Would the economy continue to recover without the $1 Trillion plus borrowed stimulus and artificially manipulated low interest rates? I think not. We are on a sugar high. Can the Fed continue these same policies into the indefinite future without repercussions?
We are currently in suspended animation, all afraid to exhale. Some of the numbers are OK, but we know that the underpinnings are all debt pylons. Stop QE and we are in the drink. Neither party has an answer that we want to hear. We want a fix without pain...sometimes called a miracle.
Eventually we are going to have to make reforms to the financial system and then work through a difficult adjustment period. If there is another way, I don't see it. We took decades making this mess (political and financial) and we won't reverse that easily or quickly, IMO.
Obama is not the main problem, but neither does he seem to be part of the solution.
When the party out of power wants to undermine the party in power, we all lose. Things have gotten so mean and hateful that we cannot even fill vacant positions requiring Senate confirmation. Reasonable legislation favored by large majorities cannot be enacted. The well is poisoned.
We have become ungovernable and adrift with the different factions unwilling to seek common ground. We can all see the problem, but the solutions remain aloof. Do we have to crash and burn because we are so divided or is there hope?
Andrew, I think you are on to something big. Of course Obama was born in Kenya, but they lost his freaking birth certificate and his mother, knowing he was going to one day run for president, was able to bribe the Hawaiian records clerk to issue a fraudulent certificate, making her Muslim baby son eligible to be President and to destroy all that is good and wonderful about America.
Not releasing Obama's school records is all about hiding a politically embarrassing revelation...but not low grades. During college, Obama had a permit to carry and organized a variant of the NRA, the Negro Rifle Association. Obama's NRA never really got traction at Harvard, but is annotated in his college records and at this point is not something he wants to share with the American public.
The really big scandal, not Benghazi, hasn't come out yet and I'm going to let you in on it first. Obama is a mole for the KGB. That's right, the POTUS is a spook. When this hits Fox News, he's a goner.
Are IRS jobs patronage jobs? Why would the IRS behave as has been alleged? There must be more to the story than political blunt force.
The TSA is definitely bad for the US. This past winter my wife and I traveled to Mexico with two Canadian couples and we had plane transfers in the US. Upon returning, the Canadians all said, "next year let's avoid going through the US". They said that they would rather pay more than put up with the TSA hassle.
Most importantly, metered street parking offers short term parking convenience that is intended to increase accessibility to commerce. Those feeders needing longer term parking should be ferreted out and ticketed. Meter feeders defeat the purpose of metered parking. Neither should public vehicles nor handicapped drivers be given carte blanche free parking privileges.
The unmetered perimeter parking should also be regularly enforced.
With proper and courteous enforcement there will be more opportunity spaces for all, and a gentle push toward alternatives such as carpooling, biking, busing, and walking.
What difference does where the blame is placed, on the video or on the radicals? They are interrelated and don't change a thing either way. Why aren't you concerned with a fake consulate and sub-rosa CIA arms dealing? That's the dirty scandal...and you can still blame Obama/Clinton, which seems to be your obsession.
Facts, it sounds like you would send troops into an unknown situation, risking losing even more lives. Maybe the residence/consulate should have been better garrisoned and that is a fair observation.
I would imagine that the US has literally hundreds of lightly guarded outposts in questionable locations. Would you heavily arm and fortify each and every one?
Mixing spooks and diplomats definitely puts our diplomats at higher risk. The CIA has become a fighting force in it's own right, mercenaries and all...and all hidden from view...and off budget. When you bathe in a septic tank, it's hard to get clean.
Facts,
Former Defense Secretary Gates was interviewed about the options that would have been available for immediate response to the Benghazi attack and he made the case that the Monday morning quarterbacking was cartoonish in its analysis of real and prudent options.
Libya is today in a state of complete chaos because of the NATO/US intervention into an internal struggle within Libya. Obama and Clinton are responsible for that intervention and that chaos. By any reasonable definition, that intervention was a war crime. I think that they should be tried and punished for that crime.
Sending planes or troops into a flash emergency, on the other hand, may well have endangered even more troops rather than preventing what happened. Doing what we were doing in Libya was the scandal, not the response to an unknowable situation emerging rapidly in Benghazi.
Poor Robin! She is trying to make something big out of something sad. The US embraced and supported the radicals in Benghazi to do the dirty job of over-throwing Gaddafi. By dancing with the devil, we should not be surprised that we got burned. The Benghazi rebels were never US allies, just momentary allies of convenience. The heavy CIA presence and the US residence/consulate made an opportune target in a city that was already a radical stronghold.
The US had almost no need for consular services in Benghazi, but fronts for the CIA were needed/wanted to conduct out-of-sight US foreign policy. The four deaths in Benghazi were blowback from an interventionist foreign policy...from being where we should not have been...from doing what we should not have done.
Obama and Clinton were wrong in their actions in Libya and their policies cost four American lives. They should be held accountable. How the night in question was handled was, however, a judgment call, good or not, but not a scandal.
Robin is strangely silent on the US alliance with these same rebels, months earlier and also on the hush hush CIA arms shipments from Benghazi to Syrian rebels. Is Robin one of our war-hawk neocons? Or is she just trying to stir the political pot for partisan advantage? Either way, we don't see many politicians speaking out against extra-legal sovereign interventions and that is the real issue.
The Critic
fairmon,
Would the economy continue to recover without the $1 Trillion plus borrowed stimulus and artificially manipulated low interest rates? I think not. We are on a sugar high. Can the Fed continue these same policies into the indefinite future without repercussions?
We are currently in suspended animation, all afraid to exhale. Some of the numbers are OK, but we know that the underpinnings are all debt pylons. Stop QE and we are in the drink. Neither party has an answer that we want to hear. We want a fix without pain...sometimes called a miracle.
Eventually we are going to have to make reforms to the financial system and then work through a difficult adjustment period. If there is another way, I don't see it. We took decades making this mess (political and financial) and we won't reverse that easily or quickly, IMO.
Obama is not the main problem, but neither does he seem to be part of the solution.
The Critic
When the party out of power wants to undermine the party in power, we all lose. Things have gotten so mean and hateful that we cannot even fill vacant positions requiring Senate confirmation. Reasonable legislation favored by large majorities cannot be enacted. The well is poisoned.
We have become ungovernable and adrift with the different factions unwilling to seek common ground. We can all see the problem, but the solutions remain aloof. Do we have to crash and burn because we are so divided or is there hope?
The Cover-Up
Andrew, I think you are on to something big. Of course Obama was born in Kenya, but they lost his freaking birth certificate and his mother, knowing he was going to one day run for president, was able to bribe the Hawaiian records clerk to issue a fraudulent certificate, making her Muslim baby son eligible to be President and to destroy all that is good and wonderful about America.
Not releasing Obama's school records is all about hiding a politically embarrassing revelation...but not low grades. During college, Obama had a permit to carry and organized a variant of the NRA, the Negro Rifle Association. Obama's NRA never really got traction at Harvard, but is annotated in his college records and at this point is not something he wants to share with the American public.
The really big scandal, not Benghazi, hasn't come out yet and I'm going to let you in on it first. Obama is a mole for the KGB. That's right, the POTUS is a spook. When this hits Fox News, he's a goner.
You can get ready to welcome President Biden.
Profiling
Are IRS jobs patronage jobs? Why would the IRS behave as has been alleged? There must be more to the story than political blunt force.
The TSA is definitely bad for the US. This past winter my wife and I traveled to Mexico with two Canadian couples and we had plane transfers in the US. Upon returning, the Canadians all said, "next year let's avoid going through the US". They said that they would rather pay more than put up with the TSA hassle.
There has to be a better way to treat people.
CARTA's money grab deters city visitors
Most importantly, metered street parking offers short term parking convenience that is intended to increase accessibility to commerce. Those feeders needing longer term parking should be ferreted out and ticketed. Meter feeders defeat the purpose of metered parking. Neither should public vehicles nor handicapped drivers be given carte blanche free parking privileges.
The unmetered perimeter parking should also be regularly enforced.
With proper and courteous enforcement there will be more opportunity spaces for all, and a gentle push toward alternatives such as carpooling, biking, busing, and walking.
Smith: COVER-UP: Benghazi now a textbook example
Facts,
What difference does where the blame is placed, on the video or on the radicals? They are interrelated and don't change a thing either way. Why aren't you concerned with a fake consulate and sub-rosa CIA arms dealing? That's the dirty scandal...and you can still blame Obama/Clinton, which seems to be your obsession.
Smith: COVER-UP: Benghazi now a textbook example
Facts, it sounds like you would send troops into an unknown situation, risking losing even more lives. Maybe the residence/consulate should have been better garrisoned and that is a fair observation.
I would imagine that the US has literally hundreds of lightly guarded outposts in questionable locations. Would you heavily arm and fortify each and every one?
Mixing spooks and diplomats definitely puts our diplomats at higher risk. The CIA has become a fighting force in it's own right, mercenaries and all...and all hidden from view...and off budget. When you bathe in a septic tank, it's hard to get clean.
Smith: COVER-UP: Benghazi now a textbook example
Facts, Former Defense Secretary Gates was interviewed about the options that would have been available for immediate response to the Benghazi attack and he made the case that the Monday morning quarterbacking was cartoonish in its analysis of real and prudent options.
Libya is today in a state of complete chaos because of the NATO/US intervention into an internal struggle within Libya. Obama and Clinton are responsible for that intervention and that chaos. By any reasonable definition, that intervention was a war crime. I think that they should be tried and punished for that crime.
Sending planes or troops into a flash emergency, on the other hand, may well have endangered even more troops rather than preventing what happened. Doing what we were doing in Libya was the scandal, not the response to an unknowable situation emerging rapidly in Benghazi.
Gerber: Stories that have people talking
Drinking and chickens?
I guess local trivia is what sells papers, but there is a lot of serious stuff happening that gets little editorial space.
Smith: COVER-UP: Benghazi now a textbook example
Poor Robin! She is trying to make something big out of something sad. The US embraced and supported the radicals in Benghazi to do the dirty job of over-throwing Gaddafi. By dancing with the devil, we should not be surprised that we got burned. The Benghazi rebels were never US allies, just momentary allies of convenience. The heavy CIA presence and the US residence/consulate made an opportune target in a city that was already a radical stronghold.
The US had almost no need for consular services in Benghazi, but fronts for the CIA were needed/wanted to conduct out-of-sight US foreign policy. The four deaths in Benghazi were blowback from an interventionist foreign policy...from being where we should not have been...from doing what we should not have done.
Obama and Clinton were wrong in their actions in Libya and their policies cost four American lives. They should be held accountable. How the night in question was handled was, however, a judgment call, good or not, but not a scandal.
Robin is strangely silent on the US alliance with these same rebels, months earlier and also on the hush hush CIA arms shipments from Benghazi to Syrian rebels. Is Robin one of our war-hawk neocons? Or is she just trying to stir the political pot for partisan advantage? Either way, we don't see many politicians speaking out against extra-legal sovereign interventions and that is the real issue.