Well…with all of the repub lying that is going on concerning the federal budget and the debt ceiling, I thought it would be a good idea to actually inject some facts into the argument instead of the talking points the repubs are using for nothing more than partisan advantage. First, if you were to listen to the repubs, Obama has printed up trillions of dollars and is merrily running around the country giving them away by the truckload…increasing spending every day by those truckloads…the only problem here is it’s just not true…in fact in the last two years, over 2.4 trillion dollars has been cut from the budget with a resulting lowering of the deficit that has happened every year since Obama took office. A fact that the repubs don’t believe since they just don’t believe in facts or math…the second thing I wanted to clear up with facts is that the president is not required to negotiate or agree to cuts in anything to have the debt ceiling raised…the debt ceiling is raised to pay for things that the congress…yep, the congress, has already said they want to pay for passing bills in the House and Senate to do so…has nothing to do with the executive branch…so what I would do if I were Obama is nothing…if the repubs want to trash the economy by not doing their jobs then let them…they will own it and in two years we will control all of the government and will be able to get the country’s business done…geez…
All posts by James DeVol
January 9th
Well…another day of hibernation here and guess what? I’m still broke….I did sleep okay last night and I think the being good is a good thing with how I feel this morning…I will be able to pay the phone bill today (only one day late) with an emergency deposit into the account….I may even be able to get out on the bike today since it is already 40 degrees and that is plenty warm in full therma suit…just hope the trails have melted enough…and it does look like I will be putting the top down on the car Friday and Saturday with it getting to be around 50…and I do need to take pictures to post on the MOMM site….not much to do today….I do have to do kitchen surfaces and a few other things around here but that is about it…more later….
Okay…waiting for the coffee to finish and thought I’d come back here for a minute…it is already pretty nice outside and I really like these kinds of winters where is there is very little snow…I know, it’s only the first week of Jan but every day without a snowstorm is one day closer to spring…a weird thought for someone used to Michigan winters but I just don’t need another reason to be depressed…there are too may already….more later…again…
Random thoughts…
Well…it has been a weird day…miscalculated how much cash I had left in the checking account and now can’t pay the phone bill today….looks like it will have to wait until tomorrow….I’m starting to get real tired of being broke…I did have dreams last night and the funny thing was they were filled with Miatas that were the same color of mine…which is not likely since, in the 6 months I’ve owned it, I’ve not seen another one in Laguna Blue….In another sign that Obama hatred is still running strong with the repubs, the right is going crazy with the nomination of Hagel for sec def…a republican hawk and they can’t support him? The repubs are still in “defeat Obama at any cost” mode….and I think he should translate the hate into never negotiating with those thugs…I’m not sure I’m excited about the NHL coming back…it is my favorite sport but I’m used to not having it and the short season should have an asterisk next to it….and now Homer is retiring and I’m going to miss him…..I am a little curious with how the team is going to look with all of the new Wings…okay, that’s it for now….too depressed to continue to think…
January 8th
Well…it was another day yesterday but I did have a little fun with going out to have a couple with G but that put me back to completely broke again so this week looks like laying low here and not much else….there is a free movie weekend on HBO this weekend so that will help ease the boredom and I did make real popcorn in a pan last night with real butter…can’t figure out why I have been making microwave stuff for so long…it’s expensive and I think the pan stuff tastes better….not much to do today…and that is true this time…I even have to drink tea today since I’m out of coffee and broke…oh, well…maybe I’ll get out on the bike or start the new novel….who knows…
Another hostage drama….
Well…with the negotiations that have been ongoing across the country on the debt ceiling and even the NHL, one thing has struck me is the similarity between them and the way that they resemble hostage dramas on tv…when did we lose the ability to negotiate as adults? Why can’t the people running out government just stop this crap and do their jobs? I will place the blame on the government problems right where it belongs, on the repubs who were sent to Washington to govern but are so crazy that they only want to destroy the government not work with it to do the people’s business; trying all the time for partisan advantage instead of governing. That was highlighted by the idiot McConnell’s statement that “we’re done with taxes” implying that all of the rest of the movement toward cutting the deficit is going to have to be cuts in expenditures when there has been absolutely no work done to reform the tax code other than some noodling around the edges….what about the tax code that allows billionaires to pay 10% on income while the rest of us pay three times that? We are not done with taxes and Obama needs to come out today and tell the country that, that ole Mitch is wrong…and stupid…geez…
January 7th
Well…running really, really, late today and it was almost like I forgot to come here and do this…and that would be weird with all of the time I’ve spent here over the past few years…it was an okay day yesterday but I lost at pool, badly, just couldn’t get in synch and that is continuing today for some reason….I did sleep okay last night and didn’t even get up until almost 8 which is weird in itself…and I had dreams that I was really hated by everyone for reasons that were never revealed to me…I wonder if that is real? I did have to go out to get batteries for the remotes and I also bought real butter and popcorn to try to save some money but have snacks since I know I’m not eating enough….okay…I need to get a workout in before 11 so I need to get going…I will be back later for more…
Thankfully, I was wrong…
Well….while I was over at J and K’s last night, we were talking about the prospect of even having an NHL season this year and I felt that there was not going to be one…thankfully, I was wrong. Woke up this morning to the news that the NHL and the players have reached an agreement and there will be a season starting in two weeks! It has been one of the things that has been a big hole in my life since the fall, not being able to watch the Wings on a cold wintry night with a cocktail and texting…so, let’s play!
January 6th
Well…running late again this morning and this time it’s by choice…I chose to read the papers and have my coffee first and I don’t feel bad about it….it was a nice day yesterday with getting out for a while over to J and K’s and having some drinks and homemade sushi that J made…it was pretty frickin good and it was just nice to get out of here for a while…and then I broke down and had cocktails last night so that might be another reason I’m running late…but, I really don’t need a reason, do I? I did get the bathroom cleaned yesterday and it is surfaces in the kitchen for today if I feel like it but not much else to do today…Man U played yesterday so there are just second tier teams to watch today and I guess I’ll just use it as background noise as I re-read the papers later….but, I need more coffee right now so that is what I’m going to do…I will be back for more later…maybe…
Laughing at Billo….
Well…just a short one on the comments made by ole Billo this week on how he can’t understand why Asian Americans voted so overwhelmingly for Obama in the last election when their “values” of family, industriousness, and intelligence should line up better with the repubs…but, one thing that ole Billo just doesn’t get is that their intelligence allows them to recognize one true fact that everyone should remember…repubs are dicks that do nothing but hurt the middle class…I could go on about the ugly stereotypes that ole Billo used in his original comments…but that may obscure the salient point…repubs are just plain dicks…geez…
As I said, austerity doesn’t work…
Well…I have had a few posts here that dealt with the severe austerity that has been imposed by the IMF on Europe (not the personal austerity that prompted me to try to use coffee grounds twice with no success), and have been adamant that trying to grow any economy with austerity just doesn’t work. I have even been supported by a Nobel prize winner, Paul Krugman, but anyone that has had Econ 101 would recognize that going against Keynes is a bad bet. Now, the IMF has come up with a report on the imposed austerity that has sent Europe back into recession saying that the negative multiplier effect (yeah, I know kind of an arcane term) is much larger for budget cuts than they thought it was. What this report said was that the estimate of .6 Euro in lower growth was wildly wrong when the data was in….the negative multiplier actually was closer to 1.5 Euros per dollar of cuts….which means that the planners in Greece, Spain, and Portugal were misled by the IMF and the austerity hawks into tanking their economies just to protect the banks and the rich…how many more times are we going to allow the rich to rig the game and steal more and more from the middle class across the world? The real problem here is that the IMF is not even reading their own reports since they are still pushing the austerity nonsense here in the US when they know that it will result in making the economy worse…right now, with the pushback on austerity by the dems, our economy is still growing which should be the model across the world instead of the crushing of middle classes to keep the banks happy…geez…