Better-Late-Than-Never Obama Jobs Speech Open Thread

Will you meet your responsibilities??? Restore fairness in the comments thread!

Comments

[Id]

First. So, uh, who else isn't listening?

[Barack Whitehouse]

They tried to make me cut the budget, but I said NO, NO, NO...

[Ska]

Here, try some speedballs.

[Tulpa]

If Obama is a closeted, repressed budget cutter....please God let him have the courage to come out.

[Dog Days]

Out of the closet and into the streets!
Out of the closet and into the streets!

[Au H20]

Oh, so NOW we get an open thread. I wonder if there was some event last night that would have merited the same treatment?

[Dempy]

+1

[Stoneymonster]

"CHINA". Well that didn't take long.

[Res Publica Americana]

Guys, help me out here. I just spent an hour talking to a couple of British people that say the People's Republic of China (the CCP) swept in and saved China from starvation and anarchy all those years ago and is great, that America's a country of inequality where the poor are serfs and treated like slaves, that the fact that the governments of countries like Ireland and Portugal went bankrupt means their people are bankrupt and can't possibly be anywhere near the top of standard of living lists, and that we're a, verbatim quote, "nation of idiots who keep RESISTING universal health care because we want to be sick when we can't afford it and suffer and/or die for that".

What should I think? Analyze each point?

[razor]

They lost my respect at China.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Why bother with each point? Just send them this link and ask them, "How fucked up is YOUR country that you pay nearly 300,000 households to not work at all during their lifetimes?"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....years.html

[Paul]

I stopped reading at "British".

[Episiarch]

I think you should go find smarter people to talk to. Trust me, you'll enjoy it more.

[Suthenboy]

My mother has an english pen-pal whose core belief is that humans are a curse on the planet and that gaia will be much better off with us gone. (?????)
The english have lost touch with reality. Take Epi's advice.

[Paul]

My mother has an english pen-pal whose core belief is that humans are a curse on the planet and that gaia will be much better off with us gone.

I'm happy to start with her pen-pal.

[Hayekian]

I always why these people don't lead by example.

[##]

I don't know, sounds like a pretty fair grasp of the situation to me. However, considering the alternative, I think I'd rather be part of the problem than the solution.

[JW]

You should just start drilling into your head at random points. Far more productive than talking to those twits.

No wonder the UK is going down the tubes the way it is.

[Greer]

just fucking stab them and get it over with.

[fish]

Yes! By all means communicate with them in a language they understand.

[twenty-something]

Under Mao something like 50 million people starved to death or were executed, the poor people I know have better clothes, cars and phones than me, I don't really know that much about modern Ireland or Portugal, and the federal government has already destroyed our health care enough.

[GeneralAntilles]

Hasn't recent research put the past 100 million mark? (Honest question, I recall a book or something within the last 10 years or so. . . .)

[BakedPenguin]

The Black Book of Communism gives a figure of 65 million.

RPA, unless there is some reason you need to treat them with a morsel of respect, I would throw that 65 million dead figure in their faces, and point out that's 10 times the number who died in the Holocaust. Then I would state that they are vermin who should join the Nazi party, as it would make them more humanitarian.

[Umbriel]

Closer to 5x if you count non-Jews murdered by the Nazis (which seems like a fairer comparison).

[Old Soldier]

I thought the 50 million was just those who starved to death during the Cultural Revolution. (Or was it the Great Leap forward? Or the American Jobs Act? I get my communist progroms mixed up.)

[Tulpa]

Carbon monoxide is relatively painless.

[WinningTheFuture_WithSalmon]

There comes a point when you have to pivot from "how to I get them to understand" to "how can I get money off these suckers"? Like, agree with them, tell them you can show them around an impoverished township, but you need a couple hundred bucks to buy protection money. Then drive them through any neighborhood -- it's obvious they'll see whatever they want to see, regardless of the evidence.

[sevo]

Ask 'em how many Brits move to China and how many to the US.
Revealed preferences....

[Nooge]

I would point out that they keep finding actual slaves in China.

[Important]

I just spent an hour talking to a couple of British people

Real or virtual?

[SIV]

No GOP debate thread? No Obama campaign speech comments.

[Au H20]

Choo choos! DRINK!!!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Did I miss anything?

[Au H20]

Schools created or saved?

[Fist of Etiquette]

No, put Biden in charge of the money.

[A Serious Man]

Does Obama realize that the Chinese build shit at break-neck speed because they don't have to worry about things like due process and how many workers die during construction?

[BakedPenguin]

Or after construction.

[Fist of Etiquette]

PASS IT NOW SO WE CAN FIND OUT WHAT'S IN IT.

[Fist of Etiquette]

And Obama can stop talking about it.

[P B]

This is what I thought of the "PASS IT NOW" line.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNuEBNyydQo

[Fist of Etiquette]

Pass it now is what I kept telling my dick while suffering kidney stones. Didn't work then, shouldn't work now.

[STOP THE PRESSES]

Okay now - I've been gone for a week, but why didn't anyone tell me that White Indian has apparently been sucking at the teat of agri(CULTURE) city-state modern medicine for the past several weeks? http://reason.com/archives/201.....nt_2503582

"Now that the doctor says I can use my body again physically to preserve and improve soil, to garden and nurture Mother Earth blah blah blah"

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Are you sure that was an actual doctor, or a Lakota shaman?

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

I wonder if he got a PRIVate room....

[Trespassers W]

Spontaneous guffaw.

[Jerryskids]

"Now that the doctor says I can use my body again physically to preserve and improve soil, to garden and nurture Mother Earth blah blah blah"

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Are you serious?!?!? I assumed White Indian meant his body would literally be improving the soil - I assumed he meant he was dying. And you are laughing at him? That's cold, man.

[fish]

Good now WI can spread his manure on the earth instead of online.

[SIV]

Fuck the teachers.

[BigT]

Or they will fuck you!

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Especially when they look like this:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-boys.html

[Hugh Akston]

nice

[Suthenboy]

Where was she when I was 14?

[Lord Humungus]

and who says British birds are ugly?

[oncogenesis]

This bird is from Florida. The stereotype stands.

[Lord Humungus]

I guess I should read instead of look at the pretty pictures.

[John]

I guess there is some kind of credible threat for Sunday. Maybe if the media wouldn't go into full expoit every dead body mode every year, the terrorists might not think it was such a big deal. I plan to unplug my tv Sunday. The media is going full retard on this

[Zeebs]

+1

[RyanXXX]

i'm mad at myself that they were able to get me a little scared for even a few seconds about it

[Ted S.]

I saw that petty tyrant Bloomberg interrupting the Packer/Saints game, and I wasn't scared; I was enraged.

[Tulpa]

You're going to unplug your TV the first Sunday of the NFL season?

Now that's unAmerican.

[Mr. Information]

No, UNAMERICAN is buying into the official story on 9/11.

[Nipplemancer]

I'd bet money that if there is a plot it was partially planned by some sort of FBI sting operation with play-doh & alarm clock 'explosive devise.' Or maybe we allowed some sort of WMD to be sold to terrorists so ATF could 'track it.' The suspects will seriously lack most life skills and will have recently been 'radicalized' on the internet (probably another FBI sting or informant).

[Au H20]

Republicans, you remember we used to use spending to fuck over the American people? Can't we do that one last time, for old time's sake?

Honestly, Obama sounds like a dude asking an ex for a pity fuck.

[Name Nomad]

Or a compulsive gambler, who's already lost his life savings, begging his wife to put up the house on one last roll of the roulette wheel. THIS ONE WILL BE THE WINNER! I CAN FEEL IT!

[John]

This

[Suthenboy]

Ha! A+ Au.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I hope that tax credit is big enough to offset the total cost of the staff expansion.

[SIV]

Multiplier effect!

[Drinkover]

Put Americans back to work with more unemployment insurance!

[flye]

I do believe he mentioned that those people would run out of money and then stop buying things, which would hurt our economy. QED. No need to look into that logic any further.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

[Fo real]

Should congress read it before they pass it?

[P B]

Why start now?

[Grey Panther]

I trust that the commentors here at Hit & Run will listen respectfully to MY President. Then we can argue the issues of the speech. This is the type of speech that could change history and turn around the troubles with this country. FDR, Kennedy, and now President Obama. This could be his legacy. Good luck, Mr. President!

[Au H20]

Dude, you're not even a troll. You're the shit a real troll creates.

[Trespassers W]

It's not a troll, I think, but a rather well-executed spoof.

[Joshua]

I've come to the same conclusion.

[Gojira]

...will listen respectfully to MY President.

Implying ownership of a black person?

Somebody help me out here, what's the word I'm looking for...I know it starts with an "r" and ends with an "ist!"...

[Au H20]

Ricist. That damn Uncle Ben!

[Grey Panther]

I didn't say I owned the President. And I am not a racist! Please don't transfer your prejudice to me. President Obama has both sides of the aisle standing and applauding him. This could really be a turning point for the US.

[Paul]

So, like so many failed startup corporations in the early aughts, we're finally "turning the corner"?

[Monty]

"This could really be a turning point for the US. "

government cock won't suck itself. Now take that walker off my lawn.

[Chief Cynical]

Receptionist?

[Brian Combs]

Rapist?

[Gojira]

^^ WINNER

That is the word I was thinking of.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

This is the type of speech that could change history and turn around the troubles with this country.

What the hell's been holding him back the last 2.5 years?

[Jeffersonian]

Collectivizing everything he could get his grubby mitts on.

[A Serious Man]

Gee whiz, this bill sounds like it can solve everything!*

*unintended consequences not covered in Obama salespitch.

[Au H20]

It will provide jobs to (union) construction, teachers, and young people aka people who vote for him.

[Blue State Governor]

I also hope it includes money for the paving company that hired my brother in law.

[Mike M.]

I swear I just saw that lowlife piece of shit Nancy Pelosi say "That's the worst part of the bill" to someone right after he mentioned a tax credit for companies who hire returning military veterans.

I swear to God I'd like to punch that woman right in her disgusting botoxed-up pig face.

[Big Botox]

That's it, governor, syringes at 40 paces!

[tax E. dermist]

"her disgusting botoxed-up pig face"

She is the most beautiful women I have ever seen.

[Ray]

No matter how bad I'm feeling, I am always consoled that somewhere out there, there is a Mr. Pelosi.

[Trespassers W]

Speaking of which, how botoxed-up is Charles Krauthammer?

[SIV]

He has a plan.

[JW]

So did the Cylons.

[Fo real]

Every time I hear "fair share" my skin crawls.

[AdamJ]

I took my fair share of craps today.

[Amerifuntimes]

Seriously. Why was there no open thread last night?

Also, I usually don't watch presidential speeches to Congress. Why are people clapping like goons after every inanity?

Oh! "Pay their fair share". Gotta love that incisive, rare, detailed suggestion.

[SIV]

Cosmo-fave Gary Johnson wasn't in the debate.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Shoulda' kept watching NFL pregame. My God, Boehner looks hideous.

[Zeebs]

It's a requirement to be speaker, e.g., Pelosi, O'Neil, Gingrich...

[Ska]

Is Kid Rock in women's sunglasses a better alternative?

[EDG reppin' LBC]

No it's not. But I am starving for football, and will sit through this crap. Also, I'm glad Kid Rock has completely wrapped himself in the flag. What a patriot! I feel like a cad, because I never wave flags and loudly declare I was born free. Plus, I should have bought a GM.

[Ted S.]

Who needs a one-hour pregame?

Worse, ESPN is advertising that their Sunday pregame show will be three hours.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Is the air conditioning not working? They're all sweating like pigs.

[Tulpa]

Ron Paul sabotaged it.

[Hare Care]

Before he cut it to the military, he cut it to the house floor.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Lying is hard work

[Fist of Etiquette]

Obama will tell you what you can or can't afford.

[Au H20]

What do we know, Obama? That historically revenues average 18% of GDP, even when the rich "pay their fair share"?

FUCKING CHRIST, I WILL HAPPILY HATE PRESIDENT PERRY ON NOVEMBER 7, 2012, BUT I WILL BE SO HAPPY WHEN THIS FUCK GETS VOTED OUT ON NOVEMBER 6.

[Ken Shultz]

"That historically revenues average 18% of GDP, even when the rich "pay their fair share"?

If we could get him to understand and appreciate that simple fact, it would make so much difference.

Seriously.

[heh]

The funny thing is, according to that chart, the highest revenues (21% of GDP) were at Clinton's 39% top rate, not Eisenhower's 92% (when most of it was payed to the military, not WPA-style works projects).

[Chief Cynical]

Why? He doesn't get to start fucking things up until January 2013.

[Tony]

Stop believing bullshit and maybe you wouldn't be so angry.

Revenues as a share of GDP is a much less fluid number than tax rates on the rich. You've been conned into believing there's no correlation by people with misleading charts.

[Mr. FIFY]

Yes... stop believing bullshit - like, say, Keynesian bullshit.

Great advice, Tony. You get a cookie.

[Id]

OH NOES! THE BILLIONA-AIRZZZZZZ

I lied, I'm listening.

[Ken Shultz]

Just one suggestion for Obama?

How 'bout stopping the NLRB from blocking the creation of tens of thousands of high paying manufacturing jobs in South Carolina that Boeing is trying to create--right now?

Those jobs would last 30 years or more--at least--and they're trying to manufacture those DreamLiners mostly for export!

So, anyway, before Obama starts thinking about how to create new jobs out of thin air--using the governmints somehow--my suggestion is that maybe he should stop using his political cronies in the NLRB to actively destroy the the tens of thousands of highly paid jobs that companies like Boeing are fighting Obama to create.

[JD]

Yeah, but they aren't unionized so they aren't real jobs.

[GE]

Because its easier for us to compete from China with union competition in America.

[Id]

"We have to look beyond the immediate crisis" ... and on to the next one we're working on creating.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Oh crap, I just noticed the teleprompters. Now that's all I can see, him reading off those damn screens.

[Fo real]

Ya know what most Americans would choose? Is that why your approval ratings have tanked Obama

[Fist of Etiquette]

What, Obama's giving us homework now?

[Paul]

Ask not what your country can do for you... etc. etc.

[Fist of Etiquette]

We have a labor secretary? Good job, honey.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Yeah, let the rest of the world suffer through driving a Chevy just like us in the States.

[Id]

Christ on a cracker. The manufacturing ship has sailed you pikers.

[Chucky]

When he said "we can't afford both" my 12 year old said "we can't afford either" - a 12 year old understands better than POTUS - scary.

[Paul]

Is your 12-year-old running in 12?

[Fist of Etiquette]

"...the next generation of manufacturing takes root not in China but right here in America."

I missed the first part of that sentence. Was he talking about reforming unions?

[Red Rocks Rockin]

"...the next generation of manufacturing takes root not in China but right here in America."

LOL--yeah, sure it does. Someone needs to tell this clown that 1960 isn't coming back.

[Gojira]

You'd think Americans would be proud that we don't have to reduce ourselves to manufacturing cheap plastic shit to keep the hordes employed, but instead people seem affronted by our lack of Happy Meal toy factories.

[Amakudari]

I look forward to an America where after 13 years of public education our workforce finally has the skills to make lots of those little plastic swords we put in cocktails.

[Unemployed]

Much better picking up cans on the side of the road and eating out of dumpsters.

[Amakudari]

Much better picking up cans on the side of the road and eating out of dumpsters.

Except the average unemployed person on benefits collects over $15,000 a year, which is more than double China's GDP per capita.

[AdamJ]

+10000!
"We need to spend on education so we can compete for the jobs of the future."

"We need to bring the [unskilled] manufacturing jobs back to America."

These quotes will be said by the same person often.

[Joe M]

I'm not watching this! Glad to hear he's got the gentle guidance of his electronic allies to help him through this trying time though.

[Fo real]

Thru Gov't intervention all things are possible! It's worked so well these past few years...

[Fist of Etiquette]

Ha, five hundred fucking reforms. Out of the hundreds of thousands.

[Id]

This is Obama's national malaise moment. That time in a one-termer's career where they make a desperate hail mary speech that reminds everyone of why they hate them.

[Paul]

I didn't hear the speech. Did he mention turning down the thermostat and putting on a sweater?

[Au H20]

The look on Obama's face when he had to pause his speech because of the applause on the "cut government spending and regulation" line was fucking priceless.

[Joe M]

Delicious. He's like, "No, wait! don't applaud that, damn it! You're ruining everything!"

[Dagny T.]

Definitely the best part of the speech.

[flye]

I also enjoyed "this isn't class warfare" getting a nice chuckle from half of the chamber.

[MJ]

It is not class warfare, it is kinetic class action.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I guess Obama remembered he counts on the union vote.

[Fo real]

Ding ding ding, there's the union vote!

[Dagny T.]

Now he's finally pulling out all the stops with the stupid. "Race to teh bottom!"

[Fist of Etiquette]

No, America is about central planning!

[Drinkover]

"Let everyone write their own rules... That's not who we are."

Got it.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Congressmen laying asphalt because no one else would.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

I think he just took a jab at libertarians. He is concerned about eraseing rules, and letting us sort it out. Now, he loves roads. I hate this clown.

[Au H20]

He just went Gore on us, with the internet.

[Joe M]

COLLECTIVISM IS THE WAY.

[Troll]

Collectivism is here

[Fo real]

W/O Gov't we wouldn't exist. Ya know what, obamas inspired me to go on welfare. I mean, it's down right patriotic!

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Constitution is too rigid!

[Drinkover]

Boo "rigid ideas"

[A Serious Man]

And there it is: we can't let the silly and outdated Constitution limit Congress from doing whatever it wants! If it feels good, do it!

[Ezra Klein]

Well, hey, it's like, over a hundred years old.

[Joe Biden]

"I remember when I watched them write the first copy of the constitution on TV..."

[Au H20]

"Republicans, remember when we used to spend in the moonlight? Those first dollars of the American people, we burned in the back of my old Trans Am? Can't we do that one more time, for old time's sake?"

Jesus Obama, if you need a pity fuck this bad, just ask Michelle.

[Obama's penis]

"I did not have sex with that woman.."

[P/G]

Should have thought of that 14 months ago

[Fist of Etiquette]

Yay! We get to keep our seats for the next fourteen months!

[Fist of Etiquette]

All 57 states and beyond.

[Joe M]

"It's a vewy pwecise and a compwicated pwan!!!"

Plus: do something!

[Fist of Etiquette]

If you disagree, shut the fuck up.

[Amerifuntimes]

ZOMG no internet without gov't spending? Tea partiers, gotcha now!

[Fist of Etiquette]

We choose to go to the moon!!!

[rts]

You know, I've only ever seen that speech in excerpt:

We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard...

I've always wondered what the "other things" were, and if they got done within that decade too?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Everyone knows the "other things" was putting it to Marilyn Monroe and, yeah, that got done.

[Gojira]

The "other things" were the Great Society and amping up the Vietnam War.

They thought it would be hard because they assumed nobody would be stupid enough to go for it without massive agitprop efforts...but they were wrong.

[.]

The Great Society was Lyndon Johnson's schickt - Kennedy's was The New Frontier.

[Gojira]

Though you're right, that is kind of laughably vague.

"My fellow Americans, today I stand before you, to suggest that maybe we, like, should do...some stuff."

[Fist of Etiquette]

I've complained about that before.

[JFK]

But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon... we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

[Note: speech was given at Rice University in Houston, thus the pandering reference to Rice v (University of) Texas.]

[Fist of Etiquette]

It's pronounced "d'CADE".

[Joe M]

Thinnest. Gruel. Ever.

[Id]

Well folks. I guess that's it. It's been a good run, last one out turn off the lights.

[Government]

We replaced the lights with CFLs. GREEN JOBS!

[Grey Panther]

9.5/10

[Mike M.]

For (relative) brevity, but that's about it.

[Dagny T.]

Well, now you know what a $450 billion dolllar jerkoff looks like.

[JW]

Jobs? We're talking free gubmint handies, right?

[flye]

Early emphasis was on "this will all be paid for." So we finally get to it in the speech and it will be paid for by... drum roll please... adding to the reduction target that the 'supercongress' will be getting to work on any day now. Seriously. That's his plan.

[Drake]

Top Men will figure out how to pay for it. Or which future generation will get the bill.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Talking heads are praising this speech, and praising the ideas in the speech.

PBS, NBC, Fox News so far that I see.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Praising what exactly? It was his usual "vague but well spoken" speech.

He might have well thrown some hope and change in there.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Talking heads are stupid.

[Art-P.O.G.]

No, they are a great band.

[JW]

"Same as it ever...was."

[QuitThat]

I just have to say, most Reason commenters are so fucking funny and smart that it almost makes the tragicomic situation of American politics seem just a little less bitterly terrible. LOVE YOU ALL / KISSES

[Will]

Dont forget handsome.

[Amakudari]

Also good with children.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

And well-hung. That's why Tony can't stay away.

[EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy]

Clean cut and articulate.

[bosty]

Good grief could this "specific credible threat" coordinated network coverage be any more transparent? "You need us!"

[Fist of Etiquette]

Without significantly reducing the regulatory environment so that small business does not have to consult attorneys for every fucking move, any action Congress takes on this is a circle jerk.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Modern employment law sucks balls and it's getting worse every year. You can get sued for just about anything at this point.

[J]

"Better-Late-Than-Never Obama Jobs Speech."

I don't usually disagree with Welch, especially in the mere headline, but I have to beg to differ here. Never would be better than late in this case.

[A Serious Man]

Alright, time to watch the Packers kick the Saints asses.

[Vince Lombardi's hat]

Football is like life - it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority.

[Vince Lombardi's Ass]

Betting on football is like life - the cocksuckers with the inside information make all the scratch.

[Mike M.]

Wow, what are the odds that "a credible and specific threat" for the 9/11 ten year anniversary would happen to come out just ten minutes after his big speech? That's pretty remarkable timing there.

[Ol' Barry]

Aw, golly, I really need this job, what's it gonna take to make this sale.. c'mon, you gotta help ol' Barry out...

[Fist of Etiquette]

They're talking about car bombs going off this weekend? It looks like Obama should have added "Cash 4 Clunkers Part 2" to that speech tonight.

[Gojira]

What if it's rich Saudis, and they blow up hybrids though?

Will the horror never end!

[Fist of Etiquette]

As long as it gets people buying replacement Volts, or better yet, taking trains!

[Tulpa]

I thought we killed Osama?

[GHRTSY]

I totally agree with the GOP response

[Warty]

I don't understand why would people would willingly watch a president talk. Why no just stick bamboo shoots into your eyes?

[Lord Humungus]

I'll give my review
http://i54.tinypic.com/2jfkih4.jpg

[Ken Shultz]

He wants to take $450 billion plus interest out of regular Americans' future discretionary income? And he thinks that's good for the economy.

'cause the guvernmints make jobs.

Did I miss anything?

[Fist of Etiquette]

He's going to give small business $4,000 of their money back to them to offset the cost of the $50,000 of salary plus benefits for each new worker. How could that not spur employment?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Gee, now I'm definitely going to go hire someone tomorrow for all that business that isn't coming thru the door.

[flye]

How about we give businesses an option: A) The $4,000 tax credit for any new employees; or B) Exemption from ObamaCare, Dodd-Frank, and Sarbenes-Oxley if you increase your workforce by 10%.

Let the market decide!

[Tony]

Nobody wants to jump first in this economy, so a little prodding could help.

Government could spend more to actually make jobs, but you, who think you're doing the country a favor by pinching its pennies, would have a bitch fit about it.

[Tulpa]

Spending money. What an innovative idea!

Has that ever been tried before?

[Tony]

Yep, and works every time. But you can't spend an arbitrary amount expecting it to fix everything or else be a total failure.

[Gilbert Martin]

"Yep, and works every time"

And as usual, you can't prove a single word of that.

[Mr. FIFY]

It only works if you give your heart to Jesus Keynes.

[AdamJ]

Well, then lets just keep doing it in perpetuity, seems like that should work.

[Drake]

Name one time.

I can name many times it didn't.

[Dave]

Works every time except when it doesn't and you blame it on a arbitrary amount.

[Dave]

Works every time except when it doesn't and you blame it on a arbitrary amount.

[Ken Shultz]

"Nobody wants to jump first in this economy, so a little prodding could help."

If you want to spur investment? You have to make a difference for the length of the investment.

If you want to spur growth in temporary jobs--for people who will be employed for less than a year? A one time credit will work great.

But if you want to spur growth in long term jobs--for people who employers expect will be with the company five, seven or more years? Then you need to cut the cost of employing them for five, seven or more years.

When I run my investment analysis, I start with projecting our costs--for the life of the investment. ...not for the one year when we initiate the investment.

If I can't justify the investment because of the long terms costs over the course of the whole investment, then I don't make the investment.

If employers can't justify the cost of hiring people over the course of the whole investment, then they don't hire people.

One shot credits won't do much of anything to spur long term employment--a little prodding won't do much of anything to help spur long term employment.

[Ken Shultz]

We need deep cuts in marginal tax rates--for people who make less than $40,000 a year especially.

If you want to make unemployed people more attractive for employers to hire, you might try slashing the cost of hiring them for the foreseeable future.

...since slashing the price has been the most effective method to clear excess inventory of anything--since the beginning of history.

Obama doesn't seem to know anything about that though--and that's giving him the benefit of the doubt and assuming his intentions are good...

But if it costs a business $50,000 a year to pay someone $35,000 in take home pay, and the difference is mostly regulation and taxes, etc?

Then it's unconscionable that we wouldn't slash tax rates--especially for people at the low end of the pay-scale--when unemployment is over 9%.

Obama just doesn't know what he's doing--he just wants to look like he's doing something.

[Tony]

500 people's "future discretionary income" is less useful to the economy than 300 million people's current discretionary income.

[J]

I don't think the real Tony has shown up in ages. I guess all the spoofers did his bidding, and with only half the sneering, so he is no longer needed.

[Mr. FIFY]

Those five hundred people have enough money to fill fourteen trillion in deficits?

Wow! They're richer than we thought!

[Chatroom Crank]

I really don't want to pile any more debt on my daughter and any children she may have. It isn't right.

[Ted S.]

WHen Obama talked about the rich paying their "fair" share, did he give the address for donations to the treasury?

[Hungry Hun]

Socialism for the rich
I'm curious how a 1/2 cut to payroll tax only cuts a total of 175 million in tax revenue. The US is kinda big, I would think that # would be higher.

[Almanian]

Was there a speech tonight? I watched DVR'ed "Offroad Overhaul" episodes for ideas for my Jeep.

Now - ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FUHBAH?! Saints just scored.

[Vince Lombardi's hat]

People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.

[Freedom fried]

The truth behind the 9/11 phone calls

[Julie Annie]

Nineleven nineleven nineleven NINELEVVEN!!1!!!!!!!91111111111111111

[Fist of Etiquette]

They took our inside jobs.

[Art-P.O.G.]

^^^Nice, FoE. Nice.

[sevo]

Wrong aisle. Tin-foil lids are on aisle 6.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I have a sinking feeling these assholes might actually pass this stimulus bill.

[Trespassers W]

I forced myself to watch it with the sound off (captions on).

That was some funny, funny shit. But mostly I was thinking about (1) where to put my money, and (2) where's my escape hatch if I need it?

[Fist of Etiquette]

"It was two views of America. It was not 'we need to find common ground and I'll be here to find common ground', it was 'I'm the reasonable man and you're not' and that's not a recipe for success."

-Doug Schoen, talking about the lack of talk of unity in the speech (an attitude that will hopefully tank this thing)

[sevo]

No, I wouldn't have watched or listened to it under pain of burning sticks in my eyeballs.
But, if I read the 'analysis' properly, congress (read: GOP) is the problem and Obama was right all along? My goodness; the guy's *always* right and nothing bad is ever his fault!
Prediction:
Unemployment end of Q1 2012 >9% if congress sees the light. If congress doesn't, unemployment >9%.

[Anonymous Coward]

I didn't watch the latest Presidential speech, but the transcript made it sound like he's asking for Stimulus, Part Deux.

If 700 billion didn't work, what will 450 billion do (besides line the pockets of the construction union, the teachers' union, and the unemployed)?

[Alex]

If anyone feels like having his/her eyes start to bleed, go check out gawker's article on the speech, and the comments at the end.

http://gawker.com/5838587/obama

Here's a gem:

"You don't need to qualify the statement "You should read Krugman" with anything else. Wise words in any situation."

[Art-P.O.G.]

"You don't need to qualify the statement "You should read Krugman" with anything else. Wise words in any situation."

Maybe unintentional comedy is the best comedy.

[Blech]

This is like the worst chat room ever.

[Fist of Etiquette]

asl?