US: Schizophrenia

Vitaliy_Kiselev

Pass this jobs bill, and starting tomorrow, small businesses will get a tax cut if they hire new workers or raise workers’ wages. Pass this jobs bill, and all small business owners will also see their payroll taxes cut in half next year. If you have 50 employees making an average salary, that’s an $80,000 tax cut. And all businesses will be able to continue writing off the investments they make in 2012.

It’s not just Democrats who have supported this kind of proposal. Fifty House Republicans have proposed the same payroll tax cut that’s in this plan. You should pass it right away.

Pass this jobs bill, and we can put people to work rebuilding America. Everyone here knows that we have badly decaying roads and bridges all over this country. Our highways are clogged with traffic. Our skies are the most congested in the world.

This is inexcusable. Building a world-class transportation system is part of what made us an economic superpower. And now we’re going to sit back and watch China build newer airports and faster railroads? At a time when millions of unemployed construction workers could build them right here in America?

Via: http://nationaljournal.com/whitehouse/text-obama-s-jobs-speech-there-are-steps-we-can-take-right-now--20110908

It is very hard to comment speech made by delusional schizophrenic.
So, I won't be doing this, it speaks for itself.

Better see this:

Vitaliy_Kiselev

"American Jobs Act" did not pass :-) As expected.

Vitaliy_Kiselev

>The US could simply open our borders and we'll double our population pretty fast...

I doubt you'll like it :-)
Because looking at all real situation parameters it is better idea to do exactly reverse thing.

NickBen

I have an extra house that nobody is willing to pay for, that's for sure...

The US could simply open our borders and we'll double our population pretty fast...
We'll have temporary anarchy, so we'll need more guns and officers and jails, but we'll have plenty of hungry
willing bodies that need food and shelter...

Problem solved?

Vitaliy_Kiselev

@NickBen

Unfortunately you can't save this jobs. In reality, goverment tried hard.
But if your home sales, construction permits and credit situation are not good (and won't be good in near future) you can't have so many jobs that are now not required.

NickBen

THURSDAY NIGHT President Obama praises Warren Buffett in his jobs creation speech as a "Model American" for wanting to pay a couple more percent on his taxes.

FRIDAY MORNING Bank of America announces CUTTING 40-45,000 JOBS!!!!

So, to summarize, the "Model American" Warren Buffett got a sweetheart deal last month from Bank of America (US taxpayer backed TARP Recipient) a month ago without the US interfering due to Obama's approval of Warren Buffett- his richest political contributor, and the day after Obama's jobs speech they cut 45,000 jobs.

Instead, why aren't the jobs saved and Bank of America split into 2 companies as it's already Too Big to Fail?

Isn't the US a great country, where the President's richest political contributor makes Billions from taxpayers and the middle class gets fired?

I see little difference between the US Media outlets and the old Politburu anymore.

I'm sure Vitaliy could educate me on that...

GOODEMPIRE

Let's hope we are all not going to be turned Libyan soon

QuinEtiam

You guys are hopeless. But, we can't all be Canadian.

Vitaliy_Kiselev

>Your citation is a clever insult and does nothing to improve or finesse the conversation.

Clever insult? Are you ok?
It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have
been searching for evidence which could support this.
Bertrand Russell

And it is extremely useful to show real foundation of many posts in this and other topics about economy of developed countries.

cosimo_bullo

Your citation is a clever insult and does nothing to improve or finesse the conversation.

Vitaliy_Kiselev

@cosimo_bullo

My citation and link is about your replies and reason why you and many others make them.
All this "useless bit of pessimism" crap.
Remarks about Berlusconi.

cosimo_bullo

And VK,

By the way, your link:

http://faculty.babson.edu/krollag/org_site/soc_psych/latane_bystand.html

I think that's a description of the human condition in general. We do lean on each other most of the time not to be terrified by the circumstances of our condition as human beings. And thank goodness we can lean on each other for some comfort.

cosimo_bullo

There's a joke we say each year at Redentore in the lagoon. After the fireworks you say to your friend, "It was better last year." This is an Italian kind of joke, in that it actually seems like it was better last year (it wasn't of course, and you know it, the artists who put on the show are amazing year after year, with some years great, some just very good...).

But EVERYTHING seems like it was better in the past in Italy. It's bullshit. Women had few rights, gays NO rights, etc, etc. The food is safer now, the gas to heat our homes (thank you Russia) cheaper, streets are safer.

But it was better last year, right? ... get over it guys. The world will slowly, messily, painfully continue to improve for most people, just as it has for centuries, just as is happening messily in China now, for example. Longing for Rome 4, for a painful collapse before the good times come, for the end of this era of relative peace instead to return to an idealistic past... it's not useful or helpful.

And quoting Berlusconi?... setting the bar a little low there.

Vitaliy_Kiselev

@cosimo_bullo

They had subjects began to fill out questionnaires in a room to which they began to add smoke. In one condition the subject was alone. In another three naive subjects were in the room. In the final condition one naive subject and two confederates who purposely noticed and then ignored the smoke (even when the room became hazy from all the smoke).

75% of alone subjects calmly noticed the smoke and left the room to report it. But only 10% of the subjects with confederates reported it. Surprisingly, in the three naive bystander condition only 38% reported the smoke.

Most subjects had similar initial reactions. Those that didn't report it all concluded that the smoke wasn't dangerous or was part of the experiment. No one attributed their inactivity to the presence of others in the room.

Other studies have shown that togetherness reduces fear even when the danger isn't reduced. It may have been that people in groups were less afraid and thus less likely to act. Or people were inhibited to show fear in a group situation. However, from post-interviews it was clear that people didn't act because they concluded the situation wasn't a threatening situation.

Latane, B., & Darley, J. Bystander "Apathy", American Scientist,
Via: http://faculty.babson.edu/krollag/org_site/soc_psych/latane_bystand.html

NickBen

@Ian_T

Obama is certainly not a scapegoat. I have lived in Illinois most my life, so I know a little more than I care about Obama's past and how the Democrat Party has run the state completely into the ground with huge deficits, high taxes, huge unfunded pension obligations and has driven away jobs for years! THE MACHINE... Dailey / Obama / Emmanuel / Blagojevich (awaiting Prison sentence) ... completely wrecked the state. Those are facts...

With a track record like that- what qualified Obama & THE MACHINE to run the Country?
I wouldn't lend them $1 to run a LEGITIMATE business, much less the US. The US Media looked the other way last election, too bad for the Democratic party they got the wrong guy...

Nobody in Illinois I know of asked Obama to run for President based on his past business achievements here, and he shows he clearly isn't getting the job done when it comes to fiscal matters. He's in it for the fame and fortune, he's a good Liberal politician... good for him, bad for the whole US. Democrats need to move on, pick another guy or Hillary/Bill Clinton that has better advisors and listens to them.

I don't care for the establishment Republicans either so please throw Boehner and McCain into a retirement home to mumble and cry all they want, don't do it on our dime.

BUT Nothing Obama did in Illinois suggested he knows or cares 2 cents about US economic policy and job creation. Giving Obama another half trillion is just wasting money- just give us BACK the 1/2 trillion in tax revenue he plans on wasting now, that we don't have to begin with!

I do agree with you Bush should be jailed and I'd add along with him Tim Geithner, Hank Paulson, Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi, about 20 CEO's, half of Congress and thousands in the Banking Industry...

I'd prefer they be jailed in Texas, as Governor Rick Perry would know what to do with 'em...

(Sparks flying)

GOODEMPIRE

@ cosimo_bullo My advice to the biggie-me — open your eyes and try looking harder into your viewfinder (whichever camera you are using). It will let you see that these threads are no less relevant, because we discuss here what we are supposed to film as filmmakers (not just through what means we are going to do that). And you have to be completely arrogant if you think that filming weddings or corporate sht may last forever. Life is defined in such places as Libya or Greece — and if you haven't checked the unemployment rate in your neighborhood it's only until the unemployment rate hasn't checked on you.

cosimo_bullo

Does every single fucking thread on this blog have to devolve into the same useless bit of pessimism? Now here's mini-me and his little gold star just pushing everything off a cliff. Try to argue specific points AD-HD crew, and attempt to stay away from your Thunderdome fantasies.

GOODEMPIRE

Like what? Wiping out the excessive population in the slums to clean up more space for the golden billion? I rather doubt it may be achieved. More likely we'll see another Middle Ages on the burning rumbles of the Rome#4 plus an expedient barbarization of the rest of the world (which is already living in somewhat barbaric conditions)

Ian_T

No doubt.

stip

@Nigel785
500 years ago there were around 500 million people on the planet, in 1960 there were 3 billion, now we are 7 billion...
don't worry, there will be a refresh one day ;)

Nigel785

Ahh can't we go back to the wild west. Leone style, everyman for himself. A refresh. C'mon folks!

stip

Well said Ian_T!

Ian_T

There seems to be a lot of one-sided emotional crap floating around this thread. It's nice to have the freedom to express opinions as facts....but please. Some of the things I'm reading here from all sides of the coin are ridiculous.

Oh how soon people forget about the last administration that put us through hell. The current man in office, whose task was to clean up the mess made by the previous administration, never stood a chance. From within 30 days after he took office all hell broke loose. He always was and always will be just a token set up to fail. And failing he is...not for the lack of leadership, wisdom or policies he's tried to push...but simply because he was meant to be the scapegoat that he is. As I've always suggested....there's a much more sinister motive for the animosity he keeps receiving from naysayers. No one is perfect. He certainly isn't. But I'd be lying if I said "I don't get it" because I surely do.

@NickBen when you say "Meanwhile, Obama gives NASA engineers pink slips instead of utilizing their college educations for a more streamlined shuttle program or applied scientific research for US competitiveness, and now he wants more college educated engineers? For what, to join them in the unemployment line?".....

...what do you mean by this? You think the folks who have been (or in danger of) laid off don't get it? I'm one of those engineers who has been working at Kennedy Space Center on the Space Shuttle program for many years and I can tell you one thing.....NASA DOES NOT LAY OFF ANYBODY!!! You have to understand that NASA doesn't build ANYTHING. It's the folks like myself (your USA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Pratt & Whitney etc.) who build and maintain these rockets and launch pads. And when it comes to the end of a program...WE get laid off. NASA just SHUFFLES thier folks around into different positions. With that said...do you realize how much money it takes to MAINTAIN just one space shuttle per year. Let me put it to you this way....Billions of $$$...with a capital "B." Being the middle man NASA has this NASTY habit of WASTING money, They are and always have been a bottleneck to the space industry's success.SO....what's so wrong with our President's vision to privatize this industry by REMOVING NASA from the equation and turning them back into the research facility THAT THEY WERE INTENDED TO BE FROM DAY ONE. I hate to see the Shuttle go away but do you realize how much of that money allocated for the maintaining of the shuttles can be used for OTHER programs? Programs like "a more streamlined shuttle program or applied scientific research for US competitiveness?" This takes a lot of the burden off the taxpayers and allows for more creativity than NASA could even dream of.

In regards to the engineers being laid off.... I'm not sure by your statement you really understand what you are saying. A lot of these guys/girls (God bless them) are hanging on by a string. Whether they are NASA or contract engineers they are folks who have been around for 30+ years (most of them). The industry is literally old and most should have been retired a long time ago. The problem here is...there is not nearly enough talent to replace them. At the same time none of these contracting companies can hang on to young engineers fresh out of college. There are no REAL incentives for them to stick around. So what happens is,,,,most of them bail for more promising industries with better 401Ks etc. CAN ONE BLAME THEM!!! So, what does that leave us..??? An AGING workforce who will no doubtledly retire at around the same time. How should the industry face this kind of future prospect? Which brings us right back to Obama wanting "more college educated engineers." What's so wrong about that? Do you see the bigger picture now? Change is never easy...but it HAS to come.

I don't quite know about Mr. Warren Buffets BOA deal. But you do realize although he's one of the richest men in the world..MOST of what he earns goes to charity? He is one of the biggest philanthropists in the world. In other words he gives most of it away. This is the same man who, when trying to make a point, stated that his SECRETARY pays more in taxes per year than he does. How pathetically wrong is that? Why shouldn't Obama point to him as being a "Model American."

You said "President Bush would have been impeached for the same association with a political supporter."

That's funny because impeachment should have be the least of his worries. He should have been jailed. ;-)

brianluce

@GOODEMPIRE
I with all you say.

With regards to China, I was merely divining the present, not the storied history or even the future. But to be frank, at this moment in time and space, I remain unimpressed by the inventiveness and creativity coming out of such a vast place. The past is another story, the future no one can say. But it's going to take more than High SAT scores in Shanghai to get them to the top of the pyramid.

GOODEMPIRE

@brianlucebrianluce Wowowow. Maybe you should learn a little bit of the Chinese history before you make statements like that? Being a poor nation for a hundred years after ruling the world for a couple thousands isn't such a big deal for them. Plus, were you Americans not involved in the Opium Wars that brought the first loads of "peace and democracy" to China?
As for Russia being a gangster nation, I may agree if we admit that after all the crazy neoliberal reforms imposed on Russia by the Harvard boys in the 1990s, it simply resembles the ultimate gangster nation, the unmatched pioneer, the Perfect Global Mobster, and the International Godfather. Should you have problems in identifying that exemplary country, I'd be more than happy to assist you.

brianluce

@Vitaliy
You need to come to Los Angeles then!

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