.

Excluding myself from being Anti-God, or Agnostic about god. It leaves me with the Position of believing that there are certain evolutionary reasons to be "convinced of God". This then gives me a reason, and significant Evidence... Or more Significant evidence of a "Lack of God" than the "Existence of god".

Further more, I didn't realize how liberating it was going to be to eliminate; Superstition, conspiracy theories, Spirituality, and the bogyman in life.

Bush is a Fool and not the Anti-Christ.


(I've stolen all the following Quotes)

"Don't you believe in something god-like? You don't believe in the traditional God. Don't you believe there's SOMETHING there?".

And I say, "No. There's nothing there.". And it's very difficult to get across to people who are religious, that when you are an atheist, that you mean you don't believe in anything like that whatsoever. It's not that you think nature is God, or it doesn't have personal qualities or something like that. You don't believe in anything of that type. Nothing supernatural. nothing miraculous, nothing superstitious. No ghosts, no telepathy... you know... nothing of that kind.

now it's a curious expression, as Thomas Aquinas pointed out, that nothing isn't a funny kind of something - of any kind, as he said - there isn't a kind of thing that the name "nothing" names.. I mean there are philosophers who go about as if it did, umm, but Thomas Aquinas was absolutely clear about it, he says, "look, it's a very odd sort of making that you're talking about here because the negation against the 'out of' is a making but there's no 'out of' going on here".

classical theologians say that God is not any kind of thing because if God were a kind of thing, God would just be one of the other kinds of things that there are, only a rather different one. So we're not talking about something that's on the map of creation. We're talking about something which is off the map of creation, which is why what we're talking... you know.. how we're talking now is a kind of bamboozling nonsense.

Fat Man running

On Ryan's recommendation I picked up "Run, Fat boy Run". It was good. For the most part it was sort of a retelling of a Documentary about a British guy named James Peak,Called
"Fat man running."

Who in order to get ready for his wedding, and to prove to his Fiancé that he could put his mind to something and accomplish it. Starts training with 6 months to go, which soon turned to 9 weeks, during which he trained for the London marathon.

I totally sound like a snob, and the movie was funner than the documentary. But both were good. I enjoyed it...

I've seen about a zillion movies this weekend, I managed "Tropic of Thunder".. It was ok, "Enigma" which was smart and interesting. I also saw "Step Brothers" which was exactly what you expect. so it was good.

Umn.. So, I'm in my 3rd week of regular serious exercise. Finally it's getting good, the suffering is starting to pay off, The diet Sucks... What has happened to my cookies and milk, bedtime snack.. Seems Vegies and Balsamic vinegar, has replaced it..... I'm sure there are some cookies out there that are lonly for my company....
Speaking of which,
There is this woman I've been seeing on and off. It's a terrible relationship, Which is the worst part about a half assed relationship, when they won't go away...

My week is very stressful, and about Friday I can barley think. Friday I tend to have a minor melt down... usually just shake under the covers for about 14 hours. Saturday I recover, Fatigue and I try and get some stuff done. Sunday Finally I feel normal, And I just want to Feel normal, Eat, rest, Lick my wounds. So, spontaneously she calls up, and I just don't want to add her to my day, It may be one thing if I had already planned it... but I can be a stickler for my schedule.... So...

Now I'm in trouble, because I ignored her...

No wonder I'm, still single.

Back to my Carrots and Twigs... ;).... But I'll have you know, I've never been so regular.

Thought I should mention this.

Somebody was talking about how dangerous it was with on party holding house senate and presidency

Campbell Brown: For those people who have been worried about the possibility of one party controlling Congress and the White House, the last president to do that, of course, was....?

John King: Ah, that was Bill Clinton, and...

Brown: Jimmy Carter! Jimmy Carter had... Bill Clinton had Democrats in the House and in the Senate?

King: Very briefly.

Brown: Very briefly. [Crinkles her nose] Didn't go so well.

King: No it didn't.

Wrong!!!!!.... Any guesses? Try 2000-2006. Sure that didn't turn out so well either... sort of Results in "NOW".

Again, I personally think the the best form of government is when it's In GridLock, and if I had my way we would pass everything by 2/3rds majority. I'm not saying that government is bad, but that government is best when we all agree. It would probably just end up with even more pork.

Yogurt conspracy

It's been a while since Yogurt was in high rotation in my diet. There I am at the grocery store and I pick up my yogurt and it seems something is wrong.

So... I like yogurt, I can eat it plain, but I do like it like a good red blooded American, with a little fruit. I should really look up the history of yogurt, I'm curious how and when cultured milk became an option for meals.

back to the point, I hate Sweet Yogurt. Can't stand the artificially sweetened yogurt.

I bring back my yogurt, and suddenly I realize they have decided to reduce the 8 oz to a 6oz and have the same amount of fruit/jam in it.... Point is, now it's a Sweet yogurt and not the one I like.

this is going to become one of those things... I'm going to end up making my own yogurt, or mixing it at least.

Quick Movie Review

We all know I'm into bad movies:

I just watched "the Tooth Fairy"I was promised it was a good story, solid bad acting.

Hmmm, Well I was hoping for more Nudity, But it almost made up for it that, When I did get my obligatory Skin there were fortunately 2 dead bodies in the haunted house, and there was some kind of theme about how the sex was hot because of all the death, it was sort of a death/life theme. .... It was funny. The kid was much more mature than anyone else.

I'm thinking it was good, Not Great.

Some Hidden voters

There was talk this week of some voters that couldn't tell their friends who they were voting for. Seems like an interesting spot to be in. I wonder if there are groups of people who all voted for obama, and just can't tell each other. It's kind of like those pictures of Hatemongering Rednecks, who say shit like "Adam and eve not Ted and Steve" and you can tell if they would just express their love for each other, they would be happier.

I'm happy to not be working on Constructions sites because I'd be forced to punch anyone in the mouth that said "President N*$@&"

Which reminded me of this:

Maybe it's inappropriate, but it made me smile in a good way.

Super Obama World

http://superobamaworld.com/

Well Now

Sounds like Kelly has decided to do some Cross, Make sure y'all give her plenty of support. That is actually very exciting, I'm super happy for her. I hope she enjoys it.

Now more about me.... Ugh... I need to go to the grocery store and expand my fruit and vegetable supply.

Funny, I remember having my diet be soup salads and Fruit for 5 months before, I'm in day 3... and I hate it.

Every Journey a Thousand Steps.

Bravo

One would think on Bravo, it would be old shows that were good and you want to see again..... Ala "west wing"

and yet, Tim Gunns guide to style, kathy Griffin, Top Design... top model, I think Paris hilton is my BFF, Real houswives of 'Blank'....(Let me say, besides commercials, I've never seen any of these shows)

shouldn't' they call it "B grade Reality Television"... Ok, "C Grade Reality TV"

4 hours ago

I started this post, It started with Me bitching that nobody writes anything worth reading... Of course Then somebody wrote something I saw that was worth reading. I wanted more.

I went off on this long rant about how those people who are new to Politics, are about to be introduced to "The Machine". Where Nobody gets what they want, and everybody is disappointed. politics is like a Football game where the field is half as wide and 500 yards long. The defense gets 33 players and the offense only gets 11, and only 3 downs... point is, there is a lot of punting.

It can still be fun, and to be honest, it's best when nobody gets anything.

What is the song? "You don't always get what you want, but SOMETIMES you get what you need"


So, I'm not sure if I've Whined enough, but besides being out of shape, I'm back on the "Winter Diet", you know what I'm talking about. That Diet where you don't get enough exercise, and have to spend most the winter sucking your thumb, 4 cups of tea, 4 pieces of fruit, couple bowls of soup, and salads for dinner....

Oh, Joy

I don't know

So... I hear after the election Turbo, had some people Texting him making fun of his French Heritage..... I just want to remind people that:

• One of the Foundations of America is Tolerance, Even for those who don't vote, or who vote for the Party of hate and Fear (this would be the Political parties). But Tolerance of both Their Childish behaviors is What makes America Great.
• Reasons Turbo and his French Heritage are good:

1. French Fries Are Taisty
2. The French helped us during the Revolution(So the lame shit about how we saved them in WWII is a bunch of Ungrateful Bullshit, especialy since we didn't pay back what Ben Franklin promised for the help(I'm actually not sure of my Facts, but there was some thing that Franklin promised, that we didn't live up to)
3. The French also Re-invented Democracy.

I also want to thank Turbo for being the Object of this ridiculous Blog post, I have no idea about his heratage, but was looking for something to blog/Jump on my soap box about today, that somehow tied into an election that still seems like a Dream.

And remember, We are stronger together than we are Apart.

Not much

I can't put how I feel into words... Hell, I'm even proud of those of you who "Choose not to Vote", I guess that is the great thing about America.

It's halloween and History International is running "A history of god"

Learned something interesting. Yahweh.. Translated is roughly "I Am Who I am"... who knew god was Popeye.

What I like about it is that it's one of the first signs of "the new religion" Where it becomes "negative Theism" IE.. if you can't disprove it it must exist.

But if God Is what it is... and it's outside of Reality or existence, Then it becomes something You will never have evidence of therefore, you will never have a chance to disprove it.

but I digress.

Flahute and art are back on the economics rant again. This is what I like about Art; He likes to point out the inconsistencies about Government and our economic system.

but here is my deal, I've been charmed by this whole economic episode... Most charming is what I have heard for the past months from traders... and it's funny "The problem was we let Lehman Fail Which introduces Zero as an options for many companies, If we hadn't done that we would not be doing all this Socialism bailing out the banks. This is not the Free market when we are Bailing out the banks. Now With Zero as an option for companies there is no confidence in the system, and you can't invest."

I want to put this into a Formula

Letting Lehman Fail = Fremarket Act= The socialist Act of Rescuing Banks = Not a Fremarket System = No confidence = No investment.

But apparently the opposite would have been true.

The socialist act of rescuing Lehman = Not a Freemarket system = Not Rescuing banks = The Free market = confidence = Investment.

JUST TO BE CLEAR this isn't Art's Thesis.. this is just a Wallstreet Thesis.

The fun part for me is that at one point we are in a Very strange Alice in wonderland situation, Where just about everyone is very inconsistent with their logic.

But here is my Thesis... EVERYONE is very inconsistent with their logic, for the most part it's not logic it's just Rationalization, for their own narcissism. It's not for me to SHAKE MY FIST about how Ridiculous it all is. But to Realize how ridiculous everyone is, and figure out how to Profit from it.

Over all, if we allow the capitalist system to run like it should, it will collapse... and we will move on to a much more Socialist system. In fact you can suggest that it's a "Market solution" to the Capitalist system. If the Market collapses, and there is no confidence in Capitalism. The Socio-Economics of the market Will force a Much more socialist system.

In our Democracy the same thing is going on. We have tried Extreme Deregulation, and moving Heavily to the Supply side for the past 8 years... In fact it's been 30 years of that swing of the Pendulum. The Result of "the Free market" and it's Impressive 3 years of prosperity over the past 8 has made our citizens start to rethink "The Uber Free market."

I'm not saying right or Wrong, But that is the game.

But I'm a godless commie.... But I know the game.... It's for me to make money, regardless. Maybe I'm just Godless. ;)

I still love to vote.

maybe I'm just a Democrat.

hmm

What is this blog for if not to whine.

and if as has been reported and blogging is so 2006... or 2005. I'm all about it.

Maybe the universe is in FLUX, I hate to go into some bullshit MOJO. With the Election, and the economy... The universe is just all up in the air, and it's causing some imbalance in the fabric of "The Force"(snicker). OR that all just refers to how I feel right now.

I fell asleep at 7pm and woke up at 11. I'd love to fall asleep for a nice 3 hours or so before morning.

Sorry I'm just going to go in a few million directions.

I love to vote, I remember when I started voting and it was strange and frightening. Now it just brings a smile to my face. My polling place is walking distance, so at one point on Tuesday. I'll take a nice fall walk over to my polling place and Play the touchscreen. I did rather like having a Ballot. Apparently it's way to complicated for Regular people, so now I don't get one of those nice Crisp cards to punch my vote through. But Once I hit that door of my polling place I'm just happy and thrilled to have a chance to have a say in government.

It's a good thing.

Not that any of you care

Something in my life is so incompatible with Yoga. I'm just struggling like mad... and it's more than just the fitness and Limberness.

It is getting better, but it's crazy to me that I'm having trouble staying focused the whole time.

LOL, I've been tagged

And because ... Well, I'm bored today....

Oh and by the way... did the market countdown clock go to Zero? and after that What happened?

It's better to post about this than what I'm normally Babbling about.

Alright...

Eight Favorite TV Shows: (I'm not sure if they have to be Current, Maybe I'll do it Twice)

Eight Current Favorite TV Shows.
(you are about to find out what a snob I am.)

1. Engineering an Empire(History Channel)
2. House-It's just an addiction at this point, It was best the first 3 seasons.
3. Naked Archaeologist-(History Channel) Umn I don't know anything about Biblical Archeology. It's amusing to watch Archeology, of what I see as a Fiction. But it's not like it's proof of Jesus or Moses, but Proof that the places In the bible actually exist.
4. Monk- Not as good as it's been.
5. Nova. There was an Ok deal about Fractals
   
6. Frontline... It's like news only instead of a 30 second sound bite, it goes on for an hour.
7. Meet the Press
8. The Daily show.

My 8 favorite of all time.

1. ER- It was great before it became all about Carter.
2. The Shield- first 2 seasons are Must See
3. DEADWOOD
4. Law and Order-Jerry Orbach seasons
5. "24" but the first 3 maybe 4 seasons
6. West Wing (till the presidents daughter was Kidnapped)
7. House
8. Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

(this is where it gets boring)
Eight things I did yesterday

1. took a walk
2. Avoided yoga(it's something. I'm having a tough time these days working out.. so it's the old fall back)
3. Obsessed about how Republicans are all about FearMongering... and how that is no way to live.
4. Read about Bond investing.
5. Made Coffee
6. Took my vitamins.
7. Watched Politics on tv
8. Slept poorly

Eight Things I look forward too:

1. Spring
2. Going on vacation(when ever I decide to do it)
3. I'm actually excited for some winter bike rides, it's actually nice some times to be cooped up then make it outside.
4. I'm looking forward to seeing all the Big 3 car makers to have a nice Come to Jesus, and realize that the Business model they have is completely broken, and for them to come up with something new (fat chance, the Government will just cut them a check to keep them afloat)
5. Winter Runs, after it snows.(it will be novel for a couple weeks, then I'll just be annoyed by the extra laundry)
6. Some day Reviving this blog.
7. A regular workout schedule
8. Next Planting season.

Eight Favorite restaurants:

1. Trolley wing company
2. The Pie(fortunately they have one out here in the Burbs now, so I don't have to travel or elbow people.
3. Tai Siam
4. Beto's Mexican.
5. Beyond that I don't eat out much.

Eight things on my wish list:

1. Less Stress
2. More time
3. More time to read
4. For Christmas and Thanksgiving to be over.
5. (i'd have a more extensive list... but it just gets sad)
6. I want a car that is Ugly, High Gas Mileage(Like 60MPG), and low maintenance.
7. I want every insurance company on the planet to go Bankrupt. I can not believe that you can have financial trouble as a company that sells something they never intend to follow through on.
8. World Peace

Eight people to tag....
I'm sure this ruins the chain letter quality of a tag and I'll have bad luck or something...

But ... You know who you are.

Something to this blog

Politics is in full swing... Fun stuff.

Did you know that Salt lake county is More than 50% Non-Morman. From that you can draw a high probability that it's mostly Democrat.

So, when you show up to vote, Either way it's an important vote.

The disappointing thing is when people don't realize that on these salt lake county issues, your vote is very important. One could almost say it's almost a republican advantage to have you convinced that your vote does not count.

Moreover, on say the vote for president... say you voted instead of Not voting. Thee would be a greater possibility that when the election is done and the popular vote may not be the electoral vote. If your opinion is that your vote doesn't count because of the electoral process, maybe if the popular vote was not the electoral vote more often... it would motivate our legislative branch to change the constitution.

Haunted

I'm sitting here Watching a late night movie about a Vietnam vet who has post traumatic stress, I was reflecting on how all the WWII and Civil war Veterans, suffered the same thing. How many of them were expected to suffer in silence, Or who Couldn't and were Marginalized by our society. Then reflecting on how Maybe by giving it a name "post Traumatic stress Disorder"... I reflect on if Maybe it was better to suffer in silence... or maybe it wasn't.

This then reminded me of how I was today about how my life could have been different had I been encouraged by a different teacher in HighSchool. Of course To Place on a level playing field My being haunted by Highschool, and Post traumatic stress from war..... Well is stupid. It is how memory works it seems, more emotional the event more likely we are to re-experience it.

Joe the Pulmber

Not Actual Plumber, and Tax Cheat.

Of course McCain wants to give him a Tax break.

Republican way, everyone who can afford to pay taxes, shouldn't pay them

Palin bags a bigfoot.

BatBoy lives!!! Weekly world news

Palin

Alright It's here

I have a countdown clock to to the bottom of the stock market, it's above and I've added it.

Tuesday october 28th Just after noon based on the decay rate of the market....

somebody will be able to buy every stock on the entire market, for the price of a cup of Coffee.

I've already put in my order on all the indexes.... So don't bother trying to get ahead of me....

I will own the corporate universe in 18 days and 7 minutes 47 seconds.......

MUaaaahhhhhhaaaaaaaaaa

Goodness

I promised to shut up when they took action.....

What a nasty week.... Who knew in a leadership vacuum, when the president comes out talking about the great depression... that everyone would freak out, put money in the mattress. and throw their 401k's out......

What makes all this extra scary is that it's Wall Street caught in the bubble, this time....

they are all like "we went to business school, we understand business cycles.... How could it be us who contract...... We are special!!!"

"so special as to not be included in the business cycle?"

I'll try and come up with something fun to blog about.....

"the craziest life I've ever lead"

Freeloader Wallstreet California Fat Cats want another hand out.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, alarmed by the ongoing national financial crisis, warned Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson on Thursday that the state might need an emergency loan of as much as $7 billion from the federal government within weeks.

The warning comes as California is close to running out of cash to fund day-to-day government operations and is unable to access routine short-term loans that it typically relies on to remain solvent.

....payments to schools and other government entities could quickly be suspended and state employees could be laid off.

"Absent a clear resolution to this financial crisis, California and other states may be unable to obtain the necessary level of financing to maintain government operations and may be forced to turn to the federal treasury for short-term financing," Schwarzenegger wrote in the letter, according to the paper.



When Will America wake up and realize it's best for them to lose their state jobs..... What ever happens don't bail out these wall street fat cats..... we need to stand up to teachers and Pothole fillers, and public servants.... that they are off the public tit.... These fat cats are ruining america!!!! California and a few other states have destroyed their economy and need to suffer a free market death....

Keep those phone calls going.... NO FATCAT BAILOUT. Thank god for guys like Jim Matheson.... True hero's bringing america to it's Knees

this is how crazy shit is

If your house is financed at 5%, you could loan GE that money at 6.5% and have them help you out with 1.5% of your house payment...

assuming you had access to your home equity in cash...

Credit affects manufacturing

From this story

Business at Power Curbers Inc., which makes machines that lay sidewalks and curbs, had been slow for a while, given its link to the construction business. Its domestic business fell about 35% from the first of the year through about August, says Dyke Messinger, chief executive of the family-owned business, based in Salisbury, N.C.

But as the financial situation worsened over recent weeks, customers -- who typically finance purchases -- suddenly stopped ordering and one major order was yanked. "We haven't had a domestic order in six weeks," says Mr. Messinger. "At this point, that's unprecedented."

Faced with such an abrupt drying up of business, the company on Tuesday decided to shut its assembly line for two weeks, which means temporary layoffs for most of its 100 workers.

Let me grant, that some of this is economic slowdown... But the example is valid, Credit affects buisness. Which then effects Employment, which then creates a feedback loop on the economy. Certainly credit will never flow like it has over the past 10 years, But... this only gets worse without action.

Unless you are sitting in a fallout shelter on a Big fat pile of gold with a bunch of firearms.....

ME? I don't want to live that way.....

And, I am a crack shot, and I'm fairly sure I can get you on the way out of your bunker, and take your food and gold.....

Just letting you know....Whoever you are....Damn Fat cats.... ;)

Ok... Seriously I'll be over this in a week or so..... Unless the house doesn't past the Economic rescue bailout fatcat... So... Honestly call and write in support of it... or you will get more of my countdown to economic disaster blog....

What is a day without a rant

Again... The most probable thing is that due to disastrous socio/economic climate. We push or economy off the cliff of "laissez-faire" disaster....

Then in a few years after the public decides it's done punishing the "fat cats" BTW the "Fat Cats" are in gold...

I digress, but when the public gets done punishing themselves... the fat cats will be ready to come in and clean up..... Yep... we sure will punish those fat cats....

Once they clean up, selling gold and buying all the land after you lose your job and get foreclosed on and they push everyone into tenement housing.... Don't worry then we will have "the New New Deal"... then the middle class can struggle to be land owners again over the course of a decade.

Yep..... Keep those calls going to your representatives about how you don't want an economic rescue.... cause we want to punish Bush cause he has no credibility, and we want to punish the 3000 overpaid CEO's in the country.

Again with the dead horse..... Half of the largest banks and most of wall street are gone!! Moreover, about half of those currently employed will either quit because they can't make money, or will get laid off over the next year..... I'm just thinking that Destroying the other half of the financial system... probably isn't a good idea. Much of corporate America will shrink over the next 2 years.

Somebody said "many economists disagree with the plan"... Well it's sausage making, And "most economists think instead of giving them a loan, we should take a direct stake in the banks instead.".... Hear how popular a loan is? How popular would a direct bail out of each bank going to be?

Some correspondence

I was just firing off some email.

I absolutely think that congress needs to do more for "the people" and it's coming....

but... it's not a choice between buisness and "the people"... that is a false choice....

they go hand in hand... it would be nice to see less fudruckers and more mom and pop business

Sausage making

I watched Democracy now last night. Don't doubt, I think our economy is a disaster. Too many people working dead end jobs for not enough money and benefits.

It will take time to heal.

Here is the stupid thing that is out there. This plan, isn't great..... but

There are these people who say "We Won" by defeating the plan...... And now the stupidity comes out... Cause now they say... We can now do it MY WAY. This is the kind of "If everyone doesn't play the game my way, I'm taking my ball home".

The republicans are now saying "We need more deregulation, and tax cuts for the wealthy."
then some of the other people say:"We need the New New deal", Which is basically bread and circus. Everyone who is behind on a mortgage needs to get a work out, and yet how is that rewarding people who are suffering every day to pay it off. ... and where is the benefit for the rest of us.... Where is my hand out....

Politics is sausage making, they take some pork, and some chicken, and some beef... and keep adding, until the bill passes. that is how this works, no bill is any good, there are no utopias, and Yes Virginia, there is no Santa clause.

Credit rates

Short term credit funding in the credit markets today is 20-30%

Long term they are paying 6-12%

Overnight bank to bank lending....7%.... That is an all time high... it's actualy 6.8something%

Microsoft, Schering-Plough See `Entire Economy' in Jeopardy

Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Officials from microsoft to office depo and Schering-Plough Corp. said the government's failure to bail out the U.S. banking industry put the ``entire economy'' at risk unless a deal comes soon.

``The various sectors of the economy are so intricately linked, we need to recognize that the entire economy turns on what happens here,''

The liquidity crisis has spread beyond Wall Street, threatening earnings at businesses from retailers to technology companies. The Treasury's toolkit to protect the financial system is ``substantial but insufficient'' after the $700 billion bailout failed to pass, Paulson said yesterday.

``I absolutely cannot believe it,'' said David Cosper, chief financial officer of Sonic Automotive Inc., the third- largest U.S. publicly traded auto retailer. ``I don't think the House knows what they're doing. We need this, the markets are frozen, banks are being taken over -- it's a crisis. I think they're leaving it in the lurch and going on a break.''

``We are witnessing a most unfortunate and untimely collision of politics and economics,'' Miller said. ``This is not just about Wall Street. It is affecting Main Street. Bold action is required before there is further erosion of confidence.''


What a bunch of Whiny baby's right?.... They don't know anything about buisnsess..... It's all these Wall Street Fat cats...this is good for the economy..... Right?

I'm not sure if this is good for the economy

Story
"The credit crunch is sucking liquidity out of global trade and the shipping business, leaving cargoes stranded on docks"

"The demand for goods is there; there is just not enough liquidity to move those goods around."

"It has happened to us and it is happening everywhere to everyone," he said. "The whole system has come to a state of chaos."


I don't know about anyone else... but I think being unable to ship goods around the world is a problem for not only our, but for the global economy.

But I do hear It's all Ok I hear... this is good to clean out the system.... We don't need Imports or exports... We can survive without them....

No worries The House has adjourned till Thursday..... and you can count that they will be right on top of this... like they have for the 2 years "The market" has been flashing red at them, and they have been ignoring it.

I have faith that once unemployment hits 20% they will do something...

We will be fine, it's a good thing..... I hear.

friend just emailed me

"do you think there should be a bail-out"

"You better hope so, cause when the school district has to cut back, because of the loss of tax base... Guess who is on the short list for seniority"

WOW do I know how to see asshatery comming

Fun fun fun....

I hope some of our banks can survive

After over the weekend the 2 largest banks in the country, have failed.... Jeez I sure hope that if that doesn't keep happen. the cascading effects aren't bad..... and don't spread to all the credit unions.

Lets all cross our fingers and Pray.....

Here is the Roll call vote

If things get bad in the next few years...... we can all do some very useful finger pointing at Matheson and Bishop.

No worries, hey apparently they are going to find some stop gap matter to unfreeze the largest credit markets in the world.

Cross your fingers and hope and dream kids....

You know it's the end of the world when...

(you have to take this tongue-n-cheek, as much as an atheist as I am).

When Moveon.org is on the same side as the house republicans....

it's best to break out the tinfoil hats.

This is fun

With all the market drama,.... I tell you here is a signal of sentiment for a significant low.

An old girlfriend, called me thursday or friday. I guess she wanted to talk about the market. Or not so much, she probably wants to get back together.

Funny I told her she needed to take her 401K defensive last year, and she was all "Oh I forgot, until like June."

What is funny is she was calling me, after she broke up with me.. Last june....
Why did we break up?

Well I'm just a hoot.... I go to bed at like 9pm if I'm staying up late, Get up at 3am. I like to sleep with cnbc on... or not so much like to, but end up doing it. And I take a lot of naps.

Oh... and when I'm not doing all that, I like to watch documentaries.

Beyond all that, I tend to be anti-social... and irritable with people.... Which reminds me. I was out having lunch at a bar yesterday... Well not so much a bar, but one of those stupid "fudrucker" like places, that make my skin crawl. But I'm at the bar, and people try and have conversations with me.

This is what I said in the course of lunch.

I told one person that "When he was in Kindergarten, he must not have learned that lesson 'keeps hands to self' "
Then the bartender, she was talking about how huge her daughter was, but in height and girth. I Told her it was all the steroids in the Meat, and how they grow the cows all big and fat, of course what you feed the cows to, become the same way. "Oh", She said. Then I commented, "you will think "Oh!" when she then develops massive emotions problems, as a side effect. But don't worry they will sell you even more drugs for that.

Yep.... I'm a hoot.

here is the "New Plan"

According to reports late tonight, negotiators have (re-)reached a tentative deal on the bailout of the financial system. Full story here, but the gist as follows:

• $700-billion in total
• $350-billion immediately, with some of that earmarked for the insurance initiative championed by House Republicans
• "Reasonable" limits on severance packages
• Warrant coverage
• Some sort of tithing of the financial sector in five years if the bailout isn't profitable
• Government must renegotiate bad mortgages it acquires to try to keep people in houses
• Full text Sunday, as is a House vote, and then a Senate vote Monday

This is the same plan as Thursday... After 3 days of negotiating....... It's the same fucking thing.....

Thank God McSame came in and Got McSame Program.... He Saved us from Himself... and his Tax cuts for the rich and deregulation....

What a Joke

McCain the asshole

I've had it with, this joke of a moron.....

I've been a fan, for most of my life. But it's become apparent to me...... that the point of creating the Thursday disaster by the house republicans, was to create a problem he could solve. And to try and look like saviors... Everything they seem to be working on... seem to be the same things already in the plan.

Even better, it's great that he is a "Hail Mary" player... that he is one of those guys who works himeslf into a corner.... that has to make a desperation move to get himself out of it.....

Charming way to run a country...

"we have moved ourselves onto the brink of WW3.... and now McCain came in... Like a maverick... And saved us from his own Inaction."

Talk about Co-Dependency.

One can hope that Obama is finally some form of reasonable Leader for our country.

I'd just like to see a few years of not being embarrassed by the lack of leadership by our representatives. .... I can Dream can't I?

The government as safety net.

Any one else sick of my civics/economics Rants.... Rambles.

I was running this morning, and realizing ... that for the most Part... Y'All are used to it. I imagine its worse than usual since, I am so busy, I'm just trying to squeeze these posts in... I can't imagine that some of my Unedited thoughts. Don't involve some Awful sentences that fade into Blather.... Or entire posts..... But I kind of have a ton of affection for you all for Enduring it.

There are those who argue that "These are Free market Capitalists, Let those who live by the sword die by the sword."

I agree...

but... again we are all in the same boat, and they take us down with them... Unfortunately.

It is Governments job to act as safety net, for all of us. Just as if an uninsured person gets in an accident, it's our societies job to make sure that they don't die.

The last time we had pure Free market capitalism was the dark ages.... "Well that is feudalism, not capitalism".... and yet my argument would be... In a pure free market capitalist system, we would all probably be JPMorgan's Handmaidens, and his spawn would just be spending their time convincing us that they were ruling by divine right.

This is a great video from this week... Just shows how crazy things are:... it starts slow.. then picks up

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=868551308

Don't doubt... there is no magic solution.... Things are ugly, and you can't wave a wand. Tightening belts is a good plan.

But this whole issue makes you realize... House republicans don't see government as safety net... Which makes you ask... "What do they think the purpose of government is?"

As they tried to use the collapse of the banking system to push through MORE DEREGULATION, AND MORE TAX CUTS FOR THE WEALTHY..... it's like they wanted to double down on the same destruction....

And that after 7 days of negotiations.... Suddenly they have a new plan.... As opposed to the usual political sausage making. I also think its funny that the first thing they came out and said was "We Agree, there is a Crisis". It's like being on the short bus.
I also love that you can't get a list of those being obstructionists....

Funny... If we did collapse the entire spine of Free market Capitalism... the good thing would be that when we started again... We could just scrap it and start with socialism. Wouldn't that be throwing it in the face of the douchbag Republicans.... Shows what fools they are.... If you end the Shell game.... they Would end up without a chair....

Too bad it would involved too many people running around the country in box cars trying to find jobs, and people running around the country trying to get jobs as Fruit Pickers. ;)
Another interesting thing... I have a couple friends, who are somehow mad at me.... Because somehow I guess this is a bail out of "Me"... and yet... If you knew traders Like I know the good ones. They don't care. They are happy to make money on the upside or downside.

Most of you probably think less of me.... But I'm the same way. Upside downside... Unfortunately it's about me, I'm here to make money.

My purpose here on this blog the past few weeks, is to try and show a few people what the "correct choice is" Meaning, what I see is the choice that is has the least amount of pain for our society.

Again.... Let me tell you all, My highest probability... What I believe is the most likely thing ... Is that we have the 40 year flood. I "hope" that we, avoid it and that we as People are evolving, and can manage to avoid being what I see as being "Rats in a maze", or Like Kids who haven't been burned by the stove in So many years... We just have to touch what ever that weird Hot thing is. One can think that with the "information age" we can do better.

I "Hope" we can avoid it.... But hope is not an investment Strategy.

It's hard... Sometimes it's the road less traveled, and Making the hard choices.

(Shhhh, Let me let you in on something... It's all ways the road less traveled, and always about making the hard choices ;)

Punnish those responsible

I have a story...

2 years ago, I was doing my thing... Drinking in a bar. I'm there talking to this Young Lady, and in the middle of all this she receives a phone call. She is talking to someone and trying to get them a loan for a home. During the course of the phone call she keep prompting them. "We are really close, if only you could tell me about something else you have that could help us get across the line, Maybe you have another part time job you forgot to tell me about, or a 401 K." It was clear to me she was Prompting them to lie to her. so they could qualify for the loan. I have no doubt, she doest' have a job anymore qualifying people for Loans. She is one of the "salesmen who made money loaning money to people on homes they couldn't afford, to be packaged into these MBS.

I was working on a job, and we hired some temp workers, one of these guys was selling his home because he had qualified for a home that after the ARM reset, he couldn't afford it. ... Well He lost his house. He is one of the "speculators who caused this problem"

A friend of mine Purchased an investment property for 2 Million, When he was going through the process he was amazed because everyone in the process knew that he could qualify for any amount of money, all he had to do was Lie about it. Fortunately, though he has lost a tremendous amount of value in the property, he could still afford it. Because he didn't over extend himself. But the mortgage broker, the Realtors... Those guys are out of business now.

I just saw a Moveon.org advertisement, and I saw democracy now Last night. All of this plays out like we are going to Bail out Goldman Sachs, and that the guilty parties aren't being punished. It seems to me that the Thousands of mortgage lenders, The Brokers, the Salesmen, the Irresponsible Borrowers. Many of the bad banks, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers,.... Have imploded.

But there is a Domino affect, These aren't Fat cats being bailed out, It's our economy. It's trying to get the lifeblood of the economy going again, Lending. Sure there has been too much lending, and it's contracting. But who is going to get the Loans in this Contraction? Rich people. People with 680 Credit, BlueCollar people trying to buy a home, Small business' trying to buy some new equipment to expand, or even to stay current on bills.

Imagine what would happen if your car broke down, and you didn't have credit to pay the mechanic to have it fixed, and ended up losing your job because you kept being late because you couldn't pay for the repairs, until you saved some money.

There is so much blame to spread around... and it's valid... But so many of the bad actors have taken the pain, and will continue to lose homes, and lose jobs.

If history is any reflection, Banks can sit and not loan money for years, and it could cause a Serious contraction in the economy The likes of which we haven't seen in decades. Or we can help the banks Recapitalize. And get some reasonable credit going in the economy.

It's not just the "goldmans Sachs" in this economy who are responsible for the problem, there are tons of people we all know and care about who were responsible, and who have and are paying for their mistakes.

It's obvious to me that we very much want to cut our noses off to spite our faces and it's the most Probably outcome, because we don't realize that this decision is whether or not we will Make this economic pull back even worse, that it needs to be.

We want to punish the guy with the Top hat in the Monopoly game, with the Cigar.... he is a Myth, and with contracting economics, and credit.... It is that kind of fat cat who will survive, and who will be first in line to get credit. It wont' be the average Joe..... Goldman Sachs happens to be a Bank, and we are going to try and recapitalize the banks.

I can argue the points of the Rescue plan till I'm blue in the face, As originally proposed, the goal was not just to buy MBS but to even buy loans from credit unions, thrifts, and regional banks. That is the goal. Who knows if in the Sausage making that is our legislative process, if suddenly we will only be buying loans from the bad actors.... But things aren't perfect... I'm a big kid, I can accept that things aren't perfect.... the important thing is that we get some credit flowing into this system. And help the banks Help us.... They do it to make money, and if the government doesn't help them, there is no chance they can help us, to rebuild the economy.

I'm sorry I keep going on about this, But this is the Classic Economic mistake. To make a foolish economic decision based on some Idealistic notion about punishing the guilty... We are all in this boat together, and there are enough bad actors that have been punished and will still be punished. The question is How many Innocent bystanders are going to lose jobs for these Idealistic notions. How many Automechanics, chicken pluckers, High school kids working at sonic, do we want to punnish. All the while trying to punnish "Goldman Sachs"... Who BTW will never pay.... They will fire some people as the industry contracts... But they will never pay... and neither will the "Huntsmans, the Levitts, and the Numerous 'Fat cats' "... those guys in the monopoly game.... are so far ahead of the game, they are untouchable.... But the Little guys trying to get home loans arn't, they are the Pawns in this game.

GE Capital Limits New-Restaurant Franchisee Lending

GE Capital's franchise finance arm is becoming more stringent in pricing and issuing loans for new franchisees, a pullback by one of the largest lenders to restaurant operators in the latest sign that Wall Street's turmoil is spreading to small businesses.

"We are still active in the restaurant industry and we continue to quote deals where it's competitive and appropriate," White said. "In this environment, we're taking a longer look and even a closer look than we have in different times and that just makes sense."

Stephen Vaughan, chief financial officer of Sonic Corp. (SONC), told Dow Jones Newswires Thursday that he had heard that GE Capital's franchise finance arm will temporarily stop financing new loans to franchisees. GE Capital is one of Sonic's approved lenders.

Certainly" don't cry for me" that there won't be more Sonic restaurants. My point is it's spreading beyond Lehman brothers and Goldman Sachs.

Smoot-Hawley Tariff act

Smoot-Hawley act-

The act was pioneered by Senator Reed Smoot, a Republican from Utah, and Representative Willis C. Hawley

After the economic downturn and crash of 1929, Smoot Hawley was enacted and it was a Very Popular move, Enacted by our Legislative branches.

When running for president in 1928, one of Hoover's many campaign promises to help beleaguered farmers had been to raise tariff levels on agricultural products.

A petition was signed by 1028 economists in the United States asking President Hoover to veto the legislation, organized by Paul Douglas, Irving Fisher, James TFG Wood, Frank Graham, Ernest Patterson, Henry Seager, Frank Taussig, and Clair Wilcox.^[5] Automobile executive Henry Ford spent an evening at the White House trying to convince Hoover to veto the bill, calling it "an economic stupidity".^[6]J.P.Morgan's Thomas Lamont said he "almost went down on my knees to beg Herbert Hoover to veto the asinine Hawley-Smoot tariff,

(Interesting parallel as every business leader in the country and economist of any repute is begging our government to do something to Re-liquify banks Right now. Volker, Greenspan, Pimco, Jack Welch, Clinton, and even Paulson fell onto one knee to beg for passage.)

In the opinion of most economists, the Smoot-Hawley act was partially responsible for the severity of the Great Depression.^[2][3]

Unemployment was at 7.8% in 1930 when the Smoot-Hawley tariff was passed, but it jumped to 16.3% in 1931, 24.9% in 1932, and 25.1% in 1933.^[11]

For those of you who don't understand, I'm drawing a parallel between PASSING Smoot-Hawley........ and NOT doing everything we can to help Re-Liquefy banks right now.

Sometimes we take action because something is very popular by the voters, or Don't take action because something is unpopular. To disastrous results, It is expected that sometimes for our legislative branch to Rise above politics and do what is best for the country, regardless of it's popularity. Sometimes the best decisions are not popular. As the minority opinions against the war in Iraq have shown, and we are lucky if our politicians can take the heat for the correct decision as opposed to the Popular one.

More

People talk about "the market" Like I've said before. 1/1000 of "the market" is that number you hear about: the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which supposedly reflects the U.S. Economy.

What is going on is this....

the stock market is the stock market, and well, it's just crazy, It tends to be the worlds largest gambling Parlor.

But
The Credit markets right now..... Well the only way a loan is being made, is that people are buying government bonds, then the Federal reserve is then Loaning that money back to the financial institutions... Which Make your Credit cards work, The ATM's, Umn..... Allow Money to flow from One bank to another.

But, the nasty thing that is going on is that, companies that need to borrow money short term are paying between 7-30% for it. You think your credit card rates are expensive, those are the rates Legitimate companies are getting, Like GE, John Deer.

Long term rates are 5-8%, Boeing is paying 6.25% for a 6 month bond.

Imagine the rate you would pay if you were a 15 person business in salt Lake, It would be such a high rate that if you just needed to borrow money for 30 days until you get some invoices payed, If you could get credit, you would pay big for it, and you arn't a "Wall Street" guy being bailed out.

Lehman brothers just failed, the guys who worked to build these nightmair MBS' Those guys have jobs, they always will. The traders got jobs from Barklayes, The people who suffer are the Tellers at Washington Mutual, who's branch just went under. Or the Small business' who can't get Credit.

I can buy into the Machiavellian arguments, I'm a huge fan of Darwin. but this is neither, We all pay in this downturn, and it's not those who Messed up, who pay.... it's the people who "the shit runs Downhill to". The people smart enough to create these problems, are smart enough to get out of the way.

But... We are all in this boat together... Never forget that...

My bets

So.... Regardless of what I think we should do.... My bet overall is that we suffer the stupidity of the 40 year flood. Too many people don't know what it would be to really suffer extreme economic foolishness. It's like when we haven't been in a war for too long, and the kids get all worked up and Nationalistic, Start thinking we can take on the world.

Too many people think that somehow "Let Do" economics will pull it's way out of this. We may have to prove that it's a mistake. There is a reason that we don't live in a pure democracy, some issues are very complicated, and need study to understand the consequenses. Thats where those idiots we elect come in. And they are fools.

The republicans that are revolting are the young ones, the ideologues, the ones who don't believe in moderation.

I'm a realist..... we are extremely stupid, we want to see a protracted economic downturn.... It's been to long since we experienced one.

There are a million possible plans, but our legislative branch has sat on their hands as the fuse has been lit on this. They have done nothing for 2 years as this has unrolled, warned repeatedly as time ticked on.

Now like Little kids, when the chips are down, and when the "men" need to step up and make the hard choices. The little irresponsible republican babies, have run back to their mamam's to suck their thumbs, and wont' live up to the hard choices that need to be made.

INDECISION IS DECISION.

The people who are trying to pull back from this don't have a plan, don't want to negotiate... in fact they seem to think they can take their ball and go home. This is the most irresponsible thing possible.

Besides My bet that we are fools.... I'll also bet that this is a game to have "Superman McSame" to come in and rescue them.

Back at it.

Last night I listened to the Congressional Budget office director Pert Orszag, Talk about the "bailout/Rescue plan"... You know.... My life is exciting... super crazy... I'm watching this on C-Span2.

He said some very sobering things. In no way was he as measured, as the treasury secretary or our fed chairman.

Today, Though I hear this being quoted:
"Bailout could deepen crisis, cbo chief says"

I was stunned, I didn't remember this part of the testimony.... only I read it and realize there is a word there...COULD... "Could deepen"

Lets look at some of the other things he said: This is from His blog
Severe credit crunch could have devastating effects on Economies.

In sum, the problems occurring in financial markets raise the possibility of a severe credit crunch, which could have devastating effects on the U.S. and world economies.

There is that Could Word again..... What is the rest of that.... Devastate????.... My word... What could it Devastate... U.S. and World Economies.

In a WSJ story he is quoted.
Prices of some assets are below their fundamental value

In the current environment, though, with short-term financing difficult to obtain, the arbitragers have difficulty stepping into the market. “It is therefore at least possible that the prices of some assets are below their fundamental value,”

Orszag said.ok.... again... that word is "possible"


Now, here is another story :
A watchdog agency says Washington's plan to rescue Wall Street will eventually cost "substantially less" than the often-quoted amount of $700 billion US.

"The administration probably will spend that amount of money buying bad debt from ailing financial institutions," said Peter Orszag, director of the Congressional Budget Office, a federal agency that examines and criticizes various government proposals.

"[But] the government would sell the acquired assets and thus generate income that would offset at least much of the initial cost," he said in testimony Wednesday before the U.S. House of Representatives' budget committee.

So.... As the economic game of brinkmanship goes on, as Taxpayers revolt at the idea of providing liquidity to Banks. Don't doubt, this game is serious. The affects are serious... I don't know what plan is the right plan... but the banks need to be recapitalized before they can start lending.
and banks can wait for decades to do it on their own, as they have during every deep economic contraction.... they are not here to provide the economy with credit, they are here to make money.

If Government wants them to "help the economy", The government needs to help them.

But I'm sure the solution the Republicans just offered: "Tax cuts", you insure the MBS, More Deregulation.....

Don't worry, McCain will come to save the day.

Tax cuts for the rich will help everything

The republican plan is to:

For you to insure the MBS.

They also want to remove "tax barriers"

and Provide Tax Relief to companies.

tax relief for individuals.

We may have just found the Fat cats....

McCain to save the day

.... Sounds like instead of trying to attempt to buy the bonds at a market price. What the Republicans want to do is have you insure the bonds.

-- Benjamin Franklin

"We must hang together, gentlemen...else, we shall most assuredly hang separately."

More Wall Street Fat Cats Go down!

Bill Heard Enterprises Inc., one of the nation's larger Chevrolet retailers, went out of business on Wednesday, the latest victim of turmoil roiling the domestic auto industry and its vast dealer network.

....

A slew of domestic-brand dealers have been forced to close by the combined impact of tanking truck sales, soaring fuel costs and the national credit crisis.

...
Domestic brand dealers across the U.S. are becoming increasingly strained as Detroit's auto makers and their once-profitable financing units move quickly to cut losses, making it tougher for customers to get financing and more expensive for dealerships to operate

.

Yep.... Sons of Bitch WALLSTREET FAT CATS.

There is a factor of car companies being stupid, I'll admit.... I keep trying to point out that wall street has taken a ton of lumps. This stuff Trickles down to main street. There are now a few thousand Auto mechanics, and salesmen without jobs.

But.... yep We will show these Wall street fat cats.

The 40 year flood

The 40 year economic flood...

In 1971, Vietnam and unpopular president.... We decided to punish the "fat cats" who ran the companies and were taking advantage of us. In reaction our legislative branches implemented "price controls" which Caused an economic death spiral of price/Wage spirals, in a feedback loop that pushed us through 10 years of what was an economic depression. from 1971-83

It is these Misguided, Populist reaction to a crisis.... is what causes the 40 year flood.

to not realize "The fat cats" and the economy and your job... are disconnected.