Socialism cannot compete!

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    • Thu Oct 16th 16:53 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      China's Shrewd Long-Term Oil Plan: What America Can Learn
      @Chris B: I agree we must end our dependence on *middle east* oil. But I take exception to a few of your points:

      [quote]
      -Chigago or European style light rail in all cities and between all cities.
      [/quote]

      *All* cities? That's a heckuva flippin' lot!! Keeping in mind that the U.S. is so much bigger geographically than Europe, this does not make sense. What *does* make sense is regional rail systems.

      a) the cities are close enough to be connected cost-effectively, and there would likely be more traffic between regional destinations.

      b) the duration of a train journey (yes, even "high-speed"... between non-regional cities, say Portland to Houston, or Boston to Denver is just too long compared to flight. The high-speed trains in Europe go a couple hundred miles per hour, compared to 500-600 mph for long-distance flights. Why would I ever want to take a 12 to 16 hour train trip when I could fly there in 3 or 4 hours?

      My example of a regional system that would be great would be in the midwest, with lines that connect Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, and the Twin Cities. All are within several hours drive of each other, with frequent travel between them.

      [quote]
      -Cut income taxes and raise fuel taxes.
      [/quote]

      *Eliminate* income taxes. The only tax should be sales tax -- that is power back to the people. When we don't like how government is spending our money, we quit all discretionary spending and voila! -- instant tightening of the government purse strings! If we can't get there, the next best (least worse?) alternative is a flat tax. I do agree that current income taxes are far too onerous. Only a much simpler flat tax or sales tax will provide the transparency as to how much everyone is actually paying!

      [quote]
      -Invest in fixing crime and schools - then inner cities will rebuild on their own and average commutes will shorten!
      [/quote]

      We already pay the highest average per pupil in the world!! And yet we lag further behind the leading educational nations. It's not about funding. It's about family life and the values instilled (or not) in the kids. Address the character and moral issues, and the crime and school issues get largely fixed.

      [quote]
      -Assist railroads in adding freight shipping capacity.
      [/quote]

      In what way? Are you talking building more separate freight lines, vs. passenger lines? Transfer mode facilities? Or what?

      [quote]
      -Assist utilities with building nat gas infrastructure for heating in the Northeast.
      [/quote]

      We are capitalist (or were!)...let private companies build it. And let them profit from their investments.

      [quote]
      -Tax credits for geothermal home heating / cooling systems.
      -Manhattan project sized research inititive for alt-fuel vehicles (and no, not ethanol).
      [/quote]

      Again, no. The tax system is too complex already. Enough with the credits and loopholes, exemptions, etc. Flat tax. Or sales tax.

      [quote]
      If China doesn't do this, they will in a few years be in as bad a position as we are - having recessions scheduled by oil sheiks. Not so smart.
      [/quote]

      Certainly oil prices played a part. But we are not in recession because of that. That's just one factor. And even so, it could be maintained that that factor was "scheduled" by environmental groups and Democrats who have long opposed domestic drilling and production.
      View article »
    • Thu Oct 16th 16:31 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Better Choices - Cramer's Lightning Round (10/15/08)
      Marvin, do you have anything constructive to say? You just keep repeating your "get out or be taken out" comment on every article! Methinks you went short at the wrong time to do so!! Enjoy the ride up!
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    • Thu Oct 16th 16:30 PM | Rating: +1 0
      Commented on:
      Better Choices - Cramer's Lightning Round (10/15/08)
      Cramer can say what he wants about Annaly, but they raised their dividend last quarter...which does not suggest that they have trouble with cash flow. In fact, a steep yield curve is when their model does *best*. I'm more than willing to hang onto NLY with its double-digit yield!!
      View article »
    • Thu Oct 16th 15:14 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Our Monetary Policy: Not an Asset
      And why doesn't the fed wanna be holding the smoking gun? Because the unbacked dollar is the biggest bubble of all time. Long gold and holding.
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    • Thu Oct 16th 15:11 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Inflation vs. Strategic Vision
      "No doubt there's a strong case for remaining cautious on all the asset classes save cash these days."

      Cash is the riskiest of all!! Look for some big inflation in the coming months. I wouldn't want to be stuck in cash then.
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    • Thu Oct 16th 11:50 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Three Reasons for Bear - Fast Money Recap (10/15/08)
      Angell is an idiot!!:

      "He explained we can't survive deflation in house prices on top of a decline in equity prices."

      Sorry Wayne...but over-inflated housing prices are a big part of the problem! We *need* them to deflate, in order for buyers to come into the market!! I waited to buy...and am still waiting. I *saw* that prices were bubbling. Do you think I'm going to step in now, with the government and idiots like you talking about using artificial means to prop prices up???

      Let's cut to the core here: there are reasons why home prices are overinflated, and it's not just banker greed, or greed by those flipping houses. We have a population that is heavy to the "boomer" segment -- they have now reached a point in their lives where they are selling second homes...downsizing a bit in prep for retirement. That is being overlooked. The boomer population is also at the heart of the medicare & S.S. funding crises...and will be a tax revenue problem in general...because the government will soon be paying all kinds of *entitlement* and providing *services* to a large group of people with a much smaller base supporting it all...and the government will never trim back to any significant degree, while those boomers are still voting. *THAT* is the problem with ever having gotten onto a socialist, entitlement path to begin with!! It also underscores the grave error of our birth-control, anti-population mentality!! We'd have millions more in the work-force right now if it weren't for that immoral, fallacious thinking. The chickens are coming home to roost in all these respects.

      It is clear that any efforts to prop up home pricing in the face of such significant demographic shifts are doomed to failure, and will only result in creation of another artificial bubble at the expense of taxpayers. This bailout is setting up for an even harder fall...and sooner or later, the people will have had enough and there will be another Tea Party.
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    • Thu Oct 16th 11:08 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Gold's Relationship with Real Estate
      @freefall: "because it is the last man still standing"?? that is *exactly* why gold will NOT fall -- it is a store of value when other stores of value fail!!
      View article »
    • Thu Oct 16th 11:05 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Trade Down Play - Cramer's Mad Money (10/15/08)
      @User 118015 (Marvin): if you are not already out, you are hurt by GOING out. Losses are only on paper until you sell. You must have some big short positions! I'm not helping you with those. You claim to have an MBA? Yet you sit here telling us we are heading under 5000? Noone knows...don't claim to.
      View article »
    • Wed Oct 15th 15:49 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      The Time to Buy Commodities Is Near
      @CLH -- you must have a TON of shorts on commodities!! Ummm...who said anything about debt elimination? All we're doing is moving it from bank balance sheets to the government's, in order to reinflate the credit bubble. Prepare to lose your shirt!
      View article »
    • Wed Oct 15th 15:44 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Gold's Relationship with Real Estate
      @CLH -- get off the pipe...it is clouding your mental abilities!! The Feds are printing paper to pay for this bailout...tons of it! That cannot be deflationary. Ever. Good luck with that.
      View article »
    • Wed Oct 15th 15:00 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Wellington West Analyst: Low Cost Gold Producers Rate High
      @relmor: totally agree!! I've been long AUY for a while...just went longer!
      View article »
    • Tue Oct 14th 16:11 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      First Thoughts on the Fed Plan
      One thing is clear: it is NOT safe to buy bank stocks that are involved in this plan. The government will own preferreds in those banks, and at the same time, holds the strings of monetary policy! They have not only "insider" knowledge, but insider power! And that's all in addition to the dilution....
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    • Tue Oct 14th 16:03 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      There Are No Simple Paths to Prosperity
      @debtacid: RIGHT ON, BRO!! That's what I'm talking about!!!
      View article »
    • Tue Oct 14th 16:00 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      There Are No Simple Paths to Prosperity
      "There are no simple paths to prosperity."

      Beg to differ. This is *exactly* where the Fed, Treasury...and the *entire* federal government are getting it wrong! They are re-greasing the wheels of the credit machine, instead of addressing the core issue. They have dual vested interests for not doing so.

      The surface issue is that the average American is tapped out...overleveraged. The *core* issue is that we ever got into credit-based living to begin with!! And where does the blame for that lie? Certainly to some degree in personal choices. But to a very large extent, it is due to middle America having a large "first hurdle"...the 30-40% chopped right off the top of their gross income for Federal taxes!! It is way, way too much. The founders would have revolted again *long* ago!! Economically, it means that we are stuck in credit cycles, rather than spending from truly discretionary income. The vested interests *want* to keep this going: a) government - because it needs to keep its power (vs. letting the people be more truly free!); b) banks - its how they make their money!

      Why do we assume we need a mortgage to buy a house? Do we even think back only a couple generations ago to when this WAS NOT THE CASE???

      America, it's time to take back what is OURS!! == a) our freedom, and b) our money -- which is a partial means to the former! We must DEMAND government be cut to the core -- back to where it was intended to be; and DEMAND our money back -- an end to the welfare, entitlement state!! It has not worked, and this utter failure of the big-tax, big-spend, credit-based economy is proof.

      There IS a simple path to prosperity: it's the same as it has always been -- free market economics with MINIMAL government...so that people have maximum incentive for their own productivity to reap rewards that THEY get to keep, rather than being federalized to be handed to the entitlement recipients down the street! If this message is not heard in Washington, I warn you...the water is warming up, and the tea will soon be ready!!!
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    • Tue Oct 14th 11:56 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Are More Big Falls Ahead?
      @smarty pants, et al, re. cash: get ready for hyper-inflation. that means don't sit on cash. buy gold. and maybe guns. the latter sounds goofy? not so much. we've started hearing the stories of suicides last week...i'm sure there must also have been a ramp-up in numbers of robberies, etc. we are headed for civil unrest. i'm buying canned goods, looking at a rifle purchase, and gold. for equities, concentrating on the usual defensives, those with good divvies.
      View article »
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