Buffet: "Buy into the fear. Sell into the greed." The tea party provided the fear and the market tumbled almost 700 (DOW) points. This gave investors - tea party puppeteers - opportunity to buy low. I saw the strategy and took advantage of it myself, easing money into mutual funds as the market plunged. Then when "reason" prevailed, the market jumped, making up most of the loss ( Oct 16) and likely heading higher when the markets open this morning (Oct 17). I look forward to doing it again in Jan/Feb. The agreement is calculated to repeat the fear-greed cycle in a few months. Any schmuck can "make" money in the equity markets long term with care and patience, but those, like the Koch brothers, who can create fear-greed cycles can practically steal it. This does not prove that tea party candidates and their supporters are not stupid. Far from it. They're puppets on a string.
did you know the NFL is a non-profit organization and tax exempt? yea we have a really stupid electorate, www.opensecrets.org, www.bea.gov look at the data, just saying.
That is just plain wrong on how wealth is created and distributed. 100% incorrect. That is the biggest problem, your belief is upside down on the effect on government policies on middle class wealth and the evidence is everywhere. We cover the theory and statistics almost daily on this site and that is just plain wrong.
Social security is the one thing between people eating and having millions of poor begging in the streets throughout the nation.
No Medicare is not and would not bankrupt the nation. If one had just even a little education on economics, they would know health care costs have recently leveled out and that causes Medicare to NOT grow to "break the bank". If one can reduce costs, as shown many times the U.S. pays two times more in raw costs than any other industrialized nation, Medicare would really not break the bank and one could reduce the deficit simply by reducing the costs. Cost means bill on what is charged by the hospital by the medical supply companies, by the pharmaceutical companies, which are for profit.
This site and myself do not run on philosophy, we run on accurate statistics, facts and economic theory.
There is a return, a huge return for both social security and Medicare. It keeps the nation healthy and not homeless. Unless you want to let people live and die in the streets with immense suffering, the costs of taking care of that disaster far exceed the costs of social security and Medicare, which people PAY FOR out of their paychecks in the first place.
It's just incredible the lack of knowledge and critical thinking, education out there. Ignorance should be sin for Tea Party ignorance is bringing the nation to the brink of destruction.
With people whose only purpose in life is to shaft the middle class and poor and Republican agenda is clearly to stiff Americans on benefits they have earned, such as social security and Medicare I basically can only laugh at the level of ignorance others have regarding the 'GOP's belief system. Especially when it painted with such vivid words.
So stiff the middle class, no. The problem is Government Programs are not a vehicle to create wealth for individuals. Heck they do not even get close to providing adequate care for the individuals as they get closer to retirement. SO when Republicans say they want to stop foolish programs that keep people in poverty we are not saying we want to 'destroy' anything. DO this instead. Take half the money that someone pays into Social Security right now, place half of it the 'Stock Market' and the other half into Social Security. Starting when they begin to work, say age 20. Now run it through the market for the next 45 years of their life at Market rates of Return versus what they end up at today with all of it being in Social Security. You will see that over that time period the amount placed into the market MAKES THAT PERSON RICH, where as Social security merely sustains a bare existence living standard. SO yeah I suppose you are right. I hate the middle class and poor because I want people to have a higher standard of living rather than Government Dependency. Sheesh.
Now as for Medicare. It is a program that costs way more than we pay into ti and is part of the reason we are becoming bankrupt as a country. Period. So yes I would suggest that it is an inadequate vehicle for solving medical issues. As far as the ACA I have read it, there are good portions to the law but 80% of it is crap. Moving to a simgle payer? Okay look. It is often pointed out that 'Single Payer' exists fine in almost every other industrial nation in the the world. But the fallacy here is that it is still a pretty new concept. How long have we had Single Payer systems out there? About 30 - 50 years? The oldest one sort of being in England? You really want to throw into something that may end up like Social Security in 100 years where there is NO GOING BACK? How can you ever return from something like this. We can't on Social Security.
You see the main issue Republicans have in implementing something like this is WE KNOW THAT THERE IS NO RETURN. You call us mean evil people for suggesting that Social Security ( as it is currently implemented ) is a bad deal for America. YOu scoff at the concept that there will be 'death panels' and you call us crazy when we examine something and say that the ultimate result is servitude. What happens if this is used as a political tool to keep someone in line politically. It seems you mother needs treatment for here cancer soon. It would be a terrible shame if we were to push here treatment back a month.
Look the way things are is not good, but moving to a system where you hand your healthcare over to a system of politicians that can dictate HOW you get care is more foolishness that I simply cannot abide by. Doing it on a Federal Level is REALLY foolish. On a state level at least you have SOME kind of control that gives you at least a SHOT at changing it if ti is a bad deal.
Anyway. I know I am a crazy horrible and hateful TEA party member but maybe, just maybe, the reason we disagree with things like this is because we see how rather than bringing people to 'prosperity' it does the opposite of what you think it does. It shackles them to lives of quite desperation and forces them to rely on a government to take care of them rather than to find dignity in growth, in a prospect to become better, and a hope that they can do so.
seizing of assets can be done by for profit health care companies. Nursing homes they will seize assets but first they must obtain a judgment, court order or at least a contract.
Nobody is going to go and seize one's assets from Obamacare itself, this is a myth. Before Obamcare medical for profits erroneously turn even paid bills over to collectors who ruing people's credit and worse.
wait til you get the billings for one hospital occurance and the later followup clinics and lab visits::: 25,000 for a simple elderly fall, 20,000 for a elderly tuneup when there is really no possible fix ... Only folks with nothing to lose will escape the taking of assets to pay your part after the pri and sec payers did their part... a lot of money is collected by a tennessee billing outfit that knows how to milk the costs.
Medicaid does not cover much of the poor due to limited funds and varies from State to state. Part of Obamacare increased federal funds for Medicaid and GOP governors turned down the money.
Healthcare costs are a tax, a drain on the economy period as the uninsured use the emergency room where just even chest pains cost someone $8-$20 thousand dollars!
The GOP is full of it because they want to stop Obamacare and then deny people health care. They won't endorse the real answer, which is universal single payer.
16% increase is typical for private insurance to raise rates in a year and businesses are exempt, so this doesn't have much to do with Obamacare.
If one even walks into an emergency room it is thousands of dollars in a bill and that's ridiculous to use the emergency room or let someone get so sick they have to go to emergency, never mind the costs are obscene.
The point of this article is Obamacare, because it enables private insurers with forced customers and also gets Federal subsidies probably is a disaster for it is the prices implying the profits of the for profit health care industry that are the biggest problem.
In other words, we're all getting shafted here and the for profit private health care industry is to blame.
While I am not a member of the Tea Party I am really getting sick of the bashing they have to endure. The left apparently does not see that any increase in taxes is a decrease in the economy. There is less to buy your products or services or invest in your businesses. No one wants the poor and middle class to go without health care. Our taxes and higher healthcare costs are used to subsidize care of those who cannot pay. No, this is not a great healthcare delivery system but it has worked for many years. When Obama should have been consulting with healthcare experts, he leaves this "trainwreck" in the hands of politicians. Instead of ramming this ill-conceived bill down our throats, he should have been allowing business to recover to add jobs with healthcare benefits. Obama bashed the very people he needed to revive the economy. With increased and threatened higher taxes and new regulations he took business leaders out of the economy. We are a country of leaders and followers and a vibrant economy needs both. It was probably a waste of time to try and stop Obamacare as the media and those looking for free healthcare don't want it stopped. If the train should wreck, voters might remember in 2014 that the GOP tried to stop it. How much is it going to costs us to clean up that wreck? Time will tell! For the record I pay 100% of my employees insurance and my premiums just increased 16%.
where do foreclosed people go? not sure anyone knows, because there was an issue with the foreclosure fraud settlement wherein thousands of those who had a small check coming could not be found..
all these families not paying on their mortgages (2 and a half million if you add 90 day delinquent to those stuck in foreclosure) also amounts to a de facto boost to disposable personal income....there was quite a debate in the blogosphere 2, 3 years ago if that was a major factor in the unexpected jumps in retail sales being seen at the time...with unemployment countervailing, no one could really quantify it...
what is going to happen with all of these people who are living, rent free in houses to be foreclosed upon lose their housing. Rents are increasing and in many areas of the country are really unaffordable, some areas unaffordable even with 6 figure incomes.
The battle is between corporations, special interests in D.C. so this is why we cannot get anything that makes sense, is practical and efficient. America could choose from something like 50 national systems to set up health care as single payer and we'd nail this, plus the deficit.
you nailed it from start to finish...., especially with these lines:
We have a funny feeling if the GOP had said nothing, most of America would be demanding change on Obamacare for it clearly is a boondoggle, designed for insurance companies and yet another shaft to Americans overall.
America has no doubt been in the frying pan for sometime on health care. Question is did Obamacare just put us into the fire? If so, due to the incredible war over Obamacare and for the wrong reasons, it is possible health care will sink the nation since it is a prime example of doing what is economically sound and humanely practical is obviously impossible for America's politicians to even contemplate.
I have the same feeling about Obamacare..., and tried to solicit some input from Numerian on the issue in a comment on his "Obama..., Body Slam" piece.
I said, "On another note..., I see the coming implementation of Obamacare as a disaster in the making. He has already had to do an aboutface on the 50 employee mandate..., for at least one year. And once all the folks with medical issues sign on..., and healthy people opt for the penalty..., well, with all the issues you have already mentioned..., I just can't see anything good coming our way."
There is a supposed offering of a 6 week debt ceiling increase, which of course would allow the shutdown to go on for 6 weeks, plus continue to introduce fear and instability in the faith and good credit of the United States.
If things gel, we'll write up a new article on the latest D.C. gamesmanship. For now, the globe is pulling out their hair watching this.
Update, no deal, but a host of polls came out today implying the Republican party is imploding over this. No surprise to anyone breathing except the GOP, but the GOP is polling so badly, it might just be sinking in how utterly pissed America is they are doing this and they risk destroying their own party at this point.
Wouldn't it be nice to see an independent party come out of this, for Lord knows Democrats are also corrupt. Back to the dream.
One of the points of this site is to be accurate, even when publishing Populist rants and raves.
It never ceases to amaze me how people are hoodwinked and believe the most absurd things,when just a little education and critical thinking might get them to see through this.
I can only conclude that somehow the rage, the anger drummed up by Koch Brothers and their marketing brethren to spew on talk radio and Faux specific daily talking points, somehow has an emotional hypnotic effect and need.
There is a need to feel rage and the reality the facts are completely wrong, the outrage just made up out of thin air by corporate special interests spun into public relations and marketing media banter becomes not relevant.
The key is to feel like one belongs to a group and that common experience is outrage and agenda, bound by emotional reaction and somehow the logic brain and the reasoning brain is shut down, until they firmly believe this nonsense.
It sounds ridiculous until one thinks of some of the incredible crowd mesmerizing that has gone on throughout history.
It is more important to belong, to believe as your group believes than turn on the brain and do even a little logical and critical thinking. Very scary and it doesn't help that these politicians go on cable news and tell the most outrageous lies, clearly false if you ask almost anyone in economics and finance, yet people believe this nonsense for it is more important to be one of, to identify with the group than be logical, accurate, correct.
Worse, a key element for this working is to have an uneducated mass.
this is the same old right wing talking points ... first off... Clinton left Bush II with a surplus, what the hell happened to that? oh yes the "job creators" needed to keep more of their hard earned cash...
also in the same line of thinking is the right wing line that the government must behave economically like a family, a family can't spend more than it takes in ....
This is another right wing fallacy, the government is not in any economical way like a family... the most obvious inconsistency being that a family doesn't have a currency printing press !!!
Buffet: "Buy into the fear. Sell into the greed." The tea party provided the fear and the market tumbled almost 700 (DOW) points. This gave investors - tea party puppeteers - opportunity to buy low. I saw the strategy and took advantage of it myself, easing money into mutual funds as the market plunged. Then when "reason" prevailed, the market jumped, making up most of the loss ( Oct 16) and likely heading higher when the markets open this morning (Oct 17). I look forward to doing it again in Jan/Feb. The agreement is calculated to repeat the fear-greed cycle in a few months. Any schmuck can "make" money in the equity markets long term with care and patience, but those, like the Koch brothers, who can create fear-greed cycles can practically steal it. This does not prove that tea party candidates and their supporters are not stupid. Far from it. They're puppets on a string.
did you know the NFL is a non-profit organization and tax exempt? yea we have a really stupid electorate, www.opensecrets.org, www.bea.gov look at the data, just saying.
That is just plain wrong on how wealth is created and distributed. 100% incorrect. That is the biggest problem, your belief is upside down on the effect on government policies on middle class wealth and the evidence is everywhere. We cover the theory and statistics almost daily on this site and that is just plain wrong.
Social security is the one thing between people eating and having millions of poor begging in the streets throughout the nation.
No Medicare is not and would not bankrupt the nation. If one had just even a little education on economics, they would know health care costs have recently leveled out and that causes Medicare to NOT grow to "break the bank". If one can reduce costs, as shown many times the U.S. pays two times more in raw costs than any other industrialized nation, Medicare would really not break the bank and one could reduce the deficit simply by reducing the costs. Cost means bill on what is charged by the hospital by the medical supply companies, by the pharmaceutical companies, which are for profit.
This site and myself do not run on philosophy, we run on accurate statistics, facts and economic theory.
There is a return, a huge return for both social security and Medicare. It keeps the nation healthy and not homeless. Unless you want to let people live and die in the streets with immense suffering, the costs of taking care of that disaster far exceed the costs of social security and Medicare, which people PAY FOR out of their paychecks in the first place.
It's just incredible the lack of knowledge and critical thinking, education out there. Ignorance should be sin for Tea Party ignorance is bringing the nation to the brink of destruction.
Wow, when I read comments like the following
With people whose only purpose in life is to shaft the middle class and poor and Republican agenda is clearly to stiff Americans on benefits they have earned, such as social security and Medicare I basically can only laugh at the level of ignorance others have regarding the 'GOP's belief system. Especially when it painted with such vivid words.
So stiff the middle class, no. The problem is Government Programs are not a vehicle to create wealth for individuals. Heck they do not even get close to providing adequate care for the individuals as they get closer to retirement. SO when Republicans say they want to stop foolish programs that keep people in poverty we are not saying we want to 'destroy' anything. DO this instead. Take half the money that someone pays into Social Security right now, place half of it the 'Stock Market' and the other half into Social Security. Starting when they begin to work, say age 20. Now run it through the market for the next 45 years of their life at Market rates of Return versus what they end up at today with all of it being in Social Security. You will see that over that time period the amount placed into the market MAKES THAT PERSON RICH, where as Social security merely sustains a bare existence living standard. SO yeah I suppose you are right. I hate the middle class and poor because I want people to have a higher standard of living rather than Government Dependency. Sheesh.
Now as for Medicare. It is a program that costs way more than we pay into ti and is part of the reason we are becoming bankrupt as a country. Period. So yes I would suggest that it is an inadequate vehicle for solving medical issues. As far as the ACA I have read it, there are good portions to the law but 80% of it is crap. Moving to a simgle payer? Okay look. It is often pointed out that 'Single Payer' exists fine in almost every other industrial nation in the the world. But the fallacy here is that it is still a pretty new concept. How long have we had Single Payer systems out there? About 30 - 50 years? The oldest one sort of being in England? You really want to throw into something that may end up like Social Security in 100 years where there is NO GOING BACK? How can you ever return from something like this. We can't on Social Security.
You see the main issue Republicans have in implementing something like this is WE KNOW THAT THERE IS NO RETURN. You call us mean evil people for suggesting that Social Security ( as it is currently implemented ) is a bad deal for America. YOu scoff at the concept that there will be 'death panels' and you call us crazy when we examine something and say that the ultimate result is servitude. What happens if this is used as a political tool to keep someone in line politically. It seems you mother needs treatment for here cancer soon. It would be a terrible shame if we were to push here treatment back a month.
Look the way things are is not good, but moving to a system where you hand your healthcare over to a system of politicians that can dictate HOW you get care is more foolishness that I simply cannot abide by. Doing it on a Federal Level is REALLY foolish. On a state level at least you have SOME kind of control that gives you at least a SHOT at changing it if ti is a bad deal.
Anyway. I know I am a crazy horrible and hateful TEA party member but maybe, just maybe, the reason we disagree with things like this is because we see how rather than bringing people to 'prosperity' it does the opposite of what you think it does. It shackles them to lives of quite desperation and forces them to rely on a government to take care of them rather than to find dignity in growth, in a prospect to become better, and a hope that they can do so.
seizing of assets can be done by for profit health care companies. Nursing homes they will seize assets but first they must obtain a judgment, court order or at least a contract.
Nobody is going to go and seize one's assets from Obamacare itself, this is a myth. Before Obamcare medical for profits erroneously turn even paid bills over to collectors who ruing people's credit and worse.
wait til you get the billings for one hospital occurance and the later followup clinics and lab visits::: 25,000 for a simple elderly fall, 20,000 for a elderly tuneup when there is really no possible fix ... Only folks with nothing to lose will escape the taking of assets to pay your part after the pri and sec payers did their part... a lot of money is collected by a tennessee billing outfit that knows how to milk the costs.
I'm really surprised at how articles on the first woman Fed chair get no traffic or comments.
This is disturbing too for ladies only make up the majority of the population.
Medicaid does not cover much of the poor due to limited funds and varies from State to state. Part of Obamacare increased federal funds for Medicaid and GOP governors turned down the money.
Healthcare costs are a tax, a drain on the economy period as the uninsured use the emergency room where just even chest pains cost someone $8-$20 thousand dollars!
The GOP is full of it because they want to stop Obamacare and then deny people health care. They won't endorse the real answer, which is universal single payer.
16% increase is typical for private insurance to raise rates in a year and businesses are exempt, so this doesn't have much to do with Obamacare.
If one even walks into an emergency room it is thousands of dollars in a bill and that's ridiculous to use the emergency room or let someone get so sick they have to go to emergency, never mind the costs are obscene.
The point of this article is Obamacare, because it enables private insurers with forced customers and also gets Federal subsidies probably is a disaster for it is the prices implying the profits of the for profit health care industry that are the biggest problem.
In other words, we're all getting shafted here and the for profit private health care industry is to blame.
I must wonder if Tea Party people even know what a CDS is and what a default trigger will do?
Great cartoon at the end of the link!
While I am not a member of the Tea Party I am really getting sick of the bashing they have to endure. The left apparently does not see that any increase in taxes is a decrease in the economy. There is less to buy your products or services or invest in your businesses. No one wants the poor and middle class to go without health care. Our taxes and higher healthcare costs are used to subsidize care of those who cannot pay. No, this is not a great healthcare delivery system but it has worked for many years. When Obama should have been consulting with healthcare experts, he leaves this "trainwreck" in the hands of politicians. Instead of ramming this ill-conceived bill down our throats, he should have been allowing business to recover to add jobs with healthcare benefits. Obama bashed the very people he needed to revive the economy. With increased and threatened higher taxes and new regulations he took business leaders out of the economy. We are a country of leaders and followers and a vibrant economy needs both. It was probably a waste of time to try and stop Obamacare as the media and those looking for free healthcare don't want it stopped. If the train should wreck, voters might remember in 2014 that the GOP tried to stop it. How much is it going to costs us to clean up that wreck? Time will tell! For the record I pay 100% of my employees insurance and my premiums just increased 16%.
US CDS rises slightly after no progress on the debt ceiling. http://confoundedinterest.wordpress.com/2013/10/14/us-cds-rises-after-no...
where do foreclosed people go? not sure anyone knows, because there was an issue with the foreclosure fraud settlement wherein thousands of those who had a small check coming could not be found..
all these families not paying on their mortgages (2 and a half million if you add 90 day delinquent to those stuck in foreclosure) also amounts to a de facto boost to disposable personal income....there was quite a debate in the blogosphere 2, 3 years ago if that was a major factor in the unexpected jumps in retail sales being seen at the time...with unemployment countervailing, no one could really quantify it...
what is going to happen with all of these people who are living, rent free in houses to be foreclosed upon lose their housing. Rents are increasing and in many areas of the country are really unaffordable, some areas unaffordable even with 6 figure incomes.
The battle is between corporations, special interests in D.C. so this is why we cannot get anything that makes sense, is practical and efficient. America could choose from something like 50 national systems to set up health care as single payer and we'd nail this, plus the deficit.
you nailed it from start to finish...., especially with these lines:
I have the same feeling about Obamacare..., and tried to solicit some input from Numerian on the issue in a comment on his "Obama..., Body Slam" piece.
I said, "On another note..., I see the coming implementation of Obamacare as a disaster in the making. He has already had to do an aboutface on the 50 employee mandate..., for at least one year. And once all the folks with medical issues sign on..., and healthy people opt for the penalty..., well, with all the issues you have already mentioned..., I just can't see anything good coming our way."
There is a supposed offering of a 6 week debt ceiling increase, which of course would allow the shutdown to go on for 6 weeks, plus continue to introduce fear and instability in the faith and good credit of the United States.
If things gel, we'll write up a new article on the latest D.C. gamesmanship. For now, the globe is pulling out their hair watching this.
Update, no deal, but a host of polls came out today implying the Republican party is imploding over this. No surprise to anyone breathing except the GOP, but the GOP is polling so badly, it might just be sinking in how utterly pissed America is they are doing this and they risk destroying their own party at this point.
Wouldn't it be nice to see an independent party come out of this, for Lord knows Democrats are also corrupt. Back to the dream.
Most of rational America is stuck on stupid at this point. This is just an excellent explanation of how the non-rationale is completely rational.
Thank you so much to give clarity and insight!
One of the points of this site is to be accurate, even when publishing Populist rants and raves.
It never ceases to amaze me how people are hoodwinked and believe the most absurd things,when just a little education and critical thinking might get them to see through this.
I can only conclude that somehow the rage, the anger drummed up by Koch Brothers and their marketing brethren to spew on talk radio and Faux specific daily talking points, somehow has an emotional hypnotic effect and need.
There is a need to feel rage and the reality the facts are completely wrong, the outrage just made up out of thin air by corporate special interests spun into public relations and marketing media banter becomes not relevant.
The key is to feel like one belongs to a group and that common experience is outrage and agenda, bound by emotional reaction and somehow the logic brain and the reasoning brain is shut down, until they firmly believe this nonsense.
It sounds ridiculous until one thinks of some of the incredible crowd mesmerizing that has gone on throughout history.
It is more important to belong, to believe as your group believes than turn on the brain and do even a little logical and critical thinking. Very scary and it doesn't help that these politicians go on cable news and tell the most outrageous lies, clearly false if you ask almost anyone in economics and finance, yet people believe this nonsense for it is more important to be one of, to identify with the group than be logical, accurate, correct.
Worse, a key element for this working is to have an uneducated mass.
this is the same old right wing talking points ... first off... Clinton left Bush II with a surplus, what the hell happened to that? oh yes the "job creators" needed to keep more of their hard earned cash...
also in the same line of thinking is the right wing line that the government must behave economically like a family, a family can't spend more than it takes in ....
This is another right wing fallacy, the government is not in any economical way like a family... the most obvious inconsistency being that a family doesn't have a currency printing press !!!
your arguments fail the smell test
Often this site is late in the publishing rush but I'd rather be correct than first. I think that's the issue over there, write first analyze later.
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