American Politics during the Obama Presidency

[QUOTE=QuakHunter]I like my version of the facts. They suit my story much better.

I heard MacGyver was the one enriching the yellow-cake into plutonium with a vibrator and left over wet naps from a privado.

Pay your taxes everyone. We are going to need the money.[/QUOTE]You cannot convert one element into another, without fission or Fusion. You can vibrate it all you want, read a physics textbook. With a centrifuge you can separate heavier isotopes from lighter ones, but you cannot change Uranium to Plutonium. Or turn lead into gold. You can turn lead into gold, with fission, but the gold is radioactive and cost much more to make, then what gold sells for. You can vibrate the lead all you want, you not getting gold or Uranium to Plutonium.

The Fox article on finding weapons grade plutonium, I took a quick look at before was old (Friday, April 11, 2003. I missed it, it was in small print), I did not look at the date on the article when I read it quickly before. I am unable to find anything else on plutonium. It must have turn out not too be true, since I cannot find any follow-ups at all, anywhere on the web.

If it was weapons grade Uranium, I cannot find anything either on google news. My guess the stuff they are talking about now is just Yellow Cake. Which usually means the yellow power you get after leaching the Uranium from Uranium ore, the powder likes to cake together, therefore the name Yellow Cake. The Isotopes have to be separated before you can get anything usable in most nuclear reactors. That is the process Iran is trying to master, with the centrifuge stuff they are using.

[QUOTE=Tessan]The Fox article on finding weapons grade plutonium, I took a quick look at before was old (Friday, April 11, 2003. I missed it, it was in small print) I did not look at the date on the article when I read it quickly before. I am unable to find anything else on plutonium. It must have turn out not too be true, since I cannot find any follow-ups at all, anywhere on the web.

If it was weapons grade Uranium, I cannot find anything either on google news. My guess the stuff they are talking about now is just Yellow Cake. Which usually means the yellow power you get after leaching the Uranium from Uranium ore, the powder like to cake together, therefore the name Yellow Cake. The Isotopes have to be separated before you can get anything usable in most nuclear reactors. That is the process Iran is trying to master, with the centrifuge stuff they are using.[/QUOTE]Tessan,

I am not in a position to compromise my super top secret spy clearance and how I definitely know I am right. But my sources via the KGB and People magazine support my point and you have to trust me. The security of our country and the free world is at hand.

You seem like a pretty good dude even after laying all that super high tech science isotope fission, fusion crap on me. I was talking about MacGyver making shit with vibrators and cum soaked rags. I give; you have Nobel prize winning scientist stuff on your side.

Let's just pull out of the shit of an economic cesspool we are in and keep the dollar strong so we can stimulate the Argentina chica economy.

Keep hope alive!

I am really curious if Obama can do what he has spoken of: get a stimulus package out of congress and save his political wish list for after it seems secure that we are not headed into a serious depression. It is obvious that the leadership of the Democratic house doesn't get it.

Over the next few weeks we will see what happens as it unfolds.

[QUOTE=Miami Bob]I LOST much more money than I can afford last year. When I am talking about this stimulous package, I'm not thinking about what is best for my personal financial situation. I am affraid of major depression as one of the real possibilities. I believe that the moderates from both parties in the Senate will be thinking in a similar fashion.

I am gambling by keeping some money in the market: BP, COP with energy diversification and safe dividends. I will wait and energy must go up over the next year or two. LINN is interesting--an energy trust with a high dividend--my small position is up big, but I'm not selling because of the dividend. Copper bought when bottom fishing. I sold and re purchased a brazilian EFT at half the price. Looking at a China ETF, but not cheap enough yet. The Chinese have their own stimulus in place and will do more.

Gambling on some GS purchased on the cheap--they are the smartest guys in town. I may buy jpm--jaime dimon is the smartest ceo in the financial industry--it's not cheap enough now. I am reading and believing that GS, JPM and MS have taken almost all of the toxic garbage off their books. I think that we will retest the lows. These banks will survive and make lots of money in the future--which could be within the next year or years. As sid posted the research shows that you make your real money during unexcepted runs which are impossible to even pretend to time.

My largest position is MO----like getting paid to wait. High diviidend. Merck looks like a good place to nibble as we retest the lows. I'm watching celgene and have a small position in gild--biotech with a monopoly on hiv / aids.

I got stuck in Shaw Industries and I'm down sooooo far, but think that infrastructure plays are rational, so I'm still in part of my position which is way down. I won't add to it unless obama starts talking nuclear in a serious way. Foster wheeler.-I am watching and is probably a better way to play infrastructure as they are more diversified.

I have a small position in Rio which is also way down, but I'm not selling. China should recover early--I hope, then Rio and fcx should start to move--it will be a while. China is the major user of cooper and iron and these stocks are just soooooo cheap based upon the value of their assets or as possible take overs. I have a position PBR based on their huge mega offshore gas and oil finds and their future value which is not really on the books now. I will be sitting on dead PBS money for a while--no big dividend and third world risks---I'm either stupid or have balls or both. [I'm about 8% in energy in total of all positions]

My MCD is still up--small position. Same thing with a small position in YUM--cheap good eats and growing in China throughout the slow down. The Chinese love the fried chicken. Read their report--it is amasing what yum is doing internationally. MCD is predicting us$125, 000in extra revenue per store based upon coffee style drinks a la starbucks, but a almost half the price.

A couple of small positions in gold minners have been moving up. I actually pay attention when el alamo talks.

I am taking risk. I got killed and I hope that I am guessing right. I don't recomemd any one else follow anything I am doing. The pros may think that I'm nuts and I may be nuts. I am a diversified nut who is preying for a rational Stimulous package to push things along.

Would Obama please punch-out Nancy Pelosi and get Bidden working the senate.[/QUOTE]My guesses from Feb. 1

A little stimulation, please?

It still has too much of the democrat's political wish list in it, rather than STIMULATION. I want to see infrastructure projects--what happened? Natural gas for electricity generation? JOBS? But it is still better than the house bill.

[url]http://www.bornagainamerican.org/[/url], interesting little tune at this time in our history.

Exon

[QUOTE=Exon123][url]http://www.bornagainamerican.org/[/url], interesting little tune at this time in our history.

Exon[/QUOTE]What is up with that?

[url]http://freethought.mbdojo.com/foundingfathers.html[/url]

Otherwise a cool song though.

And here I thought he was the Terminator.

[QUOTE=BBC NEWS]http:/ news. Bbc. Co. Uk /2/ hi / business /7893965. Stm.

Cash-strapped California is to start notifying 20,000 state workers that they may lose their jobs.

A spokesman for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger made the announcement after California lawmakers failed to approve a $40bn (£28.2bn) budget.

California, the world's eighth biggest economy, has been hit by the housing crisis, unemployment and falling consumer spending.

The jobs on the government payroll would be cut in June.

It would be done in preparation for the next fiscal year, which starts in July.

"In the absence of a budget, the governor has a responsibility to realise state savings any way he can," said Aaron McLear, a spokesman for Republican governor Schwarzenegger.

"This is unfortunately a necessary decision."

The budget would include spending cuts and tax increases to close the state's budget deficit.

California has already laid off state workers for two days a month, put 2,000 public projects on hold and delayed tax refunds.

The state controller predicts California will run out of cash by the end of February if lawmakers do not solve the budget crisis.[/QUOTE]

I thought all presidents got "on the job" training, no?

[QUOTE=Sidney]The stock market continues to decline. Surely he is responsible for some of it due to his terrible poor plans and appointments like Geithner, Summers, Daschle, mas. O's stupid judgements leave much to be desired! You got On Job Training CHANGE. We are all suffering![/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=BadMan]I thought all presidents got "on the job" training, no?[/QUOTE]John McCain wouldn't have needed any "on-the-job training".

[QUOTE=Sidney]Can his supporters explain this?[/QUOTE]Sid,

Obviously, I had a different idea as to who should be in the President's office, but Obama had repeatedly stated during his candidacy that he thought that Afghanistan was the true battlefield and that he intended to escalate our military presence there.

Thanks,

Jackson

[QUOTE=Jackson]Sid,

Obviously, I had a different idea as to who should be in the President's office, but Obama had repeatedly stated during his candidacy that he thought that Afghanistan was the true battlefield and that he intended to escalate our military presence there.

Thanks,

Jackson[/QUOTE]It was a plank of his platform.

[QUOTE=Sidney]We are taking sides in a drug war that no one will ever win![/QUOTE]I hate to think it or say it, but this is probably true. No easy answers or solutions but to leave the entire area to the poppy boys and Islamic lunatics. If the USA had more support from others, which the Obama administration is supposed to be working on-good luck, I would be more positive. Without more support, and maybe even with it, this is likely a no win quagmire for years and years to come.

Umm, El Sid and I agreeing. Always a little frightening.;)

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[QUOTE=Daddy Rulz]Jax you will fucking love this!

0[/QUOTE]That may be your best post ever Daddy! :rolleyes:

[QUOTE=Punter 127]That may be your best post ever Daddy!:rolleyes:[/QUOTE]It was supposed to be a link to a flash game called "Escape the Bay" and you got to slingshot Arabs over the fence at Gitmo. They got exploded by landmines and screamed "Death to America." To bad the url didn't post. All you country motherfuckers woulda loved it.

[QUOTE=Daddy Rulz]It was supposed to be a link to a flash game called "Escape the Bay" and you got to slingshot Arabs over the fence at Gitmo. They got exploded by landmines and screamed "Death to America." To bad the url didn't post. All you country motherfuckers woulda loved it.[/QUOTE]Post the URL again, but not as the first or only sentence in the post. Then it should work.

[QUOTE=Seaman]Post the URL again, but not as the first or only sentence in the post. Then it should work.[/QUOTE]Here it is.

[url]http://www.flashrolls.com/skill-games/Escape-the-Bay-Flash-Game.htm[/url]

[QUOTE=Sidney] Obama will set the clock back decades. America is the bastion of freedom. The peace of the world depends on the strength of America, and its weakness translates into the triumph of terrorism and victory of rogue nations. It is no wonder that Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez, the Castrists, the Hezbollah, the Hamas, the lawyers of the Guantanamo terrorists and virtually all sworn enemies of America are so thrilled by the prospect of their man in the White House. America is on the verge of destruction. There is no insanity greater than electing a pathological narcissist as president.[/QUOTE]In the words of Lili Von Schtupp from Blazing Saddles, "It's twue, it's twue. It's twue"

My hope was I was wrong about him; this guy hates everything I believe. Foremost among them is the belief of self reliance and individual success.

So Dr. Sam Vaknin did not write this article.

[url]http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/vaknin.asp[/url]

But... That does not mean it is not true. (Although I have not read the whole post, I think the moment the "article" is using a name of another person to justify its trustworthiness, 99.99% of the time the article is full of sh*t)

Not only that, but I doubt there are many reputable psychologists that would risk their name making a diagnosis on a person (particulary so high-profile) without actually spending time with and interviewing that person, as well as those who know that person.

And here (I think) is his site:

[url]http://samvak.tripod.com/[/url]

It looks like the same sort of site that sells all sorts of shit from penile enhancement to weight loss, etc.

And I couldn't read the whole thing. Whatever happened to paragraphing? Very difficult to read at best.

[QUOTE=El Queso]Not only that, but I doubt there are many reputable psychologists that would risk their name making a diagnosis on a person (particulary so high-profile) without actually spending time with and interviewing that person, as well as those who know that person.

And here (I think) is his site:

[url]http://samvak.tripod.com/[/url]

It looks like the same sort of site that sells all sorts of shit from penile enhancement to weight loss, etc.

And I couldn't read the whole thing. Whatever happened to paragraphing? Very difficult to read at best.[/QUOTE]Exactly-no self respecting psychotherapist would be public, particularly with such a diagnosis. And EVEN MORE so if he or she had evaluated the patient. Can you say mega LAWSUIT? This kind of crap is published by people with an axe to grind and / or people desperate for attention, and maybe the money that might come with it. Not to mention that the "diagnosis" is ludicrous to begin with.

Sidney, please exercise some restraint! What incredible rubbish!

Please get some new spin on your hatred. It is becoming boring. Dick morris? Quoting him again?

Let's turn to some sort of new angle. You are a bright man. But you are repeating yourself. I do respect your right to hate the president. You have the right to repeat your hatred as many ways as you please.

There is a debate beginning on the sec bringing back the up-tick rule. The fed chairman actually spoke about it in his speach today. Sid is a professional securities trader w / lots of savy. This rule was first put in place by Joe Kennedy--JFK's father, when he was FDR's SEC chairman.

Many historians blame the large number of bank failures in the early 1930's on short sellers beating the bank stocks to death. BAD news. Scare the heck out of everyone. Runs on the banks and the bank stock prices get pounded down every day without let-up. So joe kennedy imposes a requirement that you cannot sell short a stock without waiting for the stock to up-tick[go up] before another short sale can be made. This rule remained in place since it started thru all the other presidents including such free market kind of guys like regan and nixon. Our last president--with his harvard mba--let the rule be dropped. The fed president implied that the rule might be re-instated to prevent the dailey punding and manipulation of bank stocks which have enough of their own real fundimental problems.

I am hoping that Sid might comment on something positive about Bush leaving and having some new faces in town and possibly at the SEC.

Sid--I aggree that the new secretary of the treasury has no idea--he is clue- less and scaring the S__T out of everyone. I can't imagine what he is doing or even more interesting--what is his actually intention when this endless barrage of dumb garbage pours out of his mouth.

It would be good to hear from you. You are more knowledgable than most about the stock markets. What role, if any, does the lack of the up-tick rule play in the destruction of capital today?

Sid--do your thing, please!

MB, you didn't ask for anyone else's opinion, but I'll jump in, just in case it's helpful, as a career institutional stockbroker and mutual fund manager.

I think the uptick rule is a good one, and I would like to see it restored. I did not understand what the value of eliminating it was supposed to be.

I am in favor of short selling as a means to maintain orderly, fair, and liquid markets. It does not, in and of itself, mean bad things for market values. Every share of stock that is borrowed and sold short is a share that needs to be bought back at some point. Hence, it is a creator of demand for the stock, at some (uncertain) time in the future.

By having to wait for a stock to trade at a higher price than the last, different previous sales price, (which is what the uptick rule calls for) it assures that only stocks where there is at least some demand for them can be sold short, and it means that you can't easily institute a "bear raid".

The way a bear raid works is that you keep selling the borrowed shares lower, and lower, and lower, without any restaint. When you let people do this, you give them an incentive to do it, and profit in an unseemly manner, because by starting to sell the shares when they are higher, then driving them down very low, they are guaranteed to have an average sales price above where the stock eventually drops. They are thus guaranteed a profit, especially as desperate sellers, perhaps with margin calls, or violation of debt capital covenants or capital requirements, or stunned by just plain fear of the stock going to zero, are forced to sell their own, depressed shares (that they actually own) at rock bottom prices for liquidity. This is NOT an efficient capital market at work, it's a kind of a fear-driven ponzi scheme in reverse. People that wouldn't want to sell at depressed prices are forced to, and the short seller, who is really just a market manipulator, profits.

Anyway, short selling is ok, bear raiding is not ok. I am for the uptick rule.

Hope this is of some value to you, if you agree with it.

BTG

Would you share a little bit of your experince and knowledge with all of us?

BTG tends to agree with my point of view that some regualtion might help slow the destruction of capital.

I would love to see the SEC to have the funding to investigate some of the financial nonsense and prosecute or refer to the us attorney violators and wall street guys who committed fraud and made tens or hundreds of milllions of dollars. As stan the man, who used to work at the sec told us, the sec under the last president barely had money to buy toner for the photocopiers. If you don't believe in regulation, don't waste money on funding regulators.

Sidney?

[QUOTE=Big Travel Guy]MB, you didn't ask for anyone else's opinion, but I'll jump in, just in case it's helpful, as a career institutional stockbroker and mutual fund manager.

I think the uptick rule is a good one, and I would like to see it restored. I did not understand what the value of eliminating it was supposed to be.[/QUOTE]I've sold short maybe 20 different securities when the uptick rule was in effect, so don't have a lot of experience. But I've never once failed to fill an order on account of the uptick rule. And in several instances I sold fairly illiquid securities short, where on a few days I accounted for a significant % of the trading. Regulation SHO and other prohibitions against naked shorting do have teeth, but the uptick rule seems to me to be meaningless.

Active traders can get around this anyway. A trader might buy 2000 shares of ABC and sell short 2000 shares of ABC. Then when he decides to go short, he just gets rid of their long position and keeps the short position. He doesn't need to wait for an uptick. I believe if you're classified as a professional trader you're violating securities regulations when you do this, but if you have two brokerage accounts nobody is going to find out.

Short sellers may have made life a little more difficult for the banks, by raising the cost of equity capital. But it would be ridiculous to blame this crisis on them. The banks were the ones that became overleveraged, got into positions they didn't understand, and were just plain lazy and greedy (I. E. Giving out mortgages and credit cards to people who would never be able to pay them back)