American Politics during the Obama Presidency

Are black Americans finally starting to wake up? Of all places this comes from Chicago.

[URL]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUSRZo1BE5o[/URL]

This could be the beginning of a big problem for the [STRIKE]Democrat[/STRIKE] Plantation party.

So there is a big fuss in one of the neighboring counties because not enough Republican election judges have been hired. Accusations of favoritism and other isms are being bandied about. That county is majority Democratic but only about 55% and only about 30% of the judges are Republicans (if you throw the independents out of the denominator). Well, I can tell you why that is: the jobs pay $11 an hour. It has nothing to do with any malfeasance but rather the demographics of the hiring pool. The Republicans in that county probably have 2x the per capita income of the Democrats, for various reasons. My county is 60% Republican and since I was involved with the screening process, I can tell you that registered Democrats outnumbered registered Republicans by over 2 to 1 in the applications we received.

By the way, this had the affect that almost all the Republican applicants got hired and we got way, way down into loser range. I'm not saying there was a higher percentage of losers in the Republican pool than in the Democratic pool; I'm just saying we got the cream of the Democrats and the full range of Republicans. And our county pays $12.75 an hour so what kind of applicants the neighboring county got, I can only imagine.

So I don't know about paying fast-food workers $15 an hour but do you really want $11 an hour clowns running your elections? I went to the informational meeting for that county and some of the people there looked they had been dumped out of a vacuum cleaner bag.

The Republicans are frothing and slobbering at the mouth at the prospect of taking control of the Senate. I figure if that happens there wont be much done in 2015-16, because Pres. Obama will be vetoeing bills to:

-Repeal the Affordable Care Act.

-Ban Gay Marriage.

-Ban all abortions.

-Blame the Democrats for Fast & Furious.

-Blame Hilary Clinton for the Bengazi attack.

-Blame the PO for Republican front groups not getting tax breaks.

-Trying to Impeach Pres. Obama.

We will see what happens Nov. 4 on election day.

[QUOTE=BayBoy;442026]The Republicans are frothing and slobbering at the mouth at the prospect of taking control of the Senate. I figure if that happens there wont be much done in 2015-16, because Pres. Obama will be vetoeing bills[/QUOTE]And I'm okay with nothing being done, and maybe in 2016 we can have a Republican president and a Democratic senate and a bunch more nothing can get done. I think the ideal political situation resembles the Cincinnati-Carolina game.

My state looks to end up the same way so I am looking forward to as much nothing as possible on the state level as well. Except, we have a budget surplus and they might have to give us some of it back. That would be good, considering I was not here when the surplus accumulated but will still get the refund.

[QUOTE=BayBoy;442026]The Republicans are frothing and slobbering at the mouth at the prospect of taking control of the Senate. I figure if that happens there wont be much done in 2015-16, because Pres. Obama will be vetoeing bills to:

-Repeal the Affordable Care Act.

-Ban Gay Marriage.

-Ban all abortions.

-Blame the Democrats for Fast & Furious.

-Blame Hilary Clinton for the Bengazi attack.

-Blame the PO for Republican front groups not getting tax breaks.

-Trying to Impeach Pres. Obama.

We will see what happens Nov. 4 on election day.[/QUOTE]The 1st item is accurate.

The rest is blatant fear-mongering.

Jax.

I was trying to find a rational reason for the Dow Jones to erupt these last 2 weeks. And so it dawned on me, it must be the impending takeover of the Senate by the GOP next week, and therefore Congress, that has the market in such an explosive and ebullient mood. After all, what has that Obama clown done in the last 6 years to be able to claim any credit for all the money the "egg-throwers" have in their pockets. And all that despite raising the taxes, that we were told was the "death knell" of growth. So difficult to comprehend! But I get it, I didn't finish 26th in my class of 40 for nothing.

Well money talks, and I am no exception. After all, Wall Street is carrying the load of whatever luxury I do happen to be able to enjoy. Otherwise, it would be rice & soya sauce,with a chunk of pineapple thrown in. So with much hand-wringing, I feel I have to throw Obama to the lions, if only the market can continue to roar. A sacrifice to the the money gods, eh!

[QUOTE=RevBS;442039]I was trying to find a rational reason for the Dow Jones to erupt these last 2 weeks[/QUOTE]The Dow is a price-weighted index, ridiculous, hugely flawed. Attention should not be paid.

[QUOTE=RevBS;442039]I was trying to find a rational reason for the Dow Jones to erupt these last 2 weeks. And so it dawned on me, it must be the impending takeover of the Senate by the GOP next week, and therefore Congress, that has the market in such an explosive and ebullient mood. After all, what has that Obama clown done in the last 6 years to be able to claim any credit for all the money the "egg-throwers" have in their pockets. And all that despite raising the taxes, that we were told was the "death knell" of growth. So difficult to comprehend! But I get it, I didn't finish 26th in my class of 40 for nothing.

Well money talks, and I am no exception. After all, Wall Street is carrying the load of whatever luxury I do happen to be able to enjoy. Otherwise, it would be rice & soya sauce,with a chunk of pineapple thrown in. So with much hand-wringing, I feel I have to throw Obama to the lions, if only the market can continue to roar. A sacrifice to the the money gods, eh![/QUOTE]The stock market is not much different than a ponzi scheme. The institutional investors and the rich have DIRECT access to Wall Street servers (computers) and get advance notice of sell-offs, etc., before any of the 'average' day-to-day traders. Thus, those 'special' investors are notified in advance to sell and avoid losses which the 'average' investor ends up bearing the brunt of any loses.

Which is why I, and many others, are leaving the stock market as it is a "no win" game used to trick middle America into investing in it to increase the values so those with direct knowledge can increase their wealth but sell off before anyone else and avoid losses.

This isn't just my opinion but the opinion of my investment advisor- a Vice President with Zacks investments.

Suerte.

Stowe.

Well I sure as fuck won! The stock market might be rigged against idiots who trade all the time (and the tax system is stacked against those people as well), but the road to wealth is paved with equities. Always has been and always will be. I just saw an interesting article about the [B]differences[/B] between the stock market and a Ponzi scheme; I'll see if I can find it.

Here we go:

[URL]http://www.cnbc.com/id/102125181[/URL]#.

The key point is the existence of an open market. You look at Ponzi, Madoff, so forth, there is never a secondary market. Even if you look at Enron, a major problem there was the derivatives they invested in had no secondary market. Then there was the promise of unreasonable returns in Ponzi and Madoff's schemes. The equity market doesn't promise unreasonable returns and pigs get slaughtered. Recently Robert Shiller made his data dating back to 1871 available. He has a calculator where you can see what has historically been the probability of achieving X% return on average compounded over Y years. So what's a reasonable return, after inflation? Let me see if I can paste in this chart:

Percentage of times S & P has outperformed Y% over X years (1871-2012).

Inflation adjusted.

Years 1 5 10 20 40

4%: 59.81% 62.53% 71.28% 77.12% 97.79%

5%: 57.51% 59.00% 65.28% 71.72% 87.42%

6%: 55.26% 54.26% 57.70% 60.79% 56.29%

7%: 53.19% 49.21% 48.93% 49.25% 33.01%

8%: 50.77% 43.25% 42.80% 36.20% 12.09%

9%: 47.58% 38.32% 36.11% 22.34% 6.54%

10%: 44.98% 34.25% 28.79% 12.84% 0.82%

Next line shows the median return:

50% 8.30% 6.82% 6.91% 6.95% 6.31%

The bottom line gives you the median. Buying and holding for twenty years, you can expect close to 7% (6.95%) [B]after[/B] inflation and after accounting for variation in the returns. Your chance of getting 5% is over 70% and if you look at 40 years, a common time frame for the accumulation stage, you'd beat inflation by 5 percentage points close to 90% (87.42%) of the time. So you just ignore the sell-offs. Ignore everything. You don't want to "sell before the sell-offs" anyway. Then when do you buy back in? Instead, you want to buy the piss out of the sell-offs, just like I did in 2008. Not because I'm a genius but because my system forces me to buy low and sell high.

I guess people who think the stock market is rigged can invest in some other asset that has produced better returns over time. Oh, wait a minute; there isn't one!

(Edit: The chart looks real good on the preview. Too bad what you see ain't what you get. Sorry)

The big question today is whether the Republicans will take majority control of the Senate. But I recall 2 years ago that was the same question. There were 6 key races in the country and the Dems won all of them. And guess what I remember from 4 years ago, that was the same issue, and the Dems kept control the Senate that time too.

We will see what happens today.

[QUOTE=BayBoy;442100]The big question today is whether the Republicans will take majority control of the Senate. But I recall 2 years ago that was the same question. There were 6 key races in the country and the Dems won all of them. And guess what I remember from 4 years ago, that was the same issue, and the Dems kept control the Senate that time too.

We will see what happens today.[/QUOTE]hahahahaha

I wait for Esten's response to the new Republican Controlled House & Senate. How could a bunch of homophobic, racists, Bible toting, gun loving people who cling to their religious beliefs in fear of the liberal anti-Christ have won such a resounding victory?

Now the Republicans must govern, which I believe they will do well, but not from the stand point of the liberal elite. Wonder if the 2/3's majority in each chamber will materialize to override Obama's coming veto's? Will the democrats be running scared now they have lost both houses of Congress and fear for their own reelection or defeat in 2016 based on how they work with the Republicans? Could Obama's veto pen be out of ink?

While I don't believe impeachment of Obama would be a good thing for the country, it is now a very real threat after loss of control of the Senate. Perhaps this will reign in the Obama imperial presidency?

I await your response with amusement Esten.

Us 99%ers will be really fucked now.

[QUOTE=Doppelganger;442115]I wait for Esten's response to the new Republican Controlled House & Senate. How could a bunch of homophobic, racists, Bible toting, gun loving people who cling to their religious beliefs in fear of the liberal anti-Christ have won such a resounding victory?

Now the Republicans must govern, which I believe they will do well, but not from the stand point of the liberal elite. Wonder if the 2/3's majority in each chamber will materialize to override Obama's coming veto's? Will the democrats be running scared now they have lost both houses of Congress and fear for their own reelection or defeat in 2016 based on how they work with the Republicans? Could Obama's veto pen be out of ink?

While I don't believe impeachment of Obama would be a good thing for the country, it is now a very real threat after loss of control of the Senate. Perhaps this will reign in the Obama imperial presidency?

I await your response with amusement Esten.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Doppelganger;442115]I await your response with amusement Esten.[/QUOTE]He's waiting for the DNC to send him his talking points.

[QUOTE=WorldTravel69;442119]Us 99%ers will be really fucked now.[/QUOTE]Wow man, you just don't get it.

The 1%ers, the Race Card, the War on Women, they all failed.

Thanks,

Jax