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Obama addresses the nation after first ever credit downgrade [open thread]

He’s about 50 minutes late so far, but honestly, isn’t that about par for the course?

While we wait, enjoy these video flashbacks:

We’ve lost a couple trillion in asset values in the market in the last handful of days. Is it too late to admit that we hope he fails?

205 Replies to “Obama addresses the nation after first ever credit downgrade [open thread]”

  1. cranky-d says:

    He’s giving another speech? Geez Louise.

  2. alppuccino says:

    So he’s going for “asshole”. May have seen that coming.

  3. Pablo says:

    We didn’t need a rating agency to tell us what he clearly didn’t recognize when he demanded a clean ceiling increase and submitted a budget that did nothing to address the debt or rein in spending. Lying right out of the gate.

    I wish I were surprised.

  4. Jeff G. says:

    Yup. He blames S&P and the TEA Party.

    Had we simply just spent an additional 2.5 Trillion with no cuts, all would be honky-dory.

    Delusional. He’s going to crash the market.

  5. Jeff G. says:

    He says “default” used as a bargaining chip for spending cuts. A default that wouldn’t have happened. A “default” he has now conflated with “government shut down”. Because without government, all vanishes.

    Lie. Lie. Lie.

    Lie. Lie. Lie.

    Saying something over and over again, and the media dutifully reporting the lie, makes it truth. Consensus!

  6. Pablo says:

    “I intend to present my own recommendations over the coming weeks on how we should proceed.”

    How about NOW, you fucking moron? How about you at least act like you give a shit and have been thinking about this?

    No, let’s wait weeks for The Emperor’s New Plan v0.0.

  7. sdferr says:

    We saw the unemployment “insurance” benefits extensions pushed last week. Heartless Republicans will resist of course, and be damned.

  8. Pablo says:

    We’ve been going through a tough time ever since you were inaugurated.

  9. Pablo says:

    Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism!

  10. alppuccino says:

    We need a fast and furious resignation.

  11. the wolf says:

    He’s hitting all the usual notes: Can’t cut spending anymore (really? wtf?), rich people not paying their fair share, blames the tsunami in Japan (again, really?), etc. The best part was when he claimed the markets are responding positively. He must mean the Bizarro Market.

  12. Jeff G. says:

    It’s politics and ideology, not over-spending, that caused this, Obama says.

    Okay. CC&B and a flat tax that takes away tax loopholes for yacht owners, private jet owners, and millionaires and billionaires and lets everyone pay their “fair share” should be packaged by the GOP right now and passed through the House.

    Perhaps the Democrats will even manage a vote in the Senate. Or a budget. Or something.

  13. DarthLevin says:

    If we taxed everybody in the country at 100%, how much would we still owe?

    Taxes ain’t the problem.

  14. Jeff G. says:

    We can’t cut spending anymore?

    How about we start with some before we start complaining that we can’t cut any more.

    Honestly. He’s now decided to go for the kill. He’s going to bring the whole stinkin’ thing down.

  15. Joe says:

    BARACKALYPSE NOW

  16. Brian L. says:

    Boy howdy, after watching that steaming pile of poo, one can conclude that either (a) Barack Oblahma and his White House are SO FAR out of touch with the rest of America, that they really don’t have a clue what needs to happen in order to get our financial house in order, or

    (b) they’re crashing the country on purpose.

    G-d help us.

  17. Joe says:

    “Why ? Why would a nice guy like you wanna kill a genius ?
    You know that the man really likes you. He likes you, he
    really likes you. He’s got something in mind for you. Aren’t
    you curious about that ? I’m curious, I’m very curious. You
    curious ?There’s something happening out there, man.
    You know something, man, I know something that you don’t
    know. That’s right, jack. The man is clear in his mind, but his
    soul is mad . Oh yeah. He’s dying, I think. He hates all
    this, he hates it! But … the man’s … uh … he reads poetry out
    loud, alright? … And a voice! A voice. … He likes you because
    you’re still alive. He’s got plans for you. Nah, nah, I’m not
    going to help you, you’re going to help him, man. You’re going
    to help him. I mean, what are they going to say, man, when he’s
    gone, huh? Because he dies, when it dies, man, when it
    dies, he dies. What are they going to say about him? What, are
    they going to say, he was a kind man, he was a wise man, he had
    plans, he had wisdom? Bullsh-t, man! Am I going to be the one,
    that’s going to set them straight? Look at me: wrong! … You!”

    I am not sure if that is Tim Geithner or Jay Carney speaking.

  18. the wolf says:

    “It’s politics and ideology, not over-spending, that caused this, Obama says.”

    Well, he’s right insofar as HIS politics and ideology (ie, overspending) did cause this mess.

  19. cranky-d says:

    So, how much time do we have, a few years, or a few months?

  20. Pablo says:

    We’d better have a year and a half, or it’s Planet Of The Apes, oldschool.

  21. happyfeet says:

    the man has less credibilitah than Bernie Madoff wtf can he possibly say?

  22. sdferr says:

    So this is what it’s like to be in the water four hundred miles off-shore, having just seen your ship go to the bottom. Glad it’s summertime.

  23. happyfeet says:

    whatever he’s saying it’s making it worse

    this is nonsense

  24. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Did we just get told to eat our peas?

  25. LBascom says:

    I didn’t see it(I have a weak stomach for lying liars) but Linbaugh said he looked grim.

    What I want to know is, was it black haired Obama the dynamo that showed up, or the greying Obama the serious statesman?

    We need to consider the extreme stress and emotional punishment this great man is enduring for us. What color was his hair? THE PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW!!

  26. Jeff G. says:

    MORE STIMULUS PROPOSALS COMING!

    By the way, the credit downgrade is a kind of tax increase. So what he’s calling for is an increase on top of that.

    Will the media report the numbers — that all the millionaires and billionaires in the country, should we confiscate all their wealth, couldn’t run this country for even a year?

  27. cranky-d says:

    Lee, I feel so bad about how the office is aging Obama that I think he should resign for his children’s sake. They need a father.

  28. alppuccino says:

    that all the millionaires and billionaires in the country, should we confiscate all their wealth, couldn’t run this country for even a year?

    But I bet Michelle could cobble together a fabulous outfit.

  29. sdferr says:

    We might be better off using the frozen-pea bag as a salve for the headache.

  30. cranky-d says:

    So, what is everyone going to be planting in their garden? Remember to keep it hidden from plain view so the authorities won’t arrest you for competing with Federally subsidized farmers.

  31. sdferr says:

    heh

    Sorry, something went wrong.

    A team of highly trained monkeys has been dispatched to deal with this situation.
    If you see them, show them this information:

    could be said of Obama’s speech today

  32. Squid says:

    The president also said that “no matter what some agency may say, we’ve always been and always will be a triple-A country.”

    Someday, we may graduate to the majors. But not until we get some better talent on the roster.

  33. bh says:

    Market is fucking melting down.

  34. LBascom says:

    I’m pretty sure all my neighbors are growing, ummm…hemp, so I think I’ll stick with veggies.

    Just for diversity of diet.

  35. Joe says:

    Barack Obama: Debt Man Walking!

  36. sdferr says:

    ????? ????? ??? ?????????

  37. Ernst Schreiber says:

    I think the Joker just announced that the inmates have seized control of Arkham.

  38. Squid says:

    RAAAAACIST!

  39. Jeff G. says:

    You think Rick Moran’s white guilt has been assuaged enough that he might actually admit what’s going on?

    Or do you think he’ll stick with blaming we Visigoths?

  40. LBascom says:

    It occurs to me a market crash and the resultant gnashing of teeth would be a good excuse for Obama to nationalize our 401K’s.

    For our own good of course…

  41. Roddy Boyd says:

    Jeff,

    What would David Brooks do?

    [I had originally put in David Gergen but then realized how old that makes me look. BTW, do you remember when Gergen was the “right,” as in Gergen-Shields, on the Macneil-Lehrer show?]

  42. Jeff G. says:

    Limbaugh thinks the fed reserve might be buying futures to try to manipulate the news and show a market rebound on calls for tax increases.

  43. Jeff G. says:

    Except he’s making them worthless, Lee.

    Roddy —

    What would David Brooks do? Besides blame the TEA Party, you mean?

    I dunno. Have a scone?

  44. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Easier to blame the Visigoths than to face what needs facing, don’t you think?

  45. LBascom says:

    “Except he’s making them worthless, Lee.”,/i>

    From our point of view, yes. From his point of view there’s a whole lotta revenue being contributed to pension plans every month…

  46. motionview says:

    That was a tour-de-force of quality lying. Where is the Republican Rapid Response Team? There should have been a press conference within the past half hour by Boehner refuting the lies Barack Obama just disgorged onto the American people.

  47. Pablo says:

    Will the media report the numbers — that all the millionaires and billionaires in the country, should we confiscate all their wealth, couldn’t run this country for even a year?

    Run the country? It wouldn’t close this year’s deficit, if memory serves.

  48. DarthLevin says:

    Memorandum From The Future, Episode 22:

    From: Barack Obama, President of the Unites States
    To: OFA Regional Heads, Richard Trumka (AFL-CIO), Mary Kay Henry (SEIU)

    Dear Comrades,

    Execute Order 66.

    Love,
    Barack

  49. Jeff, one minor correction, if you took all the income of the highest earning Americans this year it wouldn’t fund the operation of our reditributive progressive paradise. However, if you took all their wealth, you almost certainly could, ceteris parabis. Of course, it would almost certainly be ceteris non parabis as the stock market would no longer have any meaning, nor would all those coupon to be clipped, or trust frunds, etc. If someone did effectively eat the rich by taking all their wealth, I wouldn’t want to be around as they next decide it has become necessary to eat the middle class because the rich are all gone.

  50. LBascom says:

    I mean, 401’s becoming worthless is a selling point for a scheme to seize them.

  51. Jeff G. says:

    Yes, income, charles. But even all of their wealth wouldn’t do it, if we look at net worth.

    Trillions are a lot, it turns out.

  52. DarthLevin says:

    Plus, a lot of what makes the wealth “wealth” is who is holding it. Berkshire Hathaway is worth a whole lot because Warren Buffett owns it. Give it to Romena from down the trailer park? Not worth so much now, is it?

    Also, that assumes the wealth holders would meekly turn it over. Government comes to commandeer my house? I’ll burn it down rather than let those moochers have it.

  53. sdferr says:

    The psychological folderal from Limbaugh’s last caller (Peggy) doesn’t help with the anger issues. Exacerbates them, really. More stupid! Yeah, that’s the ticket.

    I just saw a headline that claimed the Dow was down 600pts, but that doesn’t look right

    Someone wrote a piece a few days back that showed how everytime Obama talks he fails to persuade. Fits here anyhow.

  54. The president also said that “no matter what some agency may say, we’ve always been and always will be a triple-A country.”

    The first step in any recovery program is to admit that you have a problem, not to attack all those who have noted your deleterious habits and bad results. Clearly, we haven’t hit bottom yet, so the desire to get another debt fix continues unabated by the bleak and predictable future ahead of us.

    Everybody’s misused him, ripped him up and abused him.
    Another junkie plan, pushin’ debt for the man.
    The Fed is on the corner now.
    If you wanna be a junkie, why?

  55. LBascom says:

    “But even all of their wealth wouldn’t do it, if we look at net worth.”

    Especially after they adjusted the budget baseline.

  56. motionview says:

    Who knew Obama’s self-grade of a solid B+ was actually an aspiration? Keep talkin’, Sparky, you’ll get us there.

  57. JD says:

    The market tanked while Barcky was up there pointing fingers, lying, and yammering on and on and on about taxing the fuck out of the actual taxpayers.

  58. happyfeet says:

    America will always be a AAA country in our hearts

    and isn’t that what matters?

    Jesus God he’s useless.

  59. Jeff G. says:

    If Obama insists it, then it’s true.

    Consensus!

  60. LBascom says:

    Uh oh. Israeli spring? (via Ace)

  61. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Now that the fire is burning so brightly, I am so looking forward to the emperor’s serenade!

  62. MissFixit says:

    gah ! i’m sitting here at work so i can’t watch tv, what the heck is going on?
    Is it like Jimmy Carter’s malaise or is it more of a demonizing thing?

  63. motionview says:

    From Boehner’s missing rapid response press conference:

    Let me tell you what S&P can’to say, and Obama obviously won’t: this economy is not improving until there is a new occupant in the Oval Office. These extreme borrow, tax, and spend Democrat policies just kill economies. Do you want to put people back to work? Start by firing Barack Obama.

  64. mojo says:

    A “they-a culpa” indeed.

    As I think I said back in 2008, not long after Captain Kickass was introduced to the water-brained public: “Pussy boy, straight up.”

    Google it!

  65. Followed the Israeli Spring Link: At least a quarter of a million Israelis have staged marches over the rising cost of living reality not being to their liking.

    I think we’ve reached the bread and circuses phase of the empire.

  66. sdferr says:

    I think we’ve reached the bread and circuses phase of the empire.

    There is no spoon. Or, the phase we see playing out is the dissolution of the authority of progressivism, due to the patent inconsistency betwixt the pretense of its claims to knowledge of political right and right as it appears in actual political events. Progressivism simply has no answers to these contradictions. So it flails.

  67. JHoward says:

    Limbaugh thinks the fed reserve might be buying futures to try to manipulate the news and show a market rebound on calls for tax increases.

    Free markets!

    Anyway, in times like these, madness will rule as those who can squeeze every last drop out of, as it ends up, the taxpayer.

  68. Ernst Schreiber says:

    We hit bread and circuses with the New Deal; or at least the bread part of it. The circuses they’re still trying to perfect. No, the biggest change is that our Patrons are less and less likely to hide their contempt behind a mask of condescension.

  69. LBascom says:

    “gah ! i’m sitting here at work so i can’t watch tv, what the heck is going on?”

    MissFixit, From what I gather it was a rah rah, “America is AAA whatever anyone says”, President Present patriot pontiff inspiration speach. Explaining “we all know what needs to be done” without elaboration on this key and brilliant point.

    The salient point was, it ain’t his fault, and he practically begged Congress to ignore those dangerous T people and get ‘er done, but alas, his heroic efforts were thwarted and it ain’t his fault.

    I hope this helps.

  70. Jeff G. says:

    No, LBascom, there was nothing inspirational about it. It was partisan doubling down. It was a mess.

  71. sdferr says:

    Dan Mitchell tries valiantly to find a way to coax America to remove the plastic bag from its head.

  72. LBascom says:

    “there was nothing inspirational about it”

    You only say that because you are a racist hobbit terrorist.

  73. newrouter says:

    so i’m reading petey whining today:

    I will tell you ladies and gentlemen, I detest and despise everything the left stands for,” Tea Party Nation CEO Judson Phillips said at a Saturday rally in Wisconsin in support of one of the six Republican state senators facing a recall election Tuesday. “How anybody can endorse and embrace an ideology that has killed a billion people in the last century is beyond me.”

    Many of us who are conservative have real concerns about modern-day liberalism. But the notion liberalism is responsible for killing a billion people in the 20th century is grossly irresponsible and ludicrous. I assume Phillips is saying American liberalism is synonymous with Nazism and Communism, that it is the animating ideology of Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Idi Amin?, Saddam Hussein, the Khmer Rouge, the Hutu militia, and countless other 20th century genocidal killers and movements.

    (Link)

    then over at newbusters this

    Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, and Aric McBay, leaders of a radical environmental movement known as Deep Green Resistance, argued that in order to save the planet industrial civilization must be destroyed, and that humanity must return to living the primitive lifestyles found in indigenous cultures. To accomplish these goals, McBay called for people to “break down the structures that are destroying the planet.”

    Keith concurred with McBay, citing a laundry list of evils to be opposed and ultimately destroyed. She declared that “we need a culture that is self-consciously oppositional to things like corporate power, capitalism, industrialization and ultimately civilization, because that is the arrangement of power on this planet right now.”

    (Link)

  74. DarthLevin says:

    The Fed might be buying futures to try and show a market rebound??

    Buying futures with what?

    Oh yeah, John-boy Boehner’s super-duper debt-ceiling increase thingy.

    WINNING!

  75. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Three, four thousand years from now, they’ll tell the story of Ba-Ra Kabombas, the boy-king who turned everything he touched into shit.

  76. Jeff G. says:

    They could just be printing new money, Darth.

  77. MissFixit says:

    MissFixit, From what I gather it was a rah rah, “America is AAA whatever anyone says”, President Present patriot pontiff inspiration speach.

    Oh god you’re kidding me right?

    So I called a guy today to start grading the backyard and getting it ready for planting. Next spring, I’m gonna be the jolly green giant. I know potatoes aren’t the best for making vodka, but I don’t have enough room to start a sugar cane field.

    so did any of the geniuses on the right come up with a response yet?

  78. sdferr says:

    I’m beginning to fear that even such a great marketer as David Axelrod will soon figure out that trotting his boyking out in front of the cameras won’t do with a view to securing the boyking’s reelection next year, and certainly he may (figure it out) if the markets themselves insist on demonstrating their contempt for Obama’s pretenses at veracity and earnest concern for the nation’s fiscal health. Damn, and here I thought my strategy would work.

    Ha.

  79. bh says:

    I’m looking at the S&P 500 right now just before close and there are 2 gainers with 498 decliners.

    That’s goddamn broad.

  80. Ernst Schreiber says:

    I think Obama/Biden would lose to Giant Douche/Turd Sandwich at this point.

  81. MissFixit says:

    Ok I seriously thought this was a joke

    happyfeet posted on 8/8 @ 1:06 pm
    America will always be a AAA country in our hearts

    and isn’t that what matters?

    Jesus God he’s useless.

    BUT THEN… I saw it on the yahoo front page. O. M. G.

  82. cranky-d says:

    Bestest President Evah!

  83. Jeff G. says:

    Shouldn’t we be calling for Obama to resign? President Biden might just be too stupid to find the Oval Office, so nothing new would be signed.

    Wow. Down 630+.

    HOPE AND CHANGE!

  84. bh says:

    Congratulations to National Semiconductor. Up a whopping .12%.

    The ONLY gainer in the entire S&P 500.

  85. Slartibartfast says:

    Fuck me sideways.

    That is all.

  86. Slartibartfast says:

    Right now a AAA rating just means that our brokedown country needs AAA roadside assistance.

  87. sdferr says:

    Our representatives are nominally back in their districts (though they may be elsewhere on vacation too). Still, wherever they may be, today and everyday they should be hearing from us.

    A nice note a day, gisting, something on the order of “Get it together cutting spending motherfucker and do it soon or your defeat is going to be guaranteed” or “Support the Mack Penny Plan, jerkwater, just do it now!” may help them understand the situation better.

  88. Carin says:

    Someone hold me

  89. Carin says:

    The markets are racist. I see no other answer.

  90. LBascom says:

    Sdferr, I’m pretty sure at this point calling your congressman will just necessitate the hiring of more staffers, whereby they will need a further budget increase. But not to worry, it won’t be as much as you think. So…

    CUTS!!

  91. Pablo says:

    Shouldn’t we be calling for Obama to resign? President Biden might just be too stupid to find the Oval Office, so nothing new would be signed.

    Now that would be a Big Fucking Deal.

  92. sdferr says:

    doublehehs

  93. newrouter says:

    A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 17% of Likely U.S. Voters think the federal government today has the consent of the governed. Sixty-nine percent (69%) believe the government does not have that consent. Fourteen percent (14%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

    The number of voters who feel the government has the consent of the governed – a foundational principle, contained in the Declaration of Independence – is down from 23% in early May and has fallen to its lowest level measured yet.

    Link

  94. B. Moe says:

    I recommend zuchinis Missfixit. Ridiculously easy to grow and very high yield.

    The liquor may taste funny but you will have a lot of it.

  95. serr8d says:

    635 points off the Dow.

    Whatever he said, wasn’t good enough.

    I’d welcome President Biden for the short-term. This one needs resign.

  96. sdferr says:

    Transcript of EmpLamDukO’s historic remarks today.

  97. Diana says:

    Canada balanced its budget.

    I hope he fails. The bastard just cost me 6% of my retirement funds … it’s the ripple effect. Fire him now before he takes us all over the cliff.

  98. Pablo says:

    Shouldn’t we be calling for Obama to resign?

    That won’t be taken seriously, and they’ll immediately counter with that McConnell “one term” quote. No, I think the proper message here is an old one: “Lead, follow or get out of the way.”

  99. newrouter says:

    “Lead, follow or get out of the way.”

    how does that work when he’s “leading from behind”

  100. Slartibartfast says:

    Does that imply we’re following from in front?

    There’s something assfuckish about that, maybe.

  101. dicentra says:

    At a meeting in the bank where I work, they proposed a moment of silence for the stock market, half in jest.

    And then they all gave thanks for not being Bank of America.

  102. dicentra says:

    The bastard just cost me 6% of my retirement funds

    I’d like to move my 401K funds elsewhere (like Canada, or into copper), but I don’t know how to do it legally or without taking an over-large hit.

    Anyone know how?

  103. Ernst Schreiber says:

    635 points off the Dow.

    Those crazy-ass racist, sexist, bigoted, homophobic, hostage-taking, suicide-bombing, tea-bagging, TERRORIST markets!

    They’ll do ANYTHING to embarrass Obama.

  104. JD says:

    2 more speeches from Teh Won and the Dow will go below 10,000.

  105. Mueller says:

    Carin posted on 8/8 @ 2:14 pm
    Someone hold me

    Someone shoot me. I’m watching what’s left of what I’ve saved a lifetime for circle the drain.

    It’s like a nightmare I can’t wake up from.

  106. Ernst Schreiber says:

    The bastard just cost me 6% of my retirement funds

    I’d like to move my 401K funds elsewhere (like Canada, or into copper), but I don’t know how to do it legally or without taking an over-large hit.

    Why are you ladies worrying about retirement? Didn’t Michelle say something about you having to work in Obama’s America?

  107. Diana says:

    @110 … it’s all fine if you’re young and firm. Us old broads are making jam and pickles.

  108. Carin says:

    all this nasty talk. Poor Obama’s gonna have another sleepless night.

  109. Carin says:

    Didn’t Michelle say something about you having to work in Obama’s America?

    Unless, of course, you’re on public assistance. then you can just keep sitting on your ass.

  110. Carin says:

    I read these words:

    Last week, we reached an agreement that will make historic cuts to defense and domestic spending. But there’s not much further we can cut in either of those categories. What we need to do now is combine those spending cuts with two additional steps: tax reform that will ask those who can afford it to pay their fair share and modest adjustments to health care programs like Medicare.

    and I just want to break stuff.

  111. cranky-d says:

    If everyone’s retirement savings get wiped out, we’ll all have to be on the dole. Perhaps that’s the goal here.

  112. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Nah. Pretty soon they’re going to get those people organized; start handing out uniforms, have them live communally so they recognize the bonds they share, make sure that they get plenty of drill and fatigue duty exercise.

    It’s the work that’ll make us free…

  113. dicentra says:

    pay their fair share

    That’s Obama talking, right? Not even the Establicans use that phrase.

  114. dicentra says:

    we’ll all have to be on the dole. Perhaps that’s the goal here.

    Been drinking the Glenn Beck Kool-Aid, I see.

  115. Pablo says:

    Frances Fox-Piven must be absolutely giddy.

  116. newrouter says:

    frances fox-piven must enjoy seeing the youts peacifully assembling

  117. Crawford says:

    *sigh*

    I’ve been looking for some “get the hell out of the ‘burbs” land, for the sake of my sanity and as a hedge against the Zombie Apocalypse, and found a patch that has promise — decent price, reasonable amount of land, location is Just Right…

    But the county it’s in voted 90% for Obama in 2008.

    I don’t know if I could trust people so dedicated to being Eaters.

    I know potatoes aren’t the best for making vodka, but I don’t have enough room to start a sugar cane field.

    Have you considered sorghum, MissFixIt?

  118. McGehee says:

    I wouldn’t be able to dig it up for a link even if it mattered, but some yahoo posted a comment somewhere yesterday or the day before, to the effect, “Obama is less damaged goods than the next Catholic saint.”

    Unless the next Catholic saint is Joe Biden, I don’t see it.

  119. Seth says:

    You have to admit, it takes a HUGE set of balls to come out as solidly anti-growth after a credit downgrade.

  120. Seth says:

    Actually, the Dow is down 1800 over the last month (a full 1/3 of that from today alone). A lot to wrap one’s head around. It lost 5.55% of its value, in one day.

  121. happyfeet says:

    nothing wrong with a little profit-taking

  122. MissFixit says:

    sorghum probably requires more land than I have…plus I don’t want to have to plow. zucchini! there’s a thought…I wonder how zucchini vodka would taste in a bloody mary. interesting.

    I’m still trying to figure out the logistics on how much of the head and tail end of the process to dump. I wouldn’t want to go blind from my own craftiness. :/

  123. happyfeet says:

    Mr. Locke was fond of a particular crooked-necked yellow squash I remember

  124. newrouter says:

    how is vodka made? i’d bing it but am lazy and shiftless.

  125. sdferr says:

    oy hf, he might hunt you down for that one

  126. newrouter says:

    spooky dude?

    Someone dropped a bomb on the bond market Thursday – a $1 billion Armageddon trade betting the United States will lose its AAA credit rating. In one moment, an invisible trader placed a single trade that moved the most liquid debt market in the world. The massive trade wasn’t placed in bonds themselves; it was placed in the futures market. The trade was for block trades of 5,370 10-year Treasury futures executed at 124-03 and 3,100 Treasury bond futures executed at 125-01.”

    Link

  127. happyfeet says:

    I always think of him now when I eat those … mostly I like them in a pasta primavera I make sometimes out of that anthony’s cut fideo I get in the hood

  128. sdferr says:

    But I meant to say Ric Santelli fired off another epic rant [3:08 in] this morning on SquawkBox

  129. newrouter says:

    anthony’s cut fideo???

  130. happyfeet says:

    it’s a hispanic thing

  131. bh says:

    I just can’t watch those shows, sdferr.

    And I can watch some seriously bad television.

    (I like Santelli on occasion myself but he’s like tragic, yet delicious corn there. He needs to figure out a way to present himself in a non-shit environment.)

  132. bh says:

    Nikkei is about to tank.

  133. sdferr says:

    I know what you mean bh, the length and breadth of SqBx is pretty hard to take. Which is one reason I thanks the lord for inventing the tivo controller. As it happened I got to hear something of Sean Egan and Ken Rogoff, neither of whom I’d payed much attention to before. Egan went so far as to make the case that we’re standing on the verge of a great economic blooming, which, hey, from his lips to God’s ears as they say. Me, I think it may be so but’s gonna be awhile afore it gets here.

  134. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Ernst Soros Blofeld struck again newrouter?

  135. Bob Reed says:

    It’s a staggering spectacle to hear the President of the United States lie so unabashedly. He’s blaming it on the “brinksmanship of the Tea Party”, for getting too close to defaulting on the debt. Saying that’s what caused the downgrade.

    But that never happened ! They arrived at essentially the deal he wanted a priori! And the market still declined. Afterward

    The S&P letter from Friday clearly said it was essentially because the long-term debt problem wasn’t addressed aggresively enough (paraphrase). If they’d passed Paul Ryan’s budget from April, that cut 6 trillion over 10 years, or effin’ CC&B there’d have been no downgrade.

    It’s stupefying that anyone would take O!-blah-blah seriously.

  136. Bob Reed says:

    Even O’Reilly is saying how utterly ridiculous it is to blame the Tea Party for the downgrade; when it’s clearly the result of Obama’s failed economic policies.

    O-blah-blah said the same ol’ shinola; give out loans, shovel ready, blah-dee-blah…

  137. bh says:

    Down over 300, 3.5% already.

    The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire.

  138. Seth says:

    MissFixit: not sure how Vodka is made, but I’ll guess it involves some serious starch/sugars. Mayhaps some of the squashes would work (Baby Boo pumkins sprin to mind…tiny albino pumkins that are quite sweet, seem to grow fairly prolifically). At any rate, Baby Boos are good eating steamed, and nice in a curry.

  139. sdferr says:

    Yep Bob, in President Downgrade’s view of history, his budget submission last spring never happened. Just didn’t. At all. What are you thinking? And that 97 – 0 vote against it? What, have you lost your mind? What a fantasy you Republicans live in! Never happened. By omission. Ever. Didn’t. Not. No. Fantasists!

  140. LBascom says:

    Uh oh, Limey spring?

  141. Roddy Boyd says:

    This POTUS is going to be known for three things.
    1. The WWI quality epic assault on American business and financial norms
    2. The long term destruction of the Left as a politically viable entity
    3. Some of the greatest stock buying opportunities in history (assuming he gives three or four more speeches.)

  142. Seth says:

    MisFixit: have you considered sugar beets for your Vodka making adventures? Those will work, if you can grow them. Actually, potatoes are easy to grow…they do well in most CONUS zones, and take less space than you might think.

  143. newrouter says:

    “Uh oh, Limey spring?”

    more like “the coming inserrection “

  144. mongo78 says:

    The collapse is finally picking up speed. Bit of a relief, actually. Armageddon was taking, like, forever, to get here.

  145. Crawford says:

    Uh oh, Limey spring?

    Except it’s not an “Asian” area that’s rioting. It’s a Caribbean/African area.

    Apparently a cab driver with a sideline in guns decided to take a shot at a cop, and didn’t survive the resulting exchange of retorts. The next day, at a rally/memorial/instigation, a yute decided to take exception to a cop giving her the eye, somebody texted out that the yute had been assaulted by police, and then other yutes decided to help themselves to the stock at local shops and, on occasion, firebomb them as well.

  146. Seth says:

    Obviously a case of too much bread, not enough circuses.

  147. newrouter says:

    london’s burning

    00.09 Wimbledon Guardian reports looters in Colliers Wood had to be rescued by firecrews after becoming trapped under the grill of a sportswear shop. In Chalk Farm, North London, the Guardian’s Paul Lewis reports motorists are being attacked with bricks, with shouts of “Who’s next, man?” There are youths in balaclavas carrying scaffolding poles. One shouted: “Let’s go rob Hampstead.” Countless shops have been looted.

    00.01 Police have called in air support from Sussex and Surrey. Shops are burning in Clapham and Notting Hill. Cars have been torched in Fulham Broadway. The Ledbury Michelin-star restaurant in Notting Hill was raided and the diners mugged. There are reports on Twitter of people carrying machetes in Notting Hill and Balham

    Link

  148. Crawford says:

    In Chalk Farm, North London, the Guardian’s Paul Lewis reports motorists are being attacked with bricks, with shouts of “Who’s next, man?”

    Fuck. It’s definitely spread, then. Chalk Farm is miles away from Tottenham. It seems to have skipped over Finsbury Park, though… odd…

    There are reports on Twitter of people carrying machetes in Notting Hill and Balham

    Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…

    Oh, England, why did you disarm your people? Did you want another Rwanda in London?!

  149. B. Moe says:

    Vodka is ideally pure alcohol cut to the disired proof with distilled water and as flavorless as possible, so you can make it out of anything. I have heard of prisoners making it from bread. The key is stopping the distilling process at the proper moment. Alcohol is produced from sugar, so the higher the sugar content of the raw material the higher the yield.

  150. Crawford says:

    the higher the sugar content of the raw material the higher the yield.

    To the tolerance limit of the yeast; eventually the alcohol will kill the yeast, or at least shut it down. There are guides to how much sugar you need initially to reach a final alcohol %; find a yeast that’s easy to keep alive and reaches a decent alcohol level (wine yeasts are more tolerant than beer/ale yeasts), aim for just under it’s tolerance, and that will get you the best return on the sugar.

    Distilling, of course, is not legal for someone without all the proper government forms filled out…

  151. newrouter says:

    All rioters were there solely for their own gain. Forget what you’ve heard, this wasn’t for a cause, this wasn’t for society or even because of social media. This was just pure aggression and monetary gain. We overheard so many rioters conversations “Tottenham aint got nothing on us” one said, another “we’re gunna loot till we drop”. This was backed up by what looked like an 11 year old child running away with a plasma TV at one point, which was possibly the most surreal thing I’ve ever seen.

    Link

  152. Crawford says:

    Jesus:

    02.03 A enormous blaze has engulfed Sainsbury’s depot in Waltham Abbey, Essex. The warehousing appears to be the size of a football pitch and the entire store is ablaze and pouring thick black smoke. It is one of the major food depots for central London.

    Also:

    01.50 Sources: A male looter, aged around 60, has been thrown through a shop window in Croydon.

    For this one, I say “good, and may he bleed out before help arrives”.

  153. Crawford says:

    This was backed up by what looked like an 11 year old child running away with a plasma TV at one point, which was possibly the most surreal thing I’ve ever seen.

    Dude wasn’t paying attention during Katrina, LA, or the Cincy riots, was he?

    The left tries hard to give them some deep meaning, but riots are just the barbarians running amok. There is no “cause” behind any of them beyond “take what you can, burn what you can’t”.

    And I have to wonder, behind the property damage that makes gripping TV, how many rapes and beatings are going on as well.

  154. Crawford says:

    Oh, and the Telegraph live page has a charming tweet from a Labour MP trying to play the “this is because of injustice” card and trying to parallel this with “bankers looting”.

    Idiot. I hope his home is torched as well.

  155. Darleen says:

    Distilling, of course, is not legal for someone without all the proper government forms filled out…

    Really? Hmmm… I seem to recall my dad telling me about some of my kin in Floyd County, Kentucky that might take exception to that …

  156. Darleen says:

    Crawford

    and, re: looting, there is something about it that just chaps my …

    I was 11 at the time of the Watts riots and my dad worked downtown and we lived over the hill in The Valley. The look of rage on my dad’s face, the look of fear on my mom’s. As my dad said, he grew up amongst those that were rioting and he had no sympathy at all for any but the smallest kids who couldn’t escape.

  157. sdferr says:

    Get a load of this on the London environ rioting. What’s the fix? More spending! Not coddled enough!

  158. Darleen says:

    Among several obvious answers, one is a failure of policing

    JAYSUS H KERIST …

    It’s not a failure of policing but a FAILURE OF VALUES (I know, sdferr, you just spit out your drink)

    But when you have a Gov enforcing a culture whose biggest value is “free” healthcare and biggest concern is “how much vacation do I get every year?” why is any one with two grey cells to rub together SURPRISED when nihilism runs rampant?

  159. Crawford says:

    Darleen, when my dad’s parents moved out of the hills of Kentucky, they settled in the mostly-German, rapidly-becoming “Appalachian” Cincinnati neighborhood called Over-the-Rhine. Grandpa worked in a steel mill in Covington, KY — walked to work, from what I understand. They scrimped and saved and bought a few buildings and rented apartments.

    Then, in the “civil rights riots” of the ’60s and ’70s, most of their property was burnt down.

    In compensation, the city gave them some cash and a mobile home.

    I don’t share my dad’s attitudes on race, but I sure as hell understand them.

    As for the London riots — Telegraph reports that some shops and fast food joints are being left alone, and are operating later hours as well. Either owned by the same tribe as the rioters or paying protection.

  160. Crawford says:

    “Nihilism” is too deep a word for it, Darleen. “Barbarism” is a better fit.

    These are the Eaters, the Burners, the Looters, come to take what the Farmer and Builder and Makers have produced.

  161. Crawford says:

    The warehouse fire is not the Sainsbury’s warehouse, but a Sony warehouse/office complex.

    Tommy Thomson, a witness, tells BBC news he saw 20 male youths coming out the smashed doors of building, carrying consoles. One punched him before driving off. He returned to his Premier Inn hotel workplace. Five minutes later he saw the blaze rip through the warehouse. He helped evacuate guests from the hotel. He says he does not know if there was anyone in the building but many workers have evening shifts.

    Shame Tommy Thomson didn’t have a Thompson.

    But, hell, I’m not allowed one, either.

  162. newrouter says:

    i wonder if the british survelliance state will deal with the perps?

  163. Ernst Schreiber says:

    I bet the de facto sharia parts of London are as peaceful as a graveyard.

  164. Crawford says:

    Jonathan Wald, CNN’s London producer, says in Ealing 15 teenagers took over a bus, forced the driver out and crashed the vehicle.

    While in London I got on the wrong bus (rather, the right bus at the wrong time along its route), and ended up riding it through its entire route. I figured it was worth some off-the-beaten-path sightseeing, and I had a conversation with a nice lady about how much the area had changed over the years.

    The route took me through Ealing.

    It didn’t strike me as “under privileged”. It struck me as being comparable to my neighborhood here, maybe a little poorer, with the biggest difference being the surprising number of mosques.

  165. Ernst Schreiber says:

    The nihilists are the ones making excuses for their own spinelessness in the face of barbarity, Crawford.

  166. Crawford says:

    i wonder if the british survelliance state will deal with the perps?

    They say so:

    Commander Christine Jones, said: “We are using tactics flexibly to respond to the disorder we are still seeing in different areas of the capital. Anyone involved in criminality should be under no illusion that we will pursue you. We have been making arrests all evening and have a team working during the night examining CCTV images. We will follow up evidence in the coming days in order to bring anyone else responsible for criminal acts to justice.”

    But I suspect the images will be declared too indistinct to make out.

    I bet the de facto sharia parts of London are as peaceful as a graveyard.

    And likely nearly empty. Some of the rioters appear to be wearing those fashionable Palestinian rags around their faces.

  167. happyfeet says:

    ohnoes. Kicking in chairs and knocking down tables in a restaurant. In a west end town.

    This never ends well.

  168. Crawford says:

    The nihilists are the ones making excuses for their own spinelessness in the face of barbarity, Crawford.

    Fair enough.

    Though sometimes I have a hard time distinguishing between the Eaters/Looters/Burners and the professional class that enables and defends them.

  169. Crawford says:

    This is an adult conversation, ‘feets. Go elsewhere.

  170. bh says:

    Hong Kong is down 7%.

    We don’t need the water let the motherfucker burn…

  171. happyfeet says:

    make me you big bully

  172. bh says:

    no water

    I said it’s a brain lesion already. Don’t tease me.

  173. Crawford says:

    Whoops. Sharia zones are apparently not being left alone:

    On his journey he witnessed a number of arrests in Park Lane and King’s Cross and looting in Finsbury Park.

    I’m not entirely sure if Finsbury Park is one of the declared zones, but it *is* home to Imam Hook’s mosque. It’s possible the shops being looted are dhimmis behind on their protection money, though.

    King’s Cross is getting too close to the British Museum for comfort. The least artifact in that building is worth more to humanity than every one of the rioters.

  174. JD says:

    Bh – is it shoebox and mattress time?

  175. happyfeet says:

    when I’m feeling down 7% I have a song I like to play but other people can play it too – just click! – especially if you’re a grumpy person named rob

  176. bh says:

    It’s get short time, JD.

  177. sdferr says:

    How do people pronounce that girl’s name, “ingne” like hinge or like inyee, inyeh or what?

  178. Crawford says:

    03.00 This chilling footage, uploaded to Facebook, shows a disorientated and bleeding teenager on the streets of London. A gang pretend to help him, and then mug him.

    02.57 A 26-year old man is in a serious condition in hospital after being found with gunshot wounds in Croydon.

    The video shows the rioters are truly multicultural. Chavs and “Asians” and other ASBOs working together to mug a guy who’s been beaten.

    (preview not cooperating… hope this works…)

  179. newrouter says:

    its good to see baracky’s “friends” are doing their part in the world

  180. JD says:

    We already know that there was a broad based sell off today, continuing overnight. Any suggestions on a sector to look into, and a sector to avoid, when shorting?

  181. Crawford says:

    Hurm. Dissent in the Ummah:

    Bethnal Green: Gang of vandals broke the windows of an Islamic bank but were chased off by a rival gang Muslim youths who were standing guard outside the East London Mosque. Local shops attacked

  182. bh says:

    I’d avoid the solid consumer non-cyclicals and the profit-making dividend payers. (Not actual advice. Past performance doesn’t… etc.)

    Other than that? The bear is loose.

  183. When seconds count, the police in London are only minutes hours days away. Aw, who am I kidding, it’s not about response time anyway. I’m sure a few weeks from now they can start processing all the people they’ve identified on video and gather them from the ashes of what was once their wonderful city with the sternest of warnings that if they do it again the authorities will get really, really angry with them.

    I used to live there, so this is especially depressing.

  184. bh says:

    Avoid as a short, that is. (Still not actual contractual advice. Consult your physician and all that.)

  185. happyfeet says:

    I wonder how Mr. Whistle is doing

  186. bh says:

    SEOUL -(MarketWatch)- Trading on South Korea’s Kosdaq market has been temporarily halted for 20 minutes following steep falls on the local stock market, the Korea Exchange, or KRX, said Tuesday.*

    Japanese, Chinese, Korean? Bears don’t give a shit.

  187. bh says:

    I’m pretty sure SW is up north, ‘feets.

  188. happyfeet says:

    stocks are mercurial little things aren’t they

    but that’s part of their charm I guess

  189. happyfeet says:

    that’s good, being up north but I’m sure he knows lots of people in London and such

    it’s all very worrisome

  190. bh says:

    Gas is gonna get cheaper soon.

    Bears hate hybrids.

  191. bh says:

    Tokyo opens back up in about half an hour.

    I bet they didn’t enjoy lunch at all. Bet their phones kept making all sorts of beeping noises.

  192. JD says:

    I think I will gamble this week.

  193. happyfeet says:

    animal spirits!

  194. bh says:

    Markets are settling a bit.

    This might just be a ploy to convince us that they’re not zombie bears.

  195. happyfeet says:

    huh. I saw this a few minutes ago and thought they’d all be going ape-shit.

    Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Tuesday the G7 finance leaders did not discuss specific currency market intervention policy during their teleconference the day before.

    But as long as the US president isn’t even pretending to have a fucking plan why should anyone else? Seems to me we’ll find the bottom in record time at this rate.

    And then what?

  196. bh says:

    People are very ho-hum about that ‘feets because they’re almost out of bullets anyways and everyone already knew it.

  197. happyfeet says:

    Is there an F5? What would that be like?

    The Finger of God.

  198. RTO Trainer says:

    F5? Oklahoma City, for one, knows what that’s like.

  199. Matt says:

    The liberal in my office says the 200 point drop during the speech was coincidence. He will not budge an inch in his opinion of Obama. Its all the “tea party” and “Bush”‘s fault. Even the Dow drop yesterday was the tea parties fault. He basically admitted that he thinks I’m a racist because I’m a tea party member, even though he also knows I’m not racist.

    Now, this is a reasonably intelligent well educated person who refuses to face reality. He gets so angry with me when I bring this stuff up and I’ve tried to tell him, if he would just once say “Obama isn’t doing a good job” I’d be placated- but he won’t. I wish I could understand the mindset.

  200. Squid says:

    I wish I could understand the mindset.

    I maintain that there is a certain class of voters who have so convinced themselves that they are Better Than That, and that Obama really was the Chosen One, that they can’t admit to themselves that they were played for suckers by a Chicago political machine that’s been doing this for a century or more. If they admit that Obama really is an empty suit, and that they fell for a slick marketing campaign so hard that they voted for a guy with no record and no qualifications, then they have to admit that they’re really no brighter than the “proles” and the “sheeple” and the Consumer Culture that they habitually look down on.

    In some cases, it’s simply impossible for these voters to admit the magnitude of their mistake, because their egos can’t stand up to the impact such an admission would bring. It’s really not much different from the die-hard socialists, who believe to their core that the problem with every failed socialist state over the last century is that They Weren’t Doing It Right. To admit that the system does not work and cannot work would break their psyches.

  201. Mikey NTH says:

    It wasn’t a hope that he fails, it was more like a prediction that he would.

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