[jeffkrol]

Interesting PDF

Entrepreneurs and investors are already thinking
about the countless ways they can profit from the
healthcare overhaul,” Phillips says. “The new law
promises to bring 32 million people into the market.
This presumably means that demand for everything
from eyeglasses and dental work to physicals
and surgeries will increase. Couple this with basic
demographics (aging Baby Boomers and low birth
rates) and advanced technologies that make more
medical procedures possible—and you’ve got a
start-up bonanza in the making.”

[Phil1]

""Which gov? US gov. or the corporate states of america???.........""

The one that is supposed to regulate banking, finance, Fannie Mae/Mack, the SEC, police fraud and corruption, and guide the country to a better financial place. Which one could that possibly be???

---------- Post added 09-21-10 at 10:54 AM ----------

On a side bar: Interesting comments on heating oil. I have just not appreciated the issues of living in a cold climate. How well do heat pumps work there in getting off oil, coal heating? I know they are expensive to install with a long pay off point.

Some speculators are saying oil is due for more increases due to the dollar devaluation, shift possibly to the yuan and mid east issues aside from efforts to curtail further oil field development in the US.

[Nesster]

I was thinking of an example of a company - that had it good, better than ever actually - unable or unwilling to change with the times, losing market share and becoming a minor player... and realized, we have the example right here: Pentax.

Pentax had a huge hit with the Spotmatic, a quality camera etc etc and for a while the IN camera. Pentax seemed to be in the big leagues... only problem, Pentax found itself unable or unwilling to introduce a bayonet mount. So Nikon and Canon - and through innovation, Konica - took market share and made Pentax seem dowdy and amateurish. The K came too late, though the cameras were excellent, Pentax had seen its day...

So if oil is key, what are we doing about it? The big money (as we've argued here before) is for more of the same: Build more better screw mounts! Drill everywhere! Ridicule the idea of alternate energy, deny the idea of peak oil, divert attention from the sooner or later inevitability of an end to plentiful oil. This of course benefits those making money from oil, mainly, and short term keeps energy prices lower. Yet, other nations are planning for peak oil days, while Americans talking about this are painted as socialist charlatans out to make a quick buck.

[Phil1]

Well said Nesster. Regarding the gov't, I would think that making oil less key would be the wise long range plan and goal. This was obvious many years ago when oil was really cheap. I always thought some approach a bit like the EU countries had on taxing the stuff a bit more than what has been done. An acending tax would have grown the price of oil to higher levels slowly and would have leveraged better uses and alternate options of a finite resource that has far better uses as a building block substance than as a fuel. Many of the marvelous building block substances (plastics, solvents etc) derived are recycleable whereas as a polluting fuel it is used and is gone. We have been fortunate to have oil in the US as opposed to importing 100% of our needs. We seem to be on the path of doing just that by dragging our feet on alternate transportation energy sources, trends in no further oil development and waste due to low prices. Oil for some transportation needs will not significantly be replaced by dreamy 'alternate fuels' in the next three or four life times if at all. The LA freeways are full of big a$$ed trucks and SUVs used as daily single person commuters. The situation would be significantly differant with gas at $4.50- $5 a gallon a few years ago. The imported oil volume would be likely be less, trade inbalance a bit more favorable and less pollution not to speak of less oil use. That says win-win-win to me. Anyone see good gov't in this? Any politicians give back BP political contributions since the gulf debaucle?

[reeftool]

""Which gov? US gov. or the corporate states of america???.........""

The one that is supposed to regulate banking, finance, Fannie Mae/Mack, the SEC, police fraud and corruption, and guide the country to a better financial place. Which one could that possibly be???

---------- Post added 09-21-10 at 10:54 AM ----------

On a side bar: Interesting comments on heating oil. I have just not appreciated the issues of living in a cold climate. How well do heat pumps work there in getting off oil, coal heating? I know they are expensive to install with a long pay off point.

Some speculators are saying oil is due for more increases due to the dollar devaluation, shift possibly to the yuan and mid east issues aside from efforts to curtail further oil field development in the US.

Heat pumps don't work very well here due to the extreme cold temps. Below 15 degrees F, they need a supplement heat source, usually electric strip heaters in most systems I have seen. There are alternatives but it's very expensive and most people can't afford to make the improvements. The newer furnaces are around 90% effecient while older stuff is 60%
if everything is running perfectly. I'm a refrigeration mechanic by trade so installing my own furnace and making additional upgrades to the house are all things I do myself. Most people can't install their own heat systems, especially hydronic systems like mine. My boiler cost $1600 and I had another $300 or so in additional parts to buy. To have a contractor install a new system it will cost around $8000. To really upgrade a house, you need new windows and doors also. Heating the home is the largest single cost most people have in the North Country. The wood/coal stove is the most common alternative heat source, especially in rural areas. But that ties you to the house. Our schedules are tough. Nobody is home for large chunks of time to feed the stove so for us, it's a supplement to the furnace and a backup. Also consider the large amount of time and energy spent cutting and splitting wood.

[jeffkrol]

Soros Proclaims U.S. Economy ‘Blah,’ Disappointed in Obama - Deal Journal - WSJ

Soros said Barack Obama, whom Soros backed in the 2008 election, succeeded in keeping the U.S. recession shorter and shallower than it could have been without the administration’s intervention. But he also said it would have been more effective for the government to inject equity into struggling banks rather than buy up debt–though he conceded such a step was fraught politically because of uneasiness with nationalizing banks.

Soros also said Obama hasn’t done enough to dismantle Bush-era policies, including what he said were abuses of power and excessive restraints on civil liberties. “Unfortunately [Obama] turned out to be a president of continuity, not dis-continuity,” Soros said, though he added that Obama “may well recover” and be elected to a second term in office.

From the U.S. to the U.K. to Germany, Soros kept returning to worries about what he called governments’ “preoccupation with fiscal rectitude” by acting to slash spending and rein in deficits. He said now is the time for more stimulus, not less. “You can’t have increasing deficits forever,” Soros said, but economies need fuel right now, not belt-tightening. “It’s the right policy at the wrong time,” he said.

Soros marveled at how quickly China has risen to become the “motor” of the world economy, an ascension he slyly attributed to the country’s undervalued currency, which he called an effective tax on Chinese citizens.

[Phil1]

Reeftool, thanks for the heat pump info. I have to bone up on them. Even as supplimental they still seem like a good deal aside from the initial investment. Though electric supplimental heat has to be expensive. I guess too if the heat transfer point is just soil or ground water makes a big differance too. The ground water heat sink being more efficient and well above 32F. Good insulation of course always counts summer or winter. I updated my cracker box with double pane windows and what a huge differance that made in So Calif. I guess you would need triple pane and those have to be really costly. The older tract houses here were insulated about as well as a chicken coop with no doors. In winter it was usually colder indoors than out w/out the heat (gas) on. The old buildings sure are wasteful.

I meant to add probably an obvious point of looking into a wood pellet stove. They are very safe, efficient and clean but of course you have to buy the wood pellets. They can be on a timer and are self stoking with a minimum of monitoring and maintaining. They are fairly popular out west in places and seem to be cost effective as supplimental. The pellets are made from recycled and scrap stuff as well.

---

Last edited by Phil1; 09-22-2010 at 09:42 AM.

[Nesster]

Soros marveled at how quickly China has risen to become the “motor” of the world economy, an ascension he slyly attributed to the country’s undervalued currency, which he called an effective tax on Chinese citizens.

Many money-people of the fiscal conservative sort have mentioned the role of the Bush weak dollar policies... throughout his presidency. Although the resulting recession and general stagnation turned out to be diffrent in form and detail, its arrival was clearly seen early and often. Weak dollar, energy, borrowing, lack of savings...

in 2003:
Bruce Bartlett on the Weak Dollar and Bush on NRO Financial

A weak-dollar policy is a mistake.



One of the reasons why presidential administrations fail is that they often fall victim to the law of unintended consequences. The Bush administration discovered this when it imposed tariffs on imported steel last year in order to help steel producers. But it forgot that far more Americans work in industries that use steel than for companies that produce it. Steel users were harmed by the tariffs because their costs increased, leading to reduced sales and unemployment. After 18 months, the administration finally figured this out and eliminated the tariffs it should never have imposed in the first place.

Unfortunately, the Bush administration is in danger of making the same mistake with respect to the dollar. Having become obsessed with the trade deficit, it is looking for other ways to reduce imports and raise exports. One way of doing this is to reduce the value of the dollar on foreign exchange markets. A lower dollar makes imports more expensive and exports cheaper in terms of foreign currencies. When this happens naturally, economists view it as part of the free market's automatic adjustment mechanism for trade imbalances.

The problem is that this process is not taking place on its own, nor is it cost-free. The Treasury Department has been signaling for some time that it would not be displeased if the dollar fell. This sort of "benign neglect" can be as effective as direct action in foreign currency markets, such as having the Treasury sell dollars. When currency traders know that we won't defend our currency, they take advantage of it by selling dollars against other currencies. That is a key reason why the dollar has fallen sharply against the euro and is now at a record low.

Another effect of this weak-dollar policy became evident in recent days when the OPEC oil cartel indicated that it might raise prices to compensate for the falling dollar. It has always priced oil in dollars, so a fall in the dollar means that its members have to pay more for goods and services purchased in Europe, Japan, and elsewhere. Ali Naimi, the oil minister of Saudi Arabia, complained on Thursday that the dollar had fallen 35 percent in the last three years. He said OPEC would price oil to maintain "the purchasing power of the old, good dollar."

This is all very reminiscent of the early 1970s, when OPEC first raised the price of oil in response to a falling dollar. As early as 1970, it passed a resolution at its annual conference saying that it would adjust the price of oil to reflect changes in real purchasing power. The following year, it passed a resolution complaining about "world-wide inflation and the ever widening gap existing between the prices of capital and manufactured goods ... and those of petroleum." In other words, the prices of things that OPEC countries imported were rising faster than the oil that they exported.

By 1973, OPEC had had enough with U.S. inflation and it moved to sharply raise the price of oil. Although the war between Israel and Egypt precipitated the increase, it couldn't have been sustained unless supported by fundamental economic forces. These same forces also pushed up prices for gold and other commodities. Basically, the 1973 OPEC oil-price increase just kept the price of oil in line with other commodities. It was more jarring only because of the circumstances surrounding it, and because it happened all at once.

Nevertheless, there are those who still believe that OPEC caused the inflation of the 1970s, through some sort of "cost-push" mechanism. In truth, OPEC was responding to inflation, rather than causing it. The root cause was the creation of too many dollars by the Federal Reserve. This came about because Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon cajoled the Fed into running an inflationary monetary policy in order to keep interest rates artificially low. They also removed many of the institutional constraints that prevented previous presidents from doing the same thing.

In short, the Fed, not OPEC, caused the stagflation of the 1970s. A recent paper by University of Michigan economists Robert Barsky and Lutz Kilian confirms this analysis. Writing in the prestigious NBER Macroeconomics Annual (2001), they conclude: "The Great Stagflation of the 1970s could have been avoided had the Fed not permitted major monetary expansions in the early 1970s. ... The stagflation observed in the 1970s is unlikely to have been caused by supply disturbances such as oil shocks."

Although the signs are nascent, they indicate that inflation is starting to show its ugly head again, the result of an extremely easy Fed policy over the last three years. Sensitive commodity prices like gold are up, the dollar is down, and OPEC is again complaining about lost purchasing power. It's like déjà vu all over again.

in 2005:

The dollar is, of course, weak because the U.S. runs such huge trade and budget deficits. The federal government borrows nearly $2 billion a day abroad. Private foreign investors are unwilling to lend us that much money at current interest rates, so central banks make up the difference. In the first three quarters of 2004, fully 49% of the U.S. current account deficit was financed by foreign central banks, with Japan and China the lead lenders.

Japan and China are buying dollars to keep their currencies undervalued -- and their products underpriced. But this co-dependency creates a vicious cycle, with the cheaper Asian currencies and exports exacerbating the U.S. trade imbalance -- and necessitating still more borrowing.

...

The Bush Administration is failing on three counts: First, mounting budget deficits increase the need for foreign borrowing and add to pressure on the dollar. Second, not having a serious energy policy intensifies U.S. dependence on imported oil and widens the trade deficit. And third, the Administration isn't even attempting to manage the dollar's decline, relying instead on the whims of money markets.

This contrasts markedly with the tenure of Ronald Reagan's Treasury Secretary, James A. Baker III. Although a staunch free-marketeer, Baker understood that exchange rates and interest rates are too important to leave to short-run currency trading. The Plaza Accord of 1985 produced coordinated interest-rate cuts and gradual depreciation of the dollar. When the pact fell apart in 1987, the stock market crashed.

2007:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/08/opinion/08wed1.html

Despite the Federal Reserve’s stay-the-course message yesterday, investors are betting on at least one interest-rate cut by January, intended to quell turmoil in the markets and to juice the slow economy. But with the dollar also weak — recently hitting its lowest point in 15 years against an index of other major currencies — the Fed may be reluctant to oblige.

A declining dollar is a source of inflationary pressure because it can boost the cost of imports. So if the Fed tried to rev up the economy with a rate cut at the same time the dollar is falling, it could end up provoking even more inflation. That would be a drag on economic growth rather than a boost. In an extreme case, it could result in a toxic combination of weak growth and high prices that is a central banker’s nightmare.

How did the Fed lose room to maneuver? The answer is rooted in the Bush administration’s misguided economic policies.

Over the last several years, America’s imbalances in trade and other global transactions have worsened dramatically, requiring the United States to borrow billions of dollars a day from abroad just to balance its books.

...

Stymied by what it won’t do, the administration has gone for a quicker fix — letting the dollar slide. A weaker dollar helps to ease the nation’s imbalances by making American exports more affordable, thus narrowing the trade deficit.

But to be truly effective, a weaker dollar must be paired with higher domestic savings. Otherwise, the need to borrow from abroad remains large, even as a weakening currency makes dollar-based debt less attractive. That’s the trap the nation is slipping into today. Among other ills, it could lead to a deterioration in American living standards as money flows abroad to pay foreign creditors, leaving less to spend at home on critical needs. Or, it could lead to abrupt spikes in interest rates as American debtors are forced to pay whatever it takes to get the loans they need.

2008:
Wonk Room Bush’s Weak Dollar Responsible For Half Of Oil’s Price Increase

Today, the Center for American Progress released a report by Senior Fellow Scott Lilly explaining how the weak US dollar effects the things on the minds of middle class Americans — rising gasoline, food, heating and electricity prices. The US dollar, whose value has dropped by 37 percent against the euro, 31 percent against the Canadian dollar and 17 percent against the British pound since 2000, has plummeted most dramatically in the last 18 months.

– As the dollar falls against the euro and other major currencies, oil-exporting states have been demanding more dollars per barrels of oil to protect their ability to meet expenses paid in euros and other currencies.
– Global institutional investors have tried to protect themselves against further declines in the dollar by moving money into commodity future that are denominated in dollars so that their investments remain stable when the dollar falls. The increased demand for these commodities artificially pushes up prices.

But why is the dollar so devalued? CAP’s report traces the bulk of the dollar’s decline to seven recent cuts in the Federal Funds Rate over the past nine months by the Federal Reserve. The lower the interest paid on a currency, the less likely foreign investors will will be to invest in instruments denominated in that currency, and the more likely U.S. investors will want to search for better returns overseas.

What’s most interesting is that under a devalued currency, oil companies stand to gain significantly in comparison to other businesses. Denominated in dollars, energy companies increase in value proportionately to the dollar’s decline. Exxon Mobil, for example, one of the nation’s largest oil companies, has seen its share price increase in precise parallel to the appreciation in the price of a barrel of crude oil. The government’s monetary policy, along with the weak dollar, not only create winners and losers in terms of consumers and businesses, but also benefit certain businesses far more than others.

[Phil1]

Re: 2007 Bush dollars

2007 Gold started at $600 and finished the year at $800 per oz.

Sept 22, 2010 Gold in Obama dollars is $1,292 today's quote.

The elevator is going up.

I'll take all the Bush dollars you got.

[GeneV]

Re: 2007 Bush dollars

2007 Gold started at $600 and finished the year at $800 per oz.

Sept 22, 2010 Gold in Obama dollars is $1,292 today's quote.

The elevator is going up.

I'll take all the Bush dollars you got.

I suppose that if you need gold, that is true, but if you actually want to buy something useful from another country, maybe not.

I just took a trip to Europe than cost almost 20% less in Obama dollars than the last one did in Bush Dollars.

[troglodyte]

Phil,
That's democrats for you. They'd rather live a life of illusion that a savior will come leaving the rest of us bad people in their form of secular 'rapture'. That's the real change they got. But there's still all this bigotry and racism everywhere

---------- Post added 09-22-10 at 01:50 PM ----------

as their boogeyman. They don't want him to go away. Like in my other thread, dems refuse to even talk to us, the enemy. We are automatically labeled scum. It doesn't matter our reasons for being one.Dems never get treated like that by us voting republican

---------- Post added 09-22-10 at 01:55 PM ----------

Somehow being a democrat is the elite way of thinking. If there are more dems, how is that elite? Dems are about as elite as the common crow and just as loud. Maybe the evangelical republican is the same. Those are very few, along with the 'teabaggers'.

---------- Post added 09-22-10 at 01:58 PM ----------

Kind of ironic? A term to poke fun at gays by the right, used by the left as a hateful term. Gays will sue over it. But we right only laugh! Very ironic. So who's really the enlightened one?

[jeffkrol]

Phil,
That's democrats for you. They'd rather live a life of illusion that a savior will come leaving the rest of us bad people in their form of secular 'rapture'. That's the real change they got.
But there's still all this bigotry and racism everywhere as their boogeyman. They don't want him to go away. Like in my other thread, dems refuse to even talk to us, the enemy. We are automatically labeled scum.
It doesn't matter our reasons for being one.Dems never get treated like that by us voting republicanSomehow being a democrat is the elite way of thinking. If there are more dems, how is that elite? Dems are about as elite as the common crow and just as loud.
Maybe the evangelical republican is the same. Those are very few, along with the 'teabaggers'Kind of ironic? A term to poke fun at gays by the right, used by the left as a hateful term. Gays will sue over it. But we right only laugh! Very ironic. So who's really the enlightened one?

I doubt even your republican "ilk" could agree w/ even half of this really misguided rant............. BTW: Your not scum, maybe disillusioned and incorrect, but scun no... of course unless you believe Pre-x conditions in a newborn is equal to a car wreck. Then your scum............ no matter what "cloth" you wear.

[GeneV]

Why is it that the only people who think the President is a "messiah" are Republicans?

[troglodyte]

GeneV,
It's not republicans who came up with him being the messiah, it was the democrats. We republicans just ran with it to poke fun. There was even a blog showing the miracles he did in his life called 'Obama Messiah.'

[jeffkrol]

"I'm not running for president because I think I'm blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save our country in its hour of need," McCain said in accepting the nomination. But this line -- which I took as a continuation of his attempt to paint Obama as some kind of self-proclaimed Chosen One -- came right after a lengthy recounting of the horrors McCain lived through as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. In effect, he had used his personal experience to anoint himself.

Eugene Robinson - McCain as Messiah - washingtonpost.com
Problem is we have no Limburger to hammer something home until it becomes truthy.......
your starting to confuse your own spun w/ facts... OH WAIT that's the idea..........
Bloggers for John McCain: The McCain Messiah
OK let's start here......

Much has been said about the Barack Obama's near mythical status among people of the left and Europeans. The Left, Europeans, Newspaper reporters and Celebrities swoon over him. As we all know, this prompted the McCain Celebrity ad. Of course, there are those who think that that the Obama hype has gone beyond celebrity status to something more epic. Rush Limbaugh jokingly pokes fun of Obama calling him the Messiah.

then get to here........

The funny part is that Obama supporters genuinely believe he is.

Just check out any of the Obama Campaign schwag you see out in the area. It's not just a "Vote Obama" sticker or "Obama/Biden 08". It's Obama's face in Che fashionista style above a single word, a profound concept such as HOPE, CHANGE or BELIEVE. It's almost as if the message they are trying to convey is that Obama like Jesus, Krishna, Buddha or Ganesh is more than just a politician. Obama is the entity that can deliver these philosophical concepts to you and give you inner peace. Check out this Obama Messiah blog. It is a hilarious collection of Obama deity imagery and religious comments from his backers.

Now, personally I know that Obama is not the reincarnation of any deity. But honestly if anyone deserves Messiah billing it is probably McCain.

Bloggers for John McCain: The McCain Messiah

Then there's Saint Beck.......
[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O84_7QG7clE[/YT]