Not really - would YOU want to wear a polyester T-shirt?
On Jul 01 04:08 AM Bob Mayo wrote:
> How elastic is demand for cotton? I would think that if cotton prices > rose much we'd see demand shift to synthetic fabrics. > > Of course, synthetic fabrics probably are derived from oil, so the > plot thickens.
House Throws Away Big Money in Cap-and-Trade Bill [View article]
I am not a Republican, and I still think that the whole bill is a steaming pile of crap, payoffs, bribery, and gutlessness.
On Jun 30 09:42 PM TheSnail wrote:
> I see the usual Republican whiners are out tonight. > > Screw things up for 8 years. Offer no solutions, then bitch about > efforts to solve problems.
Uhm... no. History lessons and research are your friend.
The origins of the Taliban go back to 1947 in Pakistan, however militant Taliban were almost non-existant until 1994. I don't think Reagan was around for either of those.
On Jun 30 02:53 PM jmmx wrote:
> Sorry dude - the VooDoo economics started with Reagan (remember who > brought you the the S&L collapse and the Taliban?)
Dealscape thinks SciAm'sThe Science of Economic Bubbles and Busts is fatally flawed: "The markets are like the folks who constitute them: a profound and so far impossible-to-fix blend of free will and determinism; of noise and information; of intelligent decision-making and big boo-boos; of, yes, fear and greed, memory and forgetting." [View news story]
"Bubble Science" has long been known under other terms and is nothing really new. From the Dutch tulip craze to the current global warming and/or cooling, it is all part of the same thing.
And everyone falls victim to the same thing, no matter how much you fight against it. But that does not mean that bubbles are not real, in the sense that prices go up or down beyond their rational evaluation. The trick is to know what the turning point is, and that is where the real science comes in - and the science ain't there yet.
Obama's Energy Bill: A Recipe for Economic Destruction [View article]
Obama's main justification for it now seems to be that it will "send a message" to China. Yeah, that has worked so well in the past...
On Jun 29 11:39 PM zagman wrote:
> ...Instead we are having this farce of a policy forced on us > by radical politicians and they are using our money (not theirs) > to pay for it. When all is said and done the American public will > wake up and vote these idiots out of policy making positions. It > will then take us several decades to clean up the total destruction > of our country if we are still are a free country at that time.
Obama's Energy Bill: A Recipe for Economic Destruction [View article]
At least get your numbers right. Several of what you quoted are way off. Just for example, if this is true, it means that Every country that has oil but Canada and Mexico are dictators or terrorists. And BTW, we get no oil to speak of from Iran.
On Jun 29 10:22 AM jerrydd wrote:
> From oil we spent $700B last yr in imported oil which 50% went directly > to Iran, Russia, oil dictators and terrorists.
You are making two possbily bad assumptions. 1. That it will actually work - given the history of previous cap and trade experiments in various countries, that is highly doubtful. 2. That what is actually in the bill is what the administration says is in the bill. Given the past few months of history on such bills as the stimulous package, I also have serious doubts about that. Those somewhat nebulous "reports" that it will cost $175 a year dont seem to have any real facts behind them - and is not based on the current state of the bill, which had hundreds of pages of amendments just in the last few hours (that again, nobody read).
Nobody in congress seems to actually read any of the bills they are passing anymore, so at best this will be another pork laden bill, at worst a total sham. Or both.
There is little, if any, evidence that this farce will do anything at all for a "cleaner planet". It is so laden with concessions and payoffs that it bears little resemblance to the rhetoric.
On Jun 29 08:48 PM PhillyDan wrote:
> Regarding Cap and Trade, let's set the record straight. The CBO has > estimated that cap and trade will cost the average American family > an additional $175.00. Hell, kids spend on more on basketball shoes > than that amount. The DOE estimates the cost to be about $85 to $125. > To me, this is a small price to pay for a cleaner planet. >
From David Rosenberg's newsletter this morning: "So wages and salaries are down 1.1% from a year ago. Interest income is down 5.2%. Dividend income has fallen 12.4%. Proprietary income is off 4%. The only income source in the green column are government transfers (food stamps, welfare, unemployment insurance) which is a booming industry at over 12% YoY growth." (via) [View news story]
And despite the fact that 48 of 50 states have big deficits, about 35 of those states have more employees now than a year ago. Of course, many of those were mandated by the stumbulous package, but it is not a good sign.
Credit scores - those pesky three-digit numbers that determine whether you get a loan and how much you'll pay for it - are taking a beating. A recent report found borrowers with good credit now make up the largest share of foreclosures. This one's top heavy.[View news story]
I don't think that credit scores have gotten totally meaningless, but they are missing some factors, especially for those in the top 40% or so, such as the chances of the employer going bankrupt or laying off.
"The big impact starts to hit from about now onwards... I still hold out hope it will be a V-shaped recovery. It might not be the most likely scenario but it is not as unlikely as many people think." - Christina Romer, chairman of the U.S. president's council of economic advisers, on stimulus package[View news story]
I have been betting against the pronouncements of the administration for the past several months, and have been right about 80% of the time. My gut feeling is that this is just more feel-good rhetoric that they hope will stave off a major crunch.
Credit scores - those pesky three-digit numbers that determine whether you get a loan and how much you'll pay for it - are taking a beating. A recent report found borrowers with good credit now make up the largest share of foreclosures. This one's top heavy.[View news story]
I used that yearly free check recently, and was at 580 on one and 790 on another. 3rd was someplace in the middle. Kind of an odd disparity.
But the odd thing is that I have not had a credit card - or any credit of any type for over 15 years, except for a mortage which was paid off 6 years ago.
Cotton: A Better Way to Play Oil? [View article]
On Jul 01 04:08 AM Bob Mayo wrote:
> How elastic is demand for cotton? I would think that if cotton prices
> rose much we'd see demand shift to synthetic fabrics.
>
> Of course, synthetic fabrics probably are derived from oil, so the
> plot thickens.
House Throws Away Big Money in Cap-and-Trade Bill [View article]
On Jun 30 09:42 PM TheSnail wrote:
> I see the usual Republican whiners are out tonight.
>
> Screw things up for 8 years. Offer no solutions, then bitch about
> efforts to solve problems.
Carbon Credits: An Economic Scam [View article]
The origins of the Taliban go back to 1947 in Pakistan, however militant Taliban were almost non-existant until 1994. I don't think Reagan was around for either of those.
On Jun 30 02:53 PM jmmx wrote:
> Sorry dude - the VooDoo economics started with Reagan (remember who
> brought you the the S&L collapse and the Taliban?)
Dealscape thinks SciAm's The Science of Economic Bubbles and Busts is fatally flawed: "The markets are like the folks who constitute them: a profound and so far impossible-to-fix blend of free will and determinism; of noise and information; of intelligent decision-making and big boo-boos; of, yes, fear and greed, memory and forgetting." [View news story]
And everyone falls victim to the same thing, no matter how much you fight against it. But that does not mean that bubbles are not real, in the sense that prices go up or down beyond their rational evaluation. The trick is to know what the turning point is, and that is where the real science comes in - and the science ain't there yet.
Carbon Credits: An Economic Scam [View article]
On Jun 30 10:30 AM Troy Jensen wrote:
>40% of the US's electricity is derived from....petroleum
Carbon Credits: An Economic Scam [View article]
You do realize of course that renewables - especially solar - is the single most heavily subsidized area, with the possible exception of dairy farms?
On Jun 30 09:58 AM Fred W wrote:
> Agreed...level the field and let's see what wins the "game"
> Cheap electricity might not appear soooo "cheap" if you live within
Obama's Energy Bill: A Recipe for Economic Destruction [View article]
On Jun 29 11:39 PM zagman wrote:
> ...Instead we are having this farce of a policy forced on us
> by radical politicians and they are using our money (not theirs)
> to pay for it. When all is said and done the American public will
> wake up and vote these idiots out of policy making positions. It
> will then take us several decades to clean up the total destruction
> of our country if we are still are a free country at that time.
Obama's Energy Bill: A Recipe for Economic Destruction [View article]
On Jun 29 10:22 AM jerrydd wrote:
> From oil we spent $700B last yr in imported oil which 50% went directly
> to Iran, Russia, oil dictators and terrorists.
Carbon Credits: An Economic Scam [View article]
1. That it will actually work - given the history of previous cap and trade experiments in various countries, that is highly doubtful.
2. That what is actually in the bill is what the administration says is in the bill. Given the past few months of history on such bills as the stimulous package, I also have serious doubts about that. Those somewhat nebulous "reports" that it will cost $175 a year dont seem to have any real facts behind them - and is not based on the current state of the bill, which had hundreds of pages of amendments just in the last few hours (that again, nobody read).
Nobody in congress seems to actually read any of the bills they are passing anymore, so at best this will be another pork laden bill, at worst a total sham. Or both.
There is little, if any, evidence that this farce will do anything at all for a "cleaner planet". It is so laden with concessions and payoffs that it bears little resemblance to the rhetoric.
On Jun 29 08:48 PM PhillyDan wrote:
> Regarding Cap and Trade, let's set the record straight. The CBO has
> estimated that cap and trade will cost the average American family
> an additional $175.00. Hell, kids spend on more on basketball shoes
> than that amount. The DOE estimates the cost to be about $85 to $125.
> To me, this is a small price to pay for a cleaner planet.
>
From David Rosenberg's newsletter this morning: "So wages and salaries are down 1.1% from a year ago. Interest income is down 5.2%. Dividend income has fallen 12.4%. Proprietary income is off 4%. The only income source in the green column are government transfers (food stamps, welfare, unemployment insurance) which is a booming industry at over 12% YoY growth." (via) [View news story]
Credit scores - those pesky three-digit numbers that determine whether you get a loan and how much you'll pay for it - are taking a beating. A recent report found borrowers with good credit now make up the largest share of foreclosures. This one's top heavy. [View news story]
"The big impact starts to hit from about now onwards... I still hold out hope it will be a V-shaped recovery. It might not be the most likely scenario but it is not as unlikely as many people think." - Christina Romer, chairman of the U.S. president's council of economic advisers, on stimulus package [View news story]
Credit scores - those pesky three-digit numbers that determine whether you get a loan and how much you'll pay for it - are taking a beating. A recent report found borrowers with good credit now make up the largest share of foreclosures. This one's top heavy. [View news story]
But the odd thing is that I have not had a credit card - or any credit of any type for over 15 years, except for a mortage which was paid off 6 years ago.
Got a little Captain in ya? There may be a bit of you invested in the Captain. Among the far-reaching effects of the U.S. bailout on nonfinancial firms: a $2.7B benefit for the British makers of Captain Morgan rum in the Virgin Islands. [View news story]
Will GM Abandon Hydrogen Cars? [View article]