– I’m sure this estimate of when Bertha will be back up and running, er digging, will be the accurate one.
– The people trying to prove how Planned Parenthood isn’t necessary are really proving how necessary it is.
– Who knew Benghazi would turn out to be a fake scandal about Hillary Clinton?
– This sums up Clinton’s response
– Conservatives should maybe take the we’re patrolling the border people as a loss.
“It’s Clinton’s fault! It’s Clinton’s fault! It’s Clinton’s fault!”
Marco Rubio says people should blame 9/11/01 on Bill Clinton’s “faulty intelligence apparatus,” not dereliction of duty by his successor.
More and more, Rubio sounds like just another run-of-mill Republican, making him less and less impressive.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ma.....h-for-911/
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Why should we be surprised when politicians of the Party of Personal Responbility (copyright pending) won’t take responsibility for anything? We knew this about them long ago.
“President Bill Clinton’s administration, Rubio charged, ‘had not taken seriously al Qaeda and the threat that they posed,’ even though the plot to carry out the 9/11 attacks began ‘well before’ Mr. Bush was in office.”
As for me, I can’t see turning over the White House to a guy who can’t even get basic history right:
[Excessively copied material deleted]
— Sidney Blumenthal, “The Clinton Wars” (New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 2003), pp. 797-798.
And Then There Were Three
Lincoln Chafee dropped out of the Democratic nomination race this morning, leaving Hillary, Bernie, and O’Malley still in the running.
Competition doing its thing. But maybe we need to reform the FDA procedures that enable drug price gouging by erecting huge barriers to competition in the drug industry?
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/wh.....get-for-1/
@1 of course…..now that they can’t say GWB kept them safe (but only after 9/11), on to the next bullshit argument. Never their fault, no sireee!
I’m sure Puffy knew it was a bullshit scandal. Why else would he try so to push it so hard.
Boring…just like Boob. How’s the scooter ride Boob?
The FBI announced today it’s closing its “IRS-Gate” investigation without filing charges. Another GOP fake scandal crashes and burns.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/23/.....index.html
Jeb! Bush! is throwing supporters overboard as the S.S. Right To Rise continues to take on water. Even the idiot savant Carson looks better and that’s pretty fucking bad.
So far most of the Teapublicans I’ve been able to chat with here at the platform convention are not very excited about Carson, except perhaps as the bottom on the ticket. Some tell me they like what he says, but they feel unsure about how ready he would be to take on Putin, and ISIS, etc. One woman candidly admitted she didn’t see why we needed to elect “2 of them” in a row. And she worried how that might make us look to the rest of the world.
And the big issues they’d like to see addressed in the platform at the federal level seem to be boiling down to the deficit, the “illegal alien” problem, cutting all the wasteful spending on “social” programs, keeping a very large military, and going after more energy in the ground. At the state level they wanna see more money for schools by cutting funding for, again, “social” stuff – especially “the cities”, school vouchers, English only, more hydro/irrigation dams, lower property taxes, better roads in “outlying” areas, tort reform, and do something about the “corrupt state unions”.
I’m looking right now to see if and where Carson has addressed any of those specifics. Wish me luck!
Just saw this quote and had to post it:
“”We would be less than forthcoming if we said we predicted in June that a reality television star supporting Canadian-style single-payer health care and partial-birth abortion would be leading the G.O.P. primary.”
From Danny Diaz, Bush Mgr.
Classic!
Its a good thing Climate Change isn’t real.
Otherwise we might have a real problem…
————————————-
Hurricane Patricia Rapidly Becomes Strongest Storm Ever in Western Hemisphere
Top wind speed is much greater than Hurricanes Katrina or Sandy
One of Puffy’s friends.
Suspected Jewish Extremist Attacks Human Rights Rabbi On Video http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....73880.html
You wonder why there isn’t peace. No compromise, no love, just fight with enemies and call them members of “the axis of evil”. Way to make friends.
When I first heard that I thought it was inflammatory, and coming from the holy people party.
Why not. We don’t want to scare the Deer.
GOP Lawmakers Want To Make Gun Silencers Cheaper, Easier To Buy http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....73876.html
cutting funding for “social” stuff – especially “the cities”
>> cause that’s money not going to me. “give me my free stuff”
more hydro/irrigation dams
>> More cheap water and power for them? “give me my free stuff”
lower property taxes
>> representation without taxation? Even more rural welfare? Money has to come from somewhere. Have “the cities” pay for rural stuff? “give me my free stuff”
better roads in “outlying” areas
>> spend city taxes on rural road, but don’t ask rural people to pay their share. “give me my free stuff”
tort reform
>> because talk radio tells us that lawyers are getting money for freeloaders
do something about the “corrupt state unions”.
>> “Cause I’m not getting any benefit from a union so everyone should have as crappy low wage job as I have”
Bernie sanders wants “free stuff” too but that helps everyone, like free education, not just them.
@9 “better roads in “outlying” areas”
Nah, we urban dwellers have subsidized them enough; let ’em pay for their own damn roads.
@14 I see you beat me to it. Good job.
@13 There are times when I suspect the Republican Party has been hijacked by the Mafia, and this is one of those times.
Stock market up 500 points in the last two days. Where are all the bad news bears?
@16 Here’s one for Republicans to have hearings on at Capitol Hill. Apparently Republicans have a member of the Rusian Mafia too.
GOP Candidate For Louisiana Governor Suspected Of Spying On Political Rival http://www.theneworleansadvoca.....empting-to
@16. Make that two Russian Mafia members.
Donald Trump Kicks Univision Crew Out Of Florida Rally http://www.hollywoodreporter.c.....ida-834377
@17 It’s a Wall Street plot to elect Hillary. They’re scared of Ben and Bernie. I’d rather not post what my take was over the last two days. It would make you cry. Not much less than what a $7.25/hr worker makes in a year. Boob, the rich radiologist, undoubtedly did much, much better. I’ll bet Nick Hanauer made enough to give Goldy a raise.
Bob, take note of @18 and @19 and learn how to not be boring, you fucking bore.
You see, just like GWB kept us safe…….after 9/11.
Mitt Romney Praises Obamacare Despite Campaigning To Repeal It http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....72466.html
Here is Russian Member #3.
Walker Signs Bill Ending John Doe Political Investigations http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....74896.html
@20. Well I didn’t do any good in the stock market due to the last two days, but I sold the house (sale pending, closing 1st week of November). Next step is to buy something in NYC or maybe I should just invest the $200,000 in the stock market???
Hey we can all tell time again!
Ahmed Got His Clock Back! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....74438.html
This raises a lot of questions about, ahem, the fairness of our system. We expect people — mostly immigrant women of color — to empty bedpans, change sheets, and attend to the needs of nursing home residents for $7.25 to $9.43 an hour (depending on state). We expect them to work night shifts, weekend shifts, rotating shifts — imagine what that does to their family life. Nursing homes get most of their money from Medicaid, which is mostly run by state bureaucrats under a payment system that puts intense pressure on the nursing homes to minimize their labor costs. Even worse than Walmart managers. Which means nursing home aides are paid the legal minimum wage, whatever it is, and no more — there is absolutely no reward for working harder or doing the job well. Now, how does our society treat these workers? Because they’re immigrants, we demonize them and threaten to throw them out of the country. Because they’re people of color, the police bully them and shoot their kids. Because they’re poorly paid, we disparage them and call them “lazy” and “uneducated” and “unwilling to work.” At least, the conservative half of us do. That half of us wants to work them even harder, pay them even less, and take away what little safety net there is. Meanwhile, the system pays me thousands of dollars a day for owning the shares of various companies, without doing a lick of work or producing a damn thing. Not only that, I get special tax breaks, and people worship me for being a capitalist. Believe me, it doesn’t take any brains to be a capitalist, even a rabbit can do it, all you need is money to buy stock with. This system doesn’t make any goddamned sense to me. We’re told it’s the most productive system there is, and that’s why we have it, but if 1% of the people take everything it produces, what good does that do for the rest of us? This may sound revolutionary, even seditious, but I think we need a system that works for everyone. Or, at least, works in a half-assed fashion for the people who work hard and produce all of the wealth — the workers. But no, that’s SO-SHUL-IZM, so we can’t have that!!! Gotta exploit them workers because, you know, Darwin. Well, if you can’t lick ’em, join ’em. Since this is the system we’re stuck with, we should all be capitalists, which basically means you stop buying stuff from capitalists and invest that money instead. They tell you to spend, spend, spend! If you do, you’re playing into their hands. They hate like hell that I didn’t play ball, and stuck my money in stocks, instead of buying “stuff” from them. Because they never intended for me to become one of them. And even worse, from their point of view, I don’t even vote for those bastards. I’m gonna vote for Bernie!
@24 For the last 225 years, ever since this country was founded, stocks have consistently outperformed every other asset class there is. Houses are for living in, not making money. On the other hand, because you have to live somewhere, there’s something to be said for owning your digs so nobody can raise your rent or kick you out if you suddenly can’t make the payments for some reason.
I think whether you should buy depends on where you’re going to live. If you might have to move because of your job, no. Bad neighborhood, no. Small town, no, unless you plan to stay there forever. I can’t imagine what you could buy for $200k in NYC, that sounds like down payment money for a flat in one of the boroughs to me, although I’m not familiar with the Big Apple or the housing situation there. (My impression is housing is expensive.)
It doesn’t take a genius to get rich from stocks. Just money and time, lots of time. If you invest $200k in stocks today, and make average returns of 5% a year, in 30 years you’ll have $823k, at 6% you’ll have $1.08 million, at 7% it’s $1.42 million. It’s simple math, you can verify it on any calculator: $200,000 x 1.05 x 1.05 x 1.05 …
I did both. I paid off my burrow, so my housing expense is only about $700 a month for taxes, utilities, and insurance. And I started buying stocks 30 years ago and now I have a lot of stocks. The dividend income is more than what it costs to live in my burrow, so I have free housing no matter what Seattle’s real estate and rental markets do. I don’t have to work in an Amazon sweatshop to keep tree roots over my head.
So, I guess my advice would be spend your $200k on whatever buys you the most freedom from work, even if you love your job, because someday the world won’t let you work anymore even if you want to — maybe sooner than you think. Your goal should be to not have to be a wage-slave ever again. When that day comes, it’ll change your life. It’s definitely worth working, saving, and waiting for. Take my word for it, I’ve been there and done that.
So, the best use of your $200k might be housing, you’ll have to figure that out based on your circumstances, but if not housing then almost certainly the best way to spend it is on safe, dividend-paying, blue-chip stocks of reliable and well-managed companies that sell products people will continue to want for a long time to come.
Whatever you do, don’t think of real estate as an investment, because it’s not. If you put your money in housing, it’ll probably appreciate at the inflation rate, not more. Also, houses wear out from being lived in, and need expensive refurbishing every 25 years or so. Houses are depreciating assets. Own them to live in them, don’t consider them investments, although they can work as savings vehicles if you accumulate equity and don’t squander it. But then, so do savings accounts, if your goal is only to stash away money, and not make money with your money.
@25 That’s it? That little thing? This is what the Texas cops wet their pants over? When I first saw a picture of it, I was under the impression it was in a briefcase. Now my question is how can anyone be so stupid as to be afraid of this little thing? Texas needs better cops.
@27 thanks. Yes, $200k = down payment only.
@29 CBS News this morning quotes Wall Street legend Jack Bogle, founder of the Vanguard funds, as warning investors to expect lousy stock returns over the next decade — 4% before inflation vs. the 8% norm, which means it’ll take twice as long to accumulate a given nest egg. But, bad as that is, stocks will still be better than anything else.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ja.....rns-ahead/
I should point out that my numbers @27 assume that you start with $200k and add zero new money over those time periods. Those ending figures come strictly from compounding the original investment at the state percentages. These numbers balloon drastically if you’re adding money as you go along through a regular monthly savings regimen.
Meanwhile, there are many ways to skin the housing cat. The basic decision you must make is whether to rent or own. Once you’ve reached the point where you can afford to buy (have the down payment cash, can qualify for a mortgage, etc.), that’s primarily a function of how much mobility your job/occupation requires. Buying and selling real estate is expensive, time consuming, and a hassle, so owning doesn’t make sense if your work requires frequent job changes and relocations.
If you’re renting, or for that matter owning, you can reduce your housing expenses and free up more cash for saving/investing by sharing the housing expenses with a live-in roommate, girlfriend, significant other, etc. The rub here is finding someone you can stand to live with, and who can stand to live with you. Nowadays, most people work, so most multiple-person households have multiple incomes; and when you spread housing costs across multiple incomes, the per-person housing cost comes way down. That’s one of the prime ways to free up cash to pay off student debt and other debt, save and invest, etc.