The State of the Union 2015: Magical Pain-Free Prosperity For Everyone!
President Barack Obama's 2015 State of the Union address was an important reminder that few professions in these United States of America are as profoundly immune to basic learning curves then that of politicians, speechwriters, and bureaucrats. It was a speech that bragged about the booming economy at a time when the labor-force participation rate is the worst it's been since Jimmy Carter was president. It called for "everyone to get their fair shot," three years after this same president called for "everyone to get their fair shot." And it championed a series of "free" programs and initiatives that will magically create pain-free prosperity for everyone, without any tradeoffs.
Yay!
Obama's economics are stuck in the 1970s, without the added benefit of wide lapels and airline deregulation. He has dropped all pretense of what he was promising in 2009 – a net spending cut, closing Guantanamo Bay, reforming entitlements. His ideas are so tired that the climax of his speech—literally—was to let a grateful nation know that he still believes the same stuff he said in a speech 10 years ago.
The good news is that everyone will have forgotten this turd sandwich by the end of the week. The bad news is that he's still the president, they're still the Congress, and we'll be back again for more drivel next year.
About 1:30.
Shot and edited by Jim Epstein.
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O'bumbles is a eunuch at this point....fortunately for us.
YOU GET FREE CHILDCARE! AND YOU GET FREE COLLEGE! AND YOU GET FREE PAID VACATION TIME!!
Hurry while supplies last!
I chuckled...nicely done.
I cried
By "supplies" you mean a workforce willing to provide this stuff before they sit down and say "fuck this".
Which is inevitable. But somehow the word 'incentive' seems to escape the leftists.
Yeah, and that's when the emigration controls are implemented.
So, I've been hearing the number "92 million" people are out of the workforce. Is this true? because that's over a quarter of the country's population.
28% unemployment. That's quite a legacy.
The labor participation rate is somewhere in the 60s%. Let's take some rough numbers.
Population is 320M. If those are evenly spread over all ages, life expectancy is 75 years, and you subtract 1/4 of the population for being under 18, that's 250 million who could work, including retired. 35% of that (100 - 65) is 87.5M not working.
There's your 28%. IIRC, the highest the labor participation rate has been is somewhere in the 70s. It includes retired people, housewives and househusbands, college students, disable, etc.
I've heard that lie on redneck radio. Counting chukdren, retirees, students, and stay at home moms the number might be close. The dishonest part is that they are "out of work".
10 seconds on Google: 47% of Unemployed Have Given Up Looking for a Job (June 2014)
Our glorious recovery: What The Unemployment And Labor Force Participation Rates Would Be If All Of The Discouraged Workers Came Back
You are absolutely, completely correct. Everyone here agrees with you.
I heard, though, that salon.com has a lot of people that need convincing. You should check it out!
Why shouldn't stay at home moms, a good portion of students, children, and retired people work? Most of a housewife's job is rendered obsolete by modern appliances, any retired person under the age of 70 better either be rich or working part time (my parents are in their 60s and middle class, and neither plans on retiring soon), and at least most poorer students should be doing work study. And frankly, many people 16-18 should also be working.
But perhaps you have that 'government job' mentality. Never work before or in college so you can 'focus on your studies (meaning getting drunk and playing hackeysack?), after your done with an advanced degree at 26, you loaf for a while before getting a job with a nice pension, try to hang in their for 20 years and then coast as long as you can before retiring by your mid 50s.
It's like a really, really awful rerun of a really, really awful program that nobody wants to hear or watch.
Sadly though, there will be a large number of voters who will sit in their armchairs, swooning and believing this tired old shit.
There's probably a considerable overlap of those with the people who watch CSI: Miami and Law & Order marathons.
If Welch was elected to deliver the official Reason response to the State of the Union Addy, he shouldn't have been participating in the SOTU drinking game beforehand.
please to remember that with any turd sandwich, the more bread you have the less shit you have to eat.
I'm voting for giant douche
Of course you are. Everybody knows that.
Was it purposeful that when seeing the still image of Matt Welch that I am reminded of the Free Government Money Guy? The resemblance is uncanny and the irony is super meta. Well played, Mr. Epstein.
Lesko.
Did anyone manage to figure out what the hell "middle-class economics" is, and how it differs from say...uh, economics - other than the former being a fictional construct?
"middle-ass economics" is exactly as it sounds.
Not on the left side, not on the right but right in the groove.
Did anyone manage to figure out what the hell "middle-class economics" is
Yes, that's the economic policy where you eliminate that pesky middle class and replace them with the 'peasant' class. Works great for the ruling class, of which Obama sees himself a permanent member of. And they call themselves 'progressive'.
It is important to keep in mind that anyone who seeks power for themselves also seeks to diminish the power of others. Impoverishing them is the most effective way to do that.
Better a progressive peasant than a reactionary kulak.
Middle class economics is a word that Democratic party pollsters deemed to be a suitable nonsense term after running it past focus groups.
That's all.
They're trying to make "middle class economics" the new "fair share".
Harry Reid couldn't wait to try out his new genuine iguana skin sex swing. And with none other than Rachel Maddow and Melissa Harris Perry!
This story to be continued after I eat lunch.
A light note before I dig through this afternoon's comments on other threads:
The Chive posted a vacation guide.
Obama's economics are stuck in the 1970s
I beg to differ. I believe his economics are stuck in Chicago. And I mean the city, not the school.
Today is the opposite of when Reagan used the misery index. Low inflation and a 5.8% UE rate makes that index about 6% - an excellent rate for sure.
That is super awesome. I'm glad that your hero Obama's policies worked so well! The stock market is up, "unemployment" is down, and the money just keeps on flowin'.
I can't see anything wrong with any of this. It is certain to last forever b
Must've been that stimulus. I bet if congress didn't cut spending so much a couple years ago it never would've happened and we'd all have golden toilets.
So random observquestion: Why do no kids shows even try to tackle basic econ questions?
I was just browsing the netflix new arrivals, and there are a lot of kids shows, and a big theme of kids shows seems to be teaching kids about animals. Well, while animals are all well and good... why not teach kids even basic ideas like supply and demand, which may make them non-stupid adults? Most people don't encounter economics until high school, and this seems flawed.
To relate it back to the post, kids reared on econ could point out why Obama's proposals are so dumb.
I think the reason is most children are interested in animals. That's the reason Aesop used them in his fables.
Stossel in the Classroom is great series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cR5KN1O5hVk
*is a great series
Jeez, I have a bad habit of forgetting to write short words.
When I was in 6th grade, we had a computer class where we learning typing, how to browse the internet, etc. We had also had a computer where we had to run a hot dog stand at a ball park. You had so many things you could buy - buns, condiments, different kinds of dogs, soda, etc. So the game was that you had X amount of money to start, you bought supplies, picked your prices, and then you clicked 'Ok' when you were ready to sell.
So, you had to figure out simple things like you need to buy buns and dogs in equal quantities, and how to set your prices high enough to gain a profit to purchase more supplies for the next week, but not so high that you drive the people away.
It was decent. There was a calculator game that was fairly popular where you had to sell drugs. The game starts with you owing money to a loan shark, You're broke, so you have to go to a different loan shark to get some money. Then you use that money to buy a trench coat and some drugs. There are three cities that you could travel to, and the price for each drug would fluctuate each time you traveled to a different city. To pay your loan sharks off, you had to buy drugs at a lower price and sell at a higher, so you usually had to buy in one city and then travel to another to sell. You could buy bigger trenchcoats so you could move more and get other upgrades.
The recovery continues: More homeless camps are appearing beyond downtown L.A.?s skid row
The joys of multiculturalism: Almost 500 cases of female genital mutilation identified in just one month in English hospitals
I'm guessing the feminists will be silent on this matter.
GDP is 5%. Production and profits are setting records. Exports have nearly doubled since 2009. Capitalism has never been healthier.
Reagan called the unemployable "structural".
I'm so glad to hear that "GDP is 5%". I'm sure that means something to you.
If you mean "up 5%," do recall that GDP includes government spending. As Krugman (and you) reminds us, that is just exactly precisely the same as anybody else spending it.
Again, you totally win. Obama is the bestest president ever, the bringer of hope and light, and the opposite of all those other bad politicians.
It would suck if any libertarian folk suggest that the current trajectory is totally fucking unsustainable. They would be wrong.
How much did the GOP increase during the first six years of the Bush administration again? More that 5%. Guess things were going great then too, huh?
What exactly is your point?
I see that deaths from liver disease have increased 40% in the last decade in the UK. Apparently living in an oppressive social climate and an economy that won't allow one to accomplish anything is stifling and soul crushing. So people drink.
Who knew? Certainly not the Russians.
The solution is obviously alcohol prohibition!
I'll leave this here.
OT, but related:
Birds get goo-d, no fed money! The horror!
"No state or federal aid for handling bird-killing goo emergency"
http://www.sfgate.com/science/.....038179.php
I watched a conservative wankfest on CSPAN yesterday. It had Carson, Cruz, Trump, Santorum, Walker, Christie, Palin, & Huckabee.
First they spoke to Iowa Republicans and then to the press. The press mostly hectored them about abortion and gay marriage.
Carson & Walker were interesting & sane. Trump mostly bragged about himself. Santorum was so boring I can't even remember what he said. Christie talked about his dead mom for some reason. Cruz talked about his dad's rags-to-riches story. Huckabee leapt from one cliche to another like a grasshopper in a frying pan. Palin whined about how the press were mean to her.
The best comment was from Trump who said that neither Jeb Bush or Romney should run. Romney is a loser and Bush's name is mud.
They all pandered to the good, humble, farmers of Iowa. Vows to stop illegal immigrants and terrorists won much applause.
Did Carson talk about how things are worse now than in Nazi Germany? That is his goto speech.
Palin's Buttplug|1.25.15 @ 8:16PM|#
..."That is his goto speech."
As opposed to turd's BOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!
Same with Charlie Rangel. That corrupt dipshit compared people who oppose affirmative action to Hitler.
And of course our own despicable proggie Tony who is sure anyone who finds Obo a lying POS is a racist.
So American Sniper is cleaning up the Box-office. Of course Suderman complained about how it was nominated for BP and Gone Girl wasn't and how they nominated so many low-grossing films when American Sniper is has now outgrossed Gone Girl and could outgross all of the other nominees combined!
Winston, show me on this doll where the libertarian touched you for a moment.
Well Suderman annoyed me with his concern trolling over the shutdown and the "Republican should try reforming Obamacare" article.
Fair enough. That's a point to be made, without quibbling about his preferences as a movie critic.
I'm inclined to like American Sniper just because of all the aneurysms it's causing in celebrity leftists. Especially that sow Michael Moore, who said snipers are cowards, unless they're *defending their country from invaders*, which his family taught him because his uncle was killed by a "coward" Japanese sniper... who was *defending his country from foreign invaders.* That guys brain must be pure surplus fat by now.
..."Michael Moore, who said snipers are cowards, unless they're *defending their country from invaders*, which his family taught him because his uncle was killed by a "coward" Japanese sniper.."...
Pretty clear that MM was never anywhere close to combat; *every* front-line GI is a 'sniper' in that he hopes to hide his position while hoping the enemy becomes visible. And dead.
He has dropped all pretense of what he was promising in 2009 ? a net spending cut, closing Guantanamo Bay, reforming entitlements.
Who were the morons who actually believed that?
i wouldn't have believed such people existed either. But then, of course, we have our trolls here.
I recall Anthony Gregory claiming that Obama wouldn't engage in Obamacare because there wasn't enough money and because Clinton and Cleveland. Never mind that Bill's "surplus" was accounting tricks and was due to triangulated with a Republican Congress and that Hillarycare failed.
I will save Harry Reid's iguana skin sex swing escapade for another day. In the mean time, here is something equally revolting- Frances Fox Piven speak at Occupy Wall St.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsK2WeO7VbQ
She's still alive?
Yes, but only because her special friends help her:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umU8vKRNnRw
I believe wholeheartedly that she harvests amniotic fluid by slaughtering pregnant women for some perverse dark ritual to maintain her lich form.
What happened to Cloward?
Lung cancer.
Just caught the top ten on Miss USA. Damn.
I prefer Miss Teen USA
I watched it too, was interested, more interested, really interested, then suddenly wasn't interested anymore.
How was the Pro Bowl?
lol, US POlitics. Best politics money can buy lol.
http://www.BestAnon.tk
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what this all about Magical Pain -Free Prosperity For Everyone!