The answer to health care...

Health Saving Accounts. Trust me I know that these work. I found out the hard way last Easter. but as far as I can tell I don't really believe reform is wanted. I just think it's hot air coming out of Washington.

I have coverage from Walmart that covered my heart attack and had only $5000 in out of pocket. My supplemental policy paid the $5000. Insurance cost me about $17 a week and  Walmart chips in $20 bucks a month to the saving portion and I chip in $100. If i don't use the money by age 65 i get to spend it any way I want.

The only thing they didn't cover was a couple of thousand (out of $15000) for my Medivac bill. I now have a supplemental policy for Patti and I for $59 a year to cover that.

This plan would work for everybody if the clowns in Washington were serious but don't hold your breath!

Tell the kids to brush up on Mandarin.......

Got to hand it to the ChiComs. They do the capitalist thing right. As some commie once said, "the capitalist will haggle over the  price of the rope to hang themselves."

They have enough money to buy control of our oil companies. Wouldn't that piss off a few patriots! Hey, if you want to build a hybrid electric car you have to buy the rare earth metals essential for battery construction from China. Want to run budget deficits? Better ask the Commies for the money? Been to Walmart lately?

Chinese trinkets rule, baby!

How long before we have to "consult" with these guys to take a shit, hmm? But of course, as soon as Oba mama comes back from his next vacation he'll look in to it!


China Squeezes Foreigners for Share of Global Riches - WSJ.com

BEIJING—Foreign companies have been teaming up with Chinese ones for years to gain access to the giant Chinese market. Now some of the world's biggest companies are taking a risky but potentially rewarding second step—folding pieces of their world-wide operations into partnerships with Chinese companies to do business around the globe.

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Bloomberg News

Lin Zuoming, left, president of Aviation Industry Corp. of China, with GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt, announcing plans last year for an avionics joint venture.
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General Electric Co. is finalizing plans for a 50-50 joint venture with a Chinese military-jet maker to produce avionics, the electronic brains of aircraft. The deal with Aviation Industry Corp. of China would give GE access to a Chinese government project aimed at challenging Boeing Co. and Airbus in the civilian-aircraft market.

General Motors Co. established a joint venture this year with SAIC Motor Corp., its longtime partner in China, to produce and sell their no-frills Wuling-brand microvans in India, and eventually in Southeast Asia and other emerging markets as well.

If gas goes to 5$ a gallon......

A whole lot of politicians bite the dust. Especially Oba mama. Maybe that's the plan.

Stay tuned.

Former Shell Oil Chief Predict $5 Gas by 2012

I’m predicting a worse outcome over the next two years, which takes us to 2012 with higher gasoline prices, uncertainty as to the future of hydrocarbons, more regulation on the hydrocarbon industry based upon who the administration is today…

And what I fear the most is that by 2012 prices are so high that we have a backlash from the electorate and we go into reverse and we go back to a hydrocarbon only type of a future, maybe with some nuclear, instead of moving on in the 21st century.

…

I’m predicting, based upon the moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico, up to a million barrels a day of US production gone because of the politics of freezing drilling in the Gulf.

The headline is the moratorium is lifted, the reality is you can’t get a permit… I’m expecting no new drilling for two more years at least.

…

If we stay on our current course, within a decade, within ten years, we’re into energy shortages in this country big time. Black outs, brown outs, gas lines, rationing - that’s my projection based upon the current inability to make decisions.

…

When the American consumers are short, or when prices are so high - $5 a gallon for gasoline by 2012 - I believe that’s going to happen - that’s going to set a new tone, it’s going to be panic time on the part of the politicians, they’re going to suddenly get some kind of a sense we better do something.

The scary thing is that Mr. Hofmeister is basing his $5 per gallon gasoline prediction on supply/demand issues

If your rich.....

Paying off your house is low on your priorities. With a million or so in interest be hard to beat the tax savings. But for just about everyone you'll ever meet in your life it's the only way to go. It never ceases to amaze me that "financial gurus" advocate not dumping the mortgage and invest the money in the stock market, gold, baseball cards, pyramid schemes or even a bank. What's with that?

Oh yeah, these guys sell this shit!

If you consider that most of us don't have a pot to piss in because we spend our whole lives paying on a house, let alone those of us paying rent, you have to really like gambling to keep this up. Especially when you consider that a house cost more than it's worth and you always need a sucker to pay more than you did just to get rid of it.

Of course, the sooner the better you do the better you'll feel.

Being part of the "trailer trash" set means that I can scrape up a couple of hundred bucks a month to be snug as a bug in my mobile and could probably have enough dough buy your place. But why would I put my self in that  position. I would move into an RV first and visit my kids in Florida.

Since Patti and I will have a couple of grand a month in Social Security money we will be able to do damn near what we please while most working stiffs slave away for the bank paying all those mortgages, credit cards, student loans and don't forget car payments out the Ying Yang.

Or they go completely bust and end up under a bridge.

I that case I'll still chip in a few bucks to the salvation Army to keep the soup kitchen working.

Do you really think things are going to improve that much when we boomers retire? You going to buy all those houses? If you're still working you will have your hands full buying food and shelter. Taxes through the roof. What's it going to be like supporting 80 million or so geezers who don't have a dime? Remember all their wealth is in the "equity" in their houses. And try taking their Social Security away.  Hell a bunch of them are half nut 'Nam vets.

With guns!

I know, Oba mama will save you. Or Sarah maybe. Hillary? The ChiComs? Good luck with that!


Why You Shouldn’t Pay Off You Mortgage (and Why I Did Anyway) - CBS MoneyWatch.com

The monthly return from paying down the mortgage, on the other hand, is a sure thing. So the fair comparison is not with stocks but with other close-to-sure things, like Treasury bonds or CDs. That makes the mortgage payoff look a little less dumb. I know of only a handful of CDs paying 3% before taxes. Treasury bonds don’t even come close.

The one exception would be when the saving alternative is a 401(k). There the company match, which might typically be 50% if your company offers one, can make the return on a conservative stable-value fund competitive with the payoff you get from wiping out your mortgage. Where else are you going to get an immediate 50% return, guaranteed? Of course, if you’re already contributing as much to your 401(k) as the company will match (and you are, aren’t you?) that option isn’t available.

You expect inflation. A fixed-rate mortgage is a good hedge against inflation. You pay the lender a fixed number of dollars, even as inflation makes each dollar less valuable and puts more dollars in your paycheck. If you expect hyper-inflation the last thing you’d want to do is pay off your mortgage–as long as you were sure you’d keep your job.

You expect housing to rebound. If housing prices bounce back, having a mortgage boosts your equity even faster than the market lifts the price of your house. Say you have a $500,000 house with a $400,000 mortgage. Over the next five years, assume the price rises to $600,000. Your home has appreciated by 20%, but your equity has doubled, from $100,000 to $200,000. It’s the magic formula that minted millionaires by the bushel during the real estate bubble.

The problem is, while inflation and a housing rebound may seem likely sooner or later, they’re no sure thing. Deflation has ruled the Japanese economy for two decades and real estate is still drastically below its peak in 1990. It’s a long shot to happen here, but would you bet the house on it, if you had the choice?

Read the whole article....

Exactly my point that the working stiff has been sold out by "free trade" fools and gangsters. The only "American" winners are the banks and politicians in bed with the Chinese Communist. Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot warned anyone who would listen but no one gave a shit.

At least I'm not guilty as I voted for Buchanan in the '91 primary as a protest against Bush and Clinton, both sellouts to the big money gang that owns our government. And no, there's nothing we can do about it except remember how good it was to be the richest and most powerful country ever on Earth.


The Lesser Evil is still Evil « GardenSERF's Plot

There was a sequence of events that I observed over the last 25 years culminating in the destruction of one private business. This was a small corporation owned by an American family who had started off using local talent to make a quality product and took great pride in the “Made in USA” label.

* Early to Mid 1980s: Company is born, grows, and does well. Moves from a mom and pop shop to hiring non-family members. A lot of hard work and growth during this time pays off. To help facilitate growth, investment, etc., company takes on partners with expertise in specialized areas.

* Late 1980s: Company continues to do well, but growth plateaus. Original owner does not want to do a public offering of the business. Internal triangulation and disagreements on how to proceed leads to moves by newer partners to break-up/sell the business. Original owner/family takes out loan to buy their company back from the newer partners. This takes a significant amount of money out of reinvestment in the business and improving health/retirement plans for all workers (including the owners).

* Early 1990s: Owners continue to use American parts and labor as other companies begin to outsource some production of parts to Mexico. The company survives the regional recession of the early 90s and the owners are able to make their payments to the bank for the buyout and are also able to do a large expansion.

Next year we see better economic numbers.....

Whether real or contrived, Oba mama needs to be reelected and his gang controls the numbers. Right now housing is still a disaster as the bulk of shaky mortgages come due in 2011 and most of the people paying can't afford or simply don't qualify to refinance. Add to the mix rising oil prices, which help destroy Carter back in the 70's, unemployment that won't quit and you get a president who needs a lot of help.

Hell, he needs a new '911. Stay tuned.

The store had good traffic but we've missed sales projections for the month and so our hours will stay cut. We don't want to get used to losing a hundred bucks a week but at least it's steady.

 Oh yeah, Xmas is still a pain in the ass and I'm still agnostic that it's good for people to go nuts and buy a bunch of Chinese trinkets and pass them around to make themselves feel better.

But it pays the bills!

You have to admit...

It was great to see Oba mama get rolled by the Repubs. Now they knows what the right has   been feeling since Reagan.

You vote for them and they stick it in your ass. LOL. I fell for it by Reagan in the 80's then  Newt back in the 90's and didn't figure it out until Bush went nuts and invaded Iraq and stayed there. What the fuck was he thinking?

You kill the bastard replace him and leave, for Christ's sake. And you don't give gangster bankers money for destroying the economy! You jail them!

Obviously, he was doing what he was told.

The store sales are still down 4 % and our hours are cut by 5 a week.  Don't expect much improvement in January. Good thing we don't live paychrck to paycheck like most people I know.

More confirmation.....

We do control the world. Whether we like it or not. And we can kill or imprison anyone we want. We have been doing it for 200 years.

That's why they hate us.

But who the fuck cares!!!


Top 10 Economic Stories of 2010 :: Eat The State!

1) In 2008 and 2009, the Federal Reserve functioned as the central bank for the entire world. Documents pried from the Federal Reserve in November show that dozens of foreign banks and an astonishing number of foreign governments lined up to get handouts from the Fed, who kept its client list a deeply protected secret. The recipients included most of Europe’s major banks: Barclay’s Bank, Bank of Scotland, RBS, Societe Generale, Dresdner Bank, Bayerische Landesbank, and Dexia. Also on the list are the central banks of Australia, Denmark, Mexico, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, South Korea, Britain, and Japan.

If it had been publicly known at the time what the true, global extent of the crisis really was, the world’s economy would have completely collapsed. This is the biggest story of the year, perhaps of the entire past decade, but it’s received zero attention from the US press.

2) The Fed’s current policy of “quantitative easing” (QE I and QE II) are an under-the-table bailout of US corporations. By buying up medium- and long-term treasury bonds, the Fed is keeping interest rates near zero so US corporations can refinance a record amount of junk bonds that were set to come due in 2012, 2013, and 2014 (a total of $700 billion). Some corporations have been able to refinance their debt by issuing 50- or 100-year bonds. That’s insane. Most companies don’t stay in business for 10 years, much less 100 years.

3) The IMF rises from the dead…just in time to impose austerity measures on Greece, Ireland, and a host of other European Union countries. Of course, the one country that’s most responsible for the global economic crisis—the United States—doesn’t fall under the IMF’s purview. Instead, we get to do the opposite: extend the Bush tax cuts, extend the war in Afghanistan to at least 2014, and run up a record government deficit.

4) The financial industry is too big. Way too big. In the mid 1990’s it accounted for about 17% of the gross domestic product of the US. Now it accounts for over 60%. How did that change happen? Well, blame it on the worst Bush era tax cut ever devised: the 15% capital gains and dividend tax rate. When you give a tax cut for dividends and capital gains, you’re subsidizing the investment industry, which is now mostly composed of speculation: money in search of profits taxed at only 15%. So we get huge amounts of money invested in non-productive areas of the economy: derivatives, currency trading, speculation in commodities markets, hedge funds, and stupid venture capital investments that will never make a profit or provide a necessary service (i.e., Pets.com on steroids). Too big to fail? Yes, but it’s also too big to even comprehend.

5) More banks failed in 2010 than in 2009. The FDIC told us that 2009 would be the worst year of the crisis, but this year small and mid-sized banks continued to fail in record numbers. In 2008 the FDIC closed 25 banks; in 2009 the total was 140. As of November, the total for 2010 was above 150 and counting. Clearly, we still haven’t seen the worst of the crisis.

Click on this as this guy is spot on........

A lot can be said for the criminal gang that owns our government especially when they don't have a clue on what's coming.

Before I forget, did you buy your last house before you got a job or after? What I thought. How in the Hell can housing lead us into a recovery if so few people have jobs?

Catch 22 right?

Wait for that big government check. One way or another we'll have to have it to get rid of the personal debt and recover millions of credit scores to "save" the world's economy.

or we get a new president in 2012 and we start over again as the economy bounces back to the bottom. We still have several million bad loans out there that need to be refinanced or wrote off.   Click on the jump and read it all.


AVA : Investment Analytics

Forget the money supply and everything else the deflation hacks have thrown at you. The only thing that matters is the price of goods and services because consumers control close to 70% of the economy. Thus, any other measures are essentially meaningless.

Deflation, as it applies to consumers means the cost of goods and services declines significantly. Inflation means just the opposite. In between we have disinflation, or the winding down of prices. Right now we are seeing some disinflation in my opinion. While the U.S. economy is likely to experience short periods of deflation over the next several years, it shouldn’t be much of a problem because Washington will continue with its attempt to consume its way out of this depression.

Deflation might bear its head at a later stage as it did in late 2008. But this depression will be characterized primarily by inflation. You might be thinking this doesn’t make sense. If so, then you aren’t familiar with inflation trends. Or perhaps you aren’t aware of how Washington understates inflation data. I devoted an entire chapter to the manipulation of economic data in America’s Financial Apocalypse. Thereafter, I discussed this topic in other publications. (11) (12) (13) (14)

We will continue to experience excessive inflation of basic goods and services, like oil, food and healthcare, much as we have for the past several years.

Combined with double-digit unemployment, very high underemployment, muted real wage growth will act in unison to squeeze consumers further over the next several years. Finally, some 80 million baby boomers will have little disposable income remaining to fuel the economy. For many, it will be a silent depression.

Why will the depression be silent? Because the daily events that have caused panic will come to an end in a few years. Meanwhile, the massive tax payer-funded bailout and stimulus funds will cause most Americans think that a recovery is in place. (15)

And you thought it was "change".....

Lol. Oba mama is owned by these guys. Do we get the government we deserve?

You Betcha!


Obama's Halliburton

GE also owns NBC, which in turn owns a ton of cable networks — including MSNBC. That's the one where Chris Matthews was famously quoted as saying “I felt a thrill going up my leg as Obama spoke.”

There is little doubt that MSNBC is a Obama propaganda machine. Just as there is little doubt that Murdoch owned The Wall Street Journal, and that Fox News pulls for the right.

For his help in getting Obama elected, Jeffrey Immelt got a seat at the table.

A seat at the table

Immediately after he came to office, President Obama named Immelt to the Economic Recovery Advisory Board — along with major GE shareholder Warren Buffett. (Buffett owns 7.8 million shares.)

This group set about helping Obama in saving the U.S. economy. And it has worked — for GE's economy, anyway...

Think about what GE makes and who will profit from the recent legislation. In just one easy-to-understand example, Obama has mandated that you can't buy a incandescent light bulb after 2014.

How much money will GE make when everyone has to buy more expensive, higher profit-margin, light bulbs?

Yes.... oil prices are guilty....

From a minor correction to the greatest bust since the '30's. And if the shit sky rockets again no one is safe from the next crash. Especially politicians.

Which aint all that bad come to think of it. It's just that I hate paying foreigners who want us dead because we can't drill here thanks to the assholes in Washington.


Did The Price Of Oil Help Cause The Financial Crisis Of 2008? Will Surging Oil Prices Soon Spark Another Financial Crisis?

Did The Price Of Oil Help Cause The Financial Crisis Of 2008? Will Surging Oil Prices Soon Spark Another Financial Crisis?

Oil prices are starting to spin out of control once again. In London, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in February hit 91.89 dollars a barrel on Friday. New York crude moved above 88 dollars a barrel on Friday. Many analysts believe that 100 dollar oil is a virtual certainty now. In fact, many economists are convinced that oil is going to start moving well beyond the 100 dollar mark. So what happened the last time oil went well above 100 dollars a barrel? Oh, that's right, we had a major financial crisis. Not that subprime mortgages, rampant corruption on Wall Street and out of control debt didn't play major roles in precipitating the financial crisis as well, but the truth is that most economists have not given the price of oil the proper credit for the role that it played in almost crashing the world economy. In July 2008, the price of oil hit a record high of over $147 a barrel. A couple months later all hell broke loose on world financial markets. The truth is that having the price of oil that high created horrific imbalances in the global economy. Fortunately the price of oil took a huge nosedive after hitting that record high, and it can be argued that lower oil prices helped stabilize the world economy. So now that oil prices are on a relentless march upward again, what can we expect this time?

Well, what we can expect is more economic trouble. The truth is that oil is the "blood" of our economy. Without oil nothing moves and virtually no economic activity would take place. Our entire economic system is based on the ability to cheaply and efficiently move people and products. An increase in the price of oil puts inflationary pressure on virtually everything else in our society. Without cheap oil, the entire game changes.

The chart below shows what the price of oil has done since 1996 (although it doesn't include the most recent data). With the price of oil marching towards 100 dollars a barrel again, many people are wondering what this is going to mean for the U.S. economic "recovery"....

Sounds like me without the accent..

An Irishman abroad tells it like it is !! :-)

As I've posted before.....

Higher rates lower house prices. Basically, it's known as the Affordability Index. As rates go up payments go up and fewer people qualify for the loan. Want to sell? You lower your price.

However, in a couple of years the foreclosures  are bought and the supply tightens and prices stabilize. If there's anyone left to buy, they drive prices back up. New house formation will continue for awhile as the 20 somethings enter the housing market as printing press money swamps the economy. Builders will come back and build more with government subsidies because having millions of homeless with guns is not good for politicians future job security.

The crunch comes when we boomers, collectively broke, have to work into our 70's. These jobs will not be going to new families who  buy  houses, cars, financial instruments, furniture, artwork, etc. These means that the coming "recovery" is fake fueled by "cheap" money like the last one. What's this mean for the next 5 or 10 years?

The next bust will be really exciting.

Expect an awful lot of new faces in Washington but not much will help us. We need to reset all this personal debt and start over. I think the government will have to send us a big check to "kick start" the next boom.

Do you think the people who own the government will allow this without a fight?


Real Estate & Housing Crisis: Negative Home Equity Is Worse Than You Think - CNBC

There was a lot of talk last week about how negative equity, now at 22.5 percent of all homes with mortgages, according to CoreLogic [CLGX 18.20 --- UNCH (0) ], will affect the housing recovery. Then mortgage rates popped up to 5 percent overnight, thanks to the 10-year Treasury, and more folks voiced concern over today's potential home buyer and his or her ability to take advantage of this low-priced housing market.

Tooga | Stone | Getty Images
Owing more on your mortgage than your home is currently worth doesn't necessarily mean you can't afford your monthly mortgage payment or that you're going to go about your day any differently, other than feeling a little financially depressed. While it may make some more likely to walk away or "strategically default," most won't.

It does mean that you can't use your home to pay for anything, like a new car or your kids' college tuition, and it does mean that you can't move up to a nicer home without having to take a hit by paying off your mortgage with whatever stash of cash you have. Now here's the issue: The move-up buyer (which is the market we're counting on now to get us out of this mess, given that the home buyer tax credit pulled a lot of first-time buyer demand forward to the beginning of 2010). A significant number of move-up buyers, even if not underwater on their mortgages now, may be in a negative equity position when it comes to buying a new home.

Beyond retarded......

This ought to guarantee even more people will lose their houses. Pay off your credit cards and gamble with your home. Yea, that way proving you're to fucking stupid to be a home owner will be much easier.

Now you see why I want to be reincarnated as a bank. Much more fun taking advantage of nitwits than collecting interest. And if I play it right I make a fat profit by selling the house as new home formation bumps up the price. (It always does.)


Pay Off a High-Interest Credit Card with Home Equity?

Pay Off a High-Interest Credit Card with Home Equity?

by Brian O'Connell on 12/15/2010

Credit Card DebtSome consumers are paying off their high interest credit cards in an inventive way – with a home equity loan. It’s not always the best solution, but it can be a good cure for your high interest headaches under the right conditions.

In general, home equity loan interest rates are lower than the rates on your credit cards. There’s a reason for that. HELOCs are backed by a demonstrable asset (your home). Credit cards aren’t backed by such a big asset and thus arrive with a higher interest rate attached.

Rates on a conventional $30,000 home equity loan is about 5.10% these days. But interest rates on most credit cards average between 14%-and-16%. Rates on both HELOCs and credit cards are based on your credit score, so the higher your score, the better you’ll make out on interest rates.

I only disagree with the gang in charge.....

We control the world. Nothing we can do about it whether we like it or not. We control  all seven seas, all airspace, all shipping, everything. Our satellites watch every nations borders. Our money buys everything that counts to anyone.We have the capacity to destroy the planet several times over. With all that the best we can do is who we have in Washington in charge.

Tell me this makes sense?


charles hugh smith-The Great Game: Geopolitics and Oil

The Great Game: Geopolitics and Oil (October 19, 2010)

The Great Game is afoot and no matter how we may disapprove of the Global Empire, we would be wise not to discount the cards it alone holds.

Geopolitics is not called The Great Game without reason. The game of dominating the world's resources, nation-states and alliances is like a combination of Go and chess, with the threat of military conquest or defeat always hovering over the statecraft and financial game.

I am going to present a number of statements and speculations here, most of which are at odds with the status quo thinking. I present them not to be contrarian but because they seem self-evident.

As I have noted here before, the value of "hard power" (military dominance) and "soft power" (cultural, financial, diplomatic) cannot be assessed until you don't have any.

That establishes a conundrum: one must maintain these quite different forms of global power without knowing if the cost is justified, until the moment arrives when others would pay ten times over to hold what you have in hand.

If that moment never arrives, it may be because you maintained an overwhelming advantage. Wars are launched when one side perceives a rough balance has been achieved; no nation is so suicidal that it chooses to attack a far superior power.

While I don't approve of the American Global Empire, I respect the intelligence and drive of those tasked with maintaining and expanding it--and they number in the millions.

There is only one nation-state which can project hard power: the U.S. A missile is not power-projection, because it exerts control over nothing; it is deterrence or threat, but not power that can be projected. Only aircraft carrier groups and the ability to transport an army by sea and air to any locale in the world is power projection.

The U.S. has 11 carrier groups, China has zero. The U.S. has the ability to transport a small army by air, China does not. The U.S. has the sealift capability to transport a large army by sea. China does not, and neither does Russia or the E.U.

Expect more bailouts next year.......

Real estate bubble needs lower interest rates to re-inflate. Expect action to continue saving the banks who pay for our government. As I posted awhile back, Oba mama has to pull a Clinton to save his sorry ass. make nice with the Republicans and kick the problems down the street for the next President.

To give you proof here's Clinton finding out who really owns our government:

“You mean to tell me the success of [my
economic] program and my reelection hinges on the Federal Reserve and a
bunch of f*****g bond traders?”

Uh!! Duh!!!


Mortgage Rates, at Six-Month High, Threaten Refis and Fed - WSJ.com

Rising government borrowing costs have driven mortgage rates to their highest level in six months, challenging the still-shaky housing market and the Federal Reserve's efforts to boost the U.S. economy.

The rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.61% this week, according to the weekly survey from government-backed mortgage firm Freddie Mac, up from 4.46% a week ago and the highest level since June 24.

The higher rates have likely snuffed out a refinancing boomlet that began earlier this year and put billions of dollars into homeowners' pockets.

"The rate increase has been so sudden and so sharp that it's almost too late for many borrowers to refinance," said Kevin Cavin, mortgage strategist at Sterne Agee in Chicago.

Was there any doubt?..........

You don't get re-elected or a fat cushy lobby job if you don't fall in line and do what you are told.


House Democrats falling in line on tax-cut deal, Van Hollen says - Washington Times

Congressional Democrats' resistance to the tax-cut deal President Obama struck with congressional Republicans weakened Sunday, as leaders in both chambers said a vote likely would happen this week and a key House leadership member said his caucus would not torpedo the bill.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Maryland Democrat, said the House will vote this week on extending Bush-era tax rates, despite strong opposition from the chamber's Democrats, furious over an estate-tax provision that they say will help only the country's wealthiest residents.

Sounds like me without the accent..

An Irishman abroad tells it like it is !! :-)

World is still swimming in the stuff.....

Pretty convenient for this gang, peak oil advocates, that we can't drill on American territories, don't you think? Seems odd that we have to control the Middle East with our military to keep the oil flowing and then we can't drill here.

Reminds me that most people believe that the American dollar is real wealth when we spend trillions defending  oil on foreign soil and give dollars away to scumbags in the Middle East.  Does that seem strange to you?

Just watch the price of oil in U.S dollars. As the dollar is given away to people who don't earn it or deserve the help more dollars chase oil. Prices go up. All our dollars end up somewhere we don't want them to go financing off-shoring jobs. A vicious cycle impoverishing the little guy.

Remember the oil spike   in 2008? Turned a minor recession into a global collapse. Be awhile before the world economy recovers, don't you think?

Maybe never.


Age of Cheap Oil Is Over: IEA's Chief Economist

Age of Cheap Oil Is Over: IEA's Chief Economist
Dec. 3, 2010
The age of cheap oil is over, International Energy Agency Chief Economist Fatih Birol tells MarketWatch's Steve Goldstein as he also discusses the extended U.S. deepwater drilling ban, the possible direction of oil prices and climate change reduction efforts.

Here we go again.....

More jobs lost here. But what else is new.

Hey! Did you get your tax increase? Did the deal with Oba mama and the Republicans reduce the deficit? Are the rich paying more?

Lol. Why does anybody not getting government handouts pay any attention to these criminals?


BBC News - US South Korea free trade deal a 'win-win'

Both the US and South Korea have hailed their long-awaited free trade agreement negotiated this weekend as a "win-win" deal.

However, the final pact, which was originally signed in 2007 but never ratified, has been heavily criticised by South Korean opposition parties.

They branded the compromises made by Seoul "humiliating and treacherous".

The deal needs parliamentary approval in both countries before it can be finally ratified.

President Barack Obama said on Saturday the agreement "includes several important improvements and achieves what I believe trade deals must do. It's a win-win for both our countries".

South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-Hoon also described the deal as a "win-win".

Negotiations on the free trade deal broke down in the run-up to last month's G20 meeting of leading economies in Seoul.
Car tariffs

A key sticking point to the 2007 deal were tariffs imposed by South Korea on US car imports.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

We have been hit by the North with cannons and now we we're being hit by the US with the economy”

End Quote Park Jie- Won South Korea's Demcratic Party

But a compromise was agreed - the US will lift its 2.5% tariff on South Korean cars after four years, while South Korea will halve its 8% tarif