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Comments Posted By Olderandwiser55

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With GOPTEA Congress Broken Fed to the Rescue

Excellent assessment. I believe the economy is poised for a strong recovery and the fed held off because the danger is an over-heated economy. I think that’s also why they didn’t give numbers but “as long as it takes”. They’re starting with a mortgage backed purchase program and will move from there, The FOMC vote was 11-1. If only congress could be so bi-partisan.

And my IRA looks pretty good. Makes me want to chant “Keep the Fed! 🙂

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On September 13, 2012 @ 10:58 pm

What Would You Like to See From Dems and Obama at the DNC?

I’m seeing EXACTLY what I want. Dems are hitting it out of the park. The first night with Nancy and the Dem women of Congress-“where are the women?”-there is your answer. Cecile Richards, president of Planned parenthood and daughter of the great Ann Richards-omg. “It’s like we woke up in a bad episode of ‘Mad Men.'” she said.

Ken Salazar, the older 12th generation Mexican-American, San Antonio’s Julian Castro-a younger 2nd generation rising star, Jared Polis- Polis is one of the only openly gay people elected to the House as a freshman and the first gay parent in Congress.

Sandra Fluke ” An America in which our president, when he hears a young woman has been verbally attacked, thinks of his daughters — not his delegates or donors”

Michelle Obama brought the house down “Barack believes that when you work hard and done well and walk through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you.”

Elizabeth Warren warming up the crowd for Bill Clinton “No, Governor Romney, corporations are not people. People have hearts, they have kids, they get jobs, they get sick, they cry, they dance, they live, they love and they die and that matters. That matters because we don’t run this country for corporations — we run it for people and that’s why we need Barack Obama.”

And President Clinton “The most important question is, what kind of country do you want to live in? If you want a you’re-on-your-own, winner-take-all society, you should support the Republican ticket. If you want a country of shared prosperity and shared responsibility — a we’re-all-in-this-together society — you should vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.”

I could not be more impressed! Everyone had a voice. Women, Hispanics, old, young, liberals, moderates, independents. Just excellent-can’t wait for today!

Rocky Mountain PBS is doing a nice job of covering all the speeches with less punditry.

And I forgot to mention important veterans support! Tammy Duckworth was unbelievable.

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On September 6, 2012 @ 10:38 am

No Matter what Democrats Think the Presidential Race is a Toss Up Because of the Big Lies

Yes, I saw that earlier. There is about 6% undecided I think and 10% that can be “stolen”. The president has a 4% lead in Colorado but that’s pretty slim against a lot of money. And the voters that are left are not terribly smart or analytic.

I just watched four anti-Obama ads in a row. This right before the 5:30 news. People are getting hammered.

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 24, 2012 @ 4:36 pm

I would normally agree AdLib but the Romney side is definitely putting a lot more money into ads now. I gave…

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 24, 2012 @ 1:27 pm

I saw that-and was looking at some other polls. Who knows but the right is really throwing a lot of money out there-and the Obama camp has to send valuable ad time refuting the lies. Romney’s ad on saving medicare played here and I have a terrible feeling some people fell for it.

This is the time.

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 24, 2012 @ 1:25 pm

Never give up. Never. Hope for the best, plan for the worst. They want us to give up.

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 23, 2012 @ 5:22 pm

Unbelievable amount during prime time. I probably like them more than most because I’m such a political junkie but I can’t take them at times. I watch a lot of PBS supplemented with Netflix.

Yes, it’s quite different here. I hear other people in other states complain about “Blue dog” Dems but we have have two Democratic Senators as well as Governor. Secretary of State and State Treasurer(would you believe he’s a Bush cousin?) both republican which makes no sense-typical dirty tricks there. But a “real” liberal would never get elected here. The heart of Denver very liberal but it gets redder as you get out of the city, even the suburbs although they tend to be moderate right or left.

The rural areas are scary red.

And the “he didn’t close gitmo” types-also “drones”,”warmonger” etc is right wing propaganda/astro turfing. Right wingers have been hiring people to go to left wing blogs and amplify liberal fears. Matt Taibbi is one those that ignores the banksters that have been put away and writes a clever, witty article while omitting facts and the left really follows him. Good grief, he was a sportswriter.

So the question is will all varying degrees of left get together and vote? I’m just not sure. But I certainly will vote Obama/Biden 2012 and Democrat for every position including dog catcher lol.

In Chile, the right wing dictator was ousted when all leftist parties formed a coalition.

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 23, 2012 @ 4:08 pm

True. I’m in Colorado and Romney has his own commercials plus the republican national plus two super pacs… So at times I’m seeing one Obama commercial to four against.

This short video I loved and I wanted to share.

“In remarking on the political divisiveness and social unrest of an historically polarizing election and in commenting culturally and metaphorically on Victor Hugo’s fictional historic struggle at the barricades of freedom, “One Term More”, with deep affection and utmost respect, parodies the inimitable
“One Day More!”

http://www.onetermmore.com/video_subtitles.html

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 23, 2012 @ 1:59 pm

Women and the GOP Men That Hate Them

Exactly so. It’s pretty bizarre stuff to attempt to understand the mindset. I think a number of the evangelical men are also afraid they are not doing their “duty” being head of the family and controlling the wife. This fits in nicely with a macho, redneck approach-you have to control your woman to be a real man. Used to be, you could control them with money but that’s tougher these days :), so of course the wealthier saw this fundamentalist religion stuff as a way to keep women well behaved. So you have those redneck men, wealthy men, evangelical men all joined on this.

Can’t you imagine them thinking “Are you telling me that this christian bible (old testament emphasis) tells women they are bad and they have to be subservient to men and stay in their place in order to make up for this woman/snake transgression, supposedly from thousands of years ago and they believe it? And all I have to do is go to church, have some prayer meetings AND we can work that into God wants us to be rich too?! Wow, I’m in…”

And if you can make those women feel guilty over a thousand years ago story about a snake and eating an apple-the rest has got to be a piece of cake!

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 22, 2012 @ 9:27 am

How Republicans Are Trying to Sell Dying Younger to Voters

Exactly AdLib! I love the tobacco analogy-so completely true.

I’m not sure that people believe that Mad Men is the way it truly was-and republicans would like to drag us back.

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 17, 2012 @ 3:58 pm

17 Ryan Factoids – unlike Eddie Munster, really scary

Exactly Murph!

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 15, 2012 @ 7:43 am

Excellent list.

“in 13 years in Congress, with six of them in leadership positions, he has only two bills bearing his name that passed into law. one naming a post office and the other changing the way arrows (as in bows and arrows) are hit with an excise tax. He has sponsored or co-sponsored 971 bills- and only 2 became law.”

It seems he was quiet and at least pretended to be moderate for many years in Congress. Wisconsin re-elected him easily and Opensecrets shows democrats hardly challenged him until the last couple elections. There’s a reason-after 10 years, Ryan rated a larger staff and had more power-and then he made his move far right.

http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/elections.php?cycle=Career&cid=n00004357&type=I

I’m not sure Wisconsin saw it coming. Ryan is an excellent fundraiser and has $5 million in cash before being picked.

Also…”benefited directly from the social safety net as the recipient of social security payments after his father’s death, and loans/grants that funded his college education”

That’s making the rounds but the myth that he pulled himself up by his bootstraps is being repeated and I’m sure it’s wrong. It’s too “feel good”, too much like propaganda I think.

Here’s a little blog post I ran across discussing the family’s construction business that made a killing off government contracts. (Although Ryan apparently married into money as well)

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2012/08/paul-ryans-family-is-rich-because-of.html

“I can see it now, a promo for a TV movie: a shot of Paul Ryan standing atop a mountain with a deer flung across his back dissolves into footage of him in a college dorm room, enraptured by Atlas Shrugged while through the window unruly women’s rights protesters burn bras. We see a young Ryan working at McDonald’s as a teenager, then cut to him running up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, sweat dripping from his brow. The Star-Spangled Banner crescendos as he reaches the apex. Text flashes across the screen: Paul Ryan, Self-Made Man.”

http://prospect.org/article/paul-ryans-self-made-myth

And that’s how they’re playing it. Completely wrong but the NYT and WaPo did similar pieces.

I believe this is also the way the Obama campaign will hit back, exposing the myths.

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 14, 2012 @ 7:26 pm

Ayn Rand’s Ryan and the Creed of the Elite

Very true KQ.

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 13, 2012 @ 1:29 pm

Yes murph-this can’t be repeated too many times. This is the marriage (on the right) between the selfish and atheist philosophy of Rand-yet the evangelicals embrace the selfish part while ignoring-even throwing out) the atheist part. They ignore the “Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” part of the Bible and profess extreme wealth is instead very “christian”.

To hold these opposite thoughts together is a feat. I read both novels many years ago and it seems one of Ayn Rand’s points, made over and over, is that artists are creators and should be valued as highly as business owners….she was a not successful screenwriter. Hmmm

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 13, 2012 @ 10:18 am

Saving Privatizing Ryan…As A Last Desperate Resort

Yes Kquark…he coasted along, playing both sides for years and getting re-elected. And he didn’t make a power play in congress until he had quietly garnered favors and built a power structure.

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 12, 2012 @ 11:44 am

Agree AdLib. There’s lots of negatives about Ryan that need to be repeated and repeated.

I think it’s interesting that he’s seen by many on the right as a “fresh face” although he’s been in congress for 14 years. He voted for plenty of pork over the years.

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 12, 2012 @ 11:26 am

Interesting choice for the Romney camp. A few observations: as bizarre as this may sound to those of us on the left, Ryan is not to be underestimated I think. This is the guy who successfully combined the philosophies of evangelical religion and the atheist Ayn Rand. He is a master in combining (what should be) two completely opposing views. The talk will continue to double down on talking out of both sides of their mouths…and Ryan is better at that. He was voted “Best brown noser” as a senior in HS and I imagine he improved over the years. Frankly they portray Ryan as different but he and Romney are both extremely well behaved members of the Republican party.

I haven’t yet researched but I watched a C-span video of Ryan at 28, newly elected, taking phone calls from “constituents”. Ryan promised he would bring more federal money back to the state so I imagine there’s a lot of pork in his past 14 years. He also became quite wealthy while in Congress so I imagine there’s some kickbacks (that he would call lobbying).

The one thing I did notice immediately is that some leftists that were still complaining about the Obama administration are suddenly all about offense and anti-Ryan.

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 12, 2012 @ 8:41 am

Is the Smart Money on Romney Actually Being Dumb?

Yes Adlib-that’s exactly the way I see it. Over the years, the financial business was less and less likely to want anyone who was really knowledgeable. They hire those with fresh MBAs or a newly licensed person who really has no understanding of the business. And that’s how they fleece the public at every turn.

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 10, 2012 @ 9:11 pm

Hello kesmarn and thank you! It’s nice to find a place to share ideas.

And exactly so on financial advisers, financial planners etc., etc….it’s all about commission. There are a few left that are decent but very, very few.

Good for you for seeing it-so many don’t.

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 10, 2012 @ 8:13 pm

Yes Sally-and there’s something else going on with both fathers I think. The fathers were traditionally absent types and the traditional mothers raised them. And spoiled them, I think. That’s especially common among the wealthier-providing lots of things and little real emotional support.

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 10, 2012 @ 12:46 pm

So true AdLib. I don’t think he’s financially intelligent either-he reminds me of so many managers over the years. Many get in a position of financial wealth but still have little understanding of finance. They are steered into situations and fed “techno-babble”-and I believe they really think they understand. Certainly, smart or not, people are easily fooled by a lot of financial terms thrown at them. I’m not sure why but people never like to admit they don’t understand complicated finance-yet they wouldn’t expect they should understand any other field of study easily!

It’s really the same with a financial adviser to client or head trader to CEO or broker to auditor….

Financially Adept Person: “Buy this, blah, blah, (complicated strategy, complicated terms inserted HERE) buy this…a smart person like yourself understands though-I don’t have to explain to YOU, right?”

Smart But Not Financially Adept Person: “Well…yes…no….okay”

FDAP….”Just sign here and here and here….I’m sure it’s the same an important person like you signed a million times so you won’t need to read it..”

SBNFAP: “well…yes…no…okay”

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 10, 2012 @ 12:38 pm

The Importance of Being Earnest about Releasing Tax Returns, Especially Romney

That was a great article-Bloomberg doing an excellent job.

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 8, 2012 @ 2:17 pm

The Right Wing’s Psychotic Version of God

Well said Adlib. I’m here in Colorado and a couple things come to mind…Columbine, after which so many prayer vigils/crosses etc. didn’t change anything…and the (largely evangelical) Colorado Springs fire (why didn’t god stop that?)

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 5, 2012 @ 11:04 am

The Apple Fell Far from the Tree

“There is a feminine nature to Mitt that is not so apparent in George, it would seem to come from Mitt being pampered by his mother.”

Yes, I have a feeling George Romney wasn’t around much and Lenore raised him. Out of curiosity, I looked for some insight into mom Lenore. It’s interesting that she was predictably a stay at home mother yet…

She ran for Michigan Senate in 1970-after her husband had already served three terms as governor. She was quoted as saying “It was disappointing to find that so many people closed their minds just because I was a woman” (Mitt would have been in college)

She was an actress before marrying George-and reportedly turned down an MGM contract to do so.

This makes me wonder-a young woman striking out on her own and beginning to see success…instead she then marries appropriately (she was- and came from a devout Mormon family)…the kids are in college and she makes a run for office. (During that run, she was for more liberal abortion rights-before Roe vs Wade in 1973).

She seemed torn between individual achievement and being a well behaved woman.

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 5, 2012 @ 11:59 am

So true Murph. I’ve been voting a long time and find the constant march of republicans to extremists astonishing. Bob Dole said to Barry Goldwater in 1996 “We’re the new liberals of the Republican party. Can you imagine that?” Neither were liberal in the least yet it’s all about perspective.

As other commenters have also said, I agree it’s the difference between being born rich and knowing the struggle to get there. What is most surprising about Mitt is that it only took one generation to forget. It used to be two at least.

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 5, 2012 @ 11:31 am

When The LIBOR is Manipulated You Should Care

Yes, the civil suits are likely to be huge Sue! Some of the mega-banks are rumored to be in financial trouble already. Bail-outs? Maybe but if we take a financial stake/equity position(as the Obama admin. did), that is also called nationalizing. The equity stake makes perfect business sense as collateral for a loan. And that is the fear of the right wing.

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 5, 2012 @ 10:22 am

Good points but I reiterate that there have more than a few criminal charges although they either don’t make MSN or people think they are “small fish” because of the way articles are framed. Much financial news comes from the WSJ (once a reliable, respectable source), now owned by Newscorp/Murdoch. Many newspapers include a WSJ section as their only source of financial news.

We do have google news and feel we need to look deeper. Search terms to google might be “insider trading”, Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York who has secured 56 of 63 convictions alone,Raj Rajaratnam, founder of Galleon Group-the largest hedge fund in the US and now defunct, Rajat Gupta-Goldman Sachs director until he was charged and is now convicted waiting sentencing and his trial led us to even bigger crooks. He implicated the head of Asian Sales for GS.

I’m certainly not saying everything has been fixed but there are many convictions and better ones to come.

Thanks Adlib, great blog and yes, I understand the pessimism but there is reason for optimism these days. We may have to look harder since the MSM doesn’t want make optimism front page news! By the way, speculation that Bharara may replace Holder.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/06/15/victory-spurs-speculation-on-bhararas-next-move/

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 5, 2012 @ 9:54 am

I have to take issue with some of what you say, although the LIBOR scandal is as complex and even bigger than you state.

You said “Will these guys ever do the time? Mostly not because they also are in a position to rewrite the laws before they commit the crime.”

There have been so far some significant fines and as in the US, civil comes first. The SEC only has civil powers, after which they turn their finds over to the DOJ. There is now criminal investigations. Both the civil and criminal are as internationally coordinated as I’ve ever seen-UK, Asian, European and US together. The Barclays documents alone have traders blatantly coercing others and I think it likely that they will turn in their higher ups rather quickly. The holder DOJ has been following the strategy of using fines to finance investigations since republicans refuse to fund them. They also use something of the strategy of snagging mafia by catching the smaller fish in order to get the bigger ones.

It’s also suspected a trader fired from Barclays in 2010 became a whistleblower-FINRA gives a percentage of money recovered so there is no lack of leads.

I can’t say I know all the right people will serve time but the insider trading cases have gone well. The LIBOR is explosive and no one has ever even tried before. It’s more likely than any other administration during my lifetime.

One more comment-you said “Barclays Blame Shifts to Fed
New insight into the Barclays Libor scandal reveals that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York may have known that the British bank was manipulating global interest rates as early as August of 2007….”

I believe that’s only a headline to deflect blame incorrectly to Geithner. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States-The New York Federal Reserve is the only regional bank with a permanent vote on the Federal Open Market Committee. It’s important but it’s one vote.

The person that really might have done something is our Secretary of Treasury in 2007-Henry Paulson Jr.-the Goldman ex-CEO…and where is he right now? I did find him serving on the board at Peregrine Financial. The failed financial firm that stole millions for years…

Thanks for your article, I just can’t help adding a few points. Even Rupert Murdoch’s WSJ is taking some notice but Bloomberg Businessweek does nice reporting.

» Posted By Olderandwiser55 On August 4, 2012 @ 9:51 pm