• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Politics / Glibertarianism / Man, Those Chicago Guys are Busy

Man, Those Chicago Guys are Busy

by John Cole|  October 17, 20123:10 pm| 33 Comments

This post is in: Glibertarianism, Blatant Liars and the Lies They Tell

FacebookTweetEmail

Someone get senile crank Jack Welch his hemorrhoid cushion and a vodka gimlet, because he is about to lose it:

U.S. builders started construction on single-family homes and apartments in September at the fastest rate since July 2008, a further indication that the housing recovery is strengthening.
The Commerce Department said Wednesday that builders broke ground on homes at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 872,000 in September. That’s an increase of 15 percent from the August level.
Applications for building permits, a good sign of future construction, jumped nearly 12 percent to an annual rate of 894,000, also the highest since July 2008.

The strength in September came from both single-family construction, which rose 11 percent, and apartments, which increased 25.1 percent.

Construction activity is now 82.5 percent higher than the recession low hit in April 2009. Activity is still well below the roughly 1.5 million rate that is consistent with healthier markets.

Man, those Chicago guys will fix all the numbers, won’t they?

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « He’s Always Watching You, America
Next Post: Bubble Boy »

Reader Interactions

33Comments

  1. 1.

    srv

    October 17, 2012 at 3:17 pm

    Rahm fooled them with all his number jumbo. Alderpeople where whining about a 500 page budget when I was in the Windy City last wek.

  2. 2.

    Hill Dweller

    October 17, 2012 at 3:19 pm

    Gallup’s mid-Oct. economic survey has unemployment at 7.3%. SKEWED!

    Reagan got unemployment down to 7.4% before his reelection, and it was “Morning in America”.

    Obama has it to 7.8%, despite dealing with a much worse recession and Republican controlled states firing hundreds of thousands of public sector workers, but he is the worst President ever.

  3. 3.

    Violet

    October 17, 2012 at 3:19 pm

    Man, those Chicago guys will fix all the numbers, won’t they?

    Including the election results. All the whining now is just prelude.

  4. 4.

    FormerSwingVoter

    October 17, 2012 at 3:20 pm

    Those numbers are fake!!!!1 Just like jobs numbers, GDP numbers, unemployment numbers, inflation numbers, poll numbers, temperature numbers, carbon-dating numbers, etc etc etc…

    Amazing just how many liberal conspiracies there are in all fields that have never been detected, despite working perfectly in concert, no?

  5. 5.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    October 17, 2012 at 3:22 pm

    WE DEMAND UNSKEWED HOMES!

  6. 6.

    General Stuck

    October 17, 2012 at 3:22 pm

    That’s Obama building crack houses and bingo halls for Gramps and Tupac to blow our hard earned tax money/teatard

  7. 7.

    Culture of Truth

    October 17, 2012 at 3:22 pm

    “those Hawaii guys” doesn’t sound nearly as threatening, does it?

  8. 8.

    SFAW

    October 17, 2012 at 3:25 pm

    @General Stuck:

    That’s Obama building crack houses and bingo halls for Gramps and Tupac to blow our hard earned tax money/teatard

    Liar! Everyone knows Obama’s a Biggie guy.

  9. 9.

    Culture of Truth

    October 17, 2012 at 3:27 pm

    Obama just got a terrorist plotting to attack the Fed. Does that count as a massive intelligence success for which he bears responsibility?

  10. 10.

    Bruce S

    October 17, 2012 at 3:28 pm

    The reality is, however, that huge REO housing inventories are being kept off the market artificially. Housing bubble problems are NOT over. These construction numbers are obviously accurate, but if you know anything about housing and foreclosures right now, they’re not by any means the whole story. Don’t be led by the same nitwits at CNBC who flogged Jack Welch’s insanity. I’m glad these starts are up – particularly the timing – but I’m still very worried about how the overall housing market will play out and impact the larger economy over the next two years or so. For that matter, while I and my IRA exult in the current stock market numbers, the crackpot obstructionist GOP, combined with Dem wishful thinking about some Grand Bargain, mean our fucked up politics trumping sane economic policy come January and beyond are likely to deflate current euphoria.

    Just saying. (of course, these thoughts aren’t nearly as important as what some wingnut just said, blah, blah.)

  11. 11.

    Anatoliĭ Lъudьvigovich Bzyp (formerly Horrendo Slapp, Jimperson Zibb, Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.)

    October 17, 2012 at 3:28 pm

    I have to say, “hemorrhoid cushion” was inspired.

  12. 12.

    dr. bloor

    October 17, 2012 at 3:28 pm

    @Culture of Truth: I dunno. Those flaming batons can be pretty menacing if you ask me.

  13. 13.

    Arm The Homeless

    October 17, 2012 at 3:29 pm

    OT: I was reading the internals for the Marquette poll out today which has Thompson leading his opponent by 1. May I draw your attention to some not so unbelievable data:

    Q14. (I’m now going to read you a list of people and organizations. Please tell me if you have a
    favorable or unfavorable opinion of each of them or if you haven’t heard enough about him yet to
    have an opinion.)
    The Tea Party?

    Favorable: 27% (pg 6)

  14. 14.

    EconWatcher

    October 17, 2012 at 3:30 pm

    Reason 1,017 why it is critical to win this election: Whoever wins will most likely preside over a substantially stronger economy. I have this on the authority of K-thug himself.

    Obama built the foundations for the recovery. But whoever wins the prize in November will get the credit, and have a good shot at holding for his party in 2016. If we don’t fall off the fiscal cliff, that is….

  15. 15.

    Violet

    October 17, 2012 at 3:32 pm

    @Arm The Homeless: Hilarious. That number is the One True Constant. It crossed time, space, culture, countries. Just over a quarter of the world is really stupid. At all times.

  16. 16.

    catclub

    October 17, 2012 at 3:35 pm

    @Culture of Truth: was the terrorist white? If so, then intelligence failure.

  17. 17.

    Ding dong

    October 17, 2012 at 3:35 pm

    Jack welch isin ecuador per his twitter feed. Ecuadors got a high growth rate and is run by a true left winger. We are talking strong trade union roots leftie.

  18. 18.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    October 17, 2012 at 3:36 pm

    Once more: Projection. The Republicans are fixing the numbers any way they can, therefore Democrats must be doing it as well.

  19. 19.

    Xenos

    October 17, 2012 at 3:36 pm

    The Lance Armstrong of American business accuses everybody else of cheating. Typical.

  20. 20.

    Lurking Canadian

    October 17, 2012 at 3:36 pm

    @Culture of Truth: They’ll say he set the whole thing up to play Wag the Dog and distract people from Benghazi, or Fast ‘n’ Furious, or whatever bullshit is currently on their minds.

  21. 21.

    Jay in Oregon

    October 17, 2012 at 3:39 pm

    @catclub:
    And if he’s a right-wing extremist type who’s spent too much time listening to Glenn Beck and Ron Paul, then he’s a lone wolf who is obviously not representative of conservatives in America.

  22. 22.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    October 17, 2012 at 3:47 pm

    @Culture of Truth:

    Obama just got a terrorist plotting to attack the Fed. Does that count as a massive intelligence success for which he bears responsibility?

    That depends on whether Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) cops a plea or not.

  23. 23.

    PeakVT

    October 17, 2012 at 3:47 pm

    @Xenos: Heh. Good analogy.

  24. 24.

    Forum Transmitted Disease

    October 17, 2012 at 3:47 pm

    Uncouth, but I wish that the esteemed Mr. Welch could meet a few real Chicago thugs.

  25. 25.

    Forum Transmitted Disease

    October 17, 2012 at 3:54 pm

    Housing bubble problems are NOT over.

    @Bruce S: Not even close. You won’t see any kind of stability until at least 2015, but the banks could drag this on even longer.

  26. 26.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    October 17, 2012 at 3:58 pm

    @EconWatcher:

    Reason 1,017 why it is critical to win this election: Whoever wins will most likely preside over a substantially stronger economy. I have this on the authority of K-thug himself.
    __
    Obama built the foundations for the recovery. But whoever wins the prize in November will get the credit, and have a good shot at holding for his party in 2016

    QFT.

    Reagan wasn’t all that popular in his 1st term. The mythmaking that Americans really liked him set in after the economy started expanding during his 2nd term. The GOP’s worst nightmare is that the same thing happens with Obama. Worse yet, Obama when he leaves office will be much younger than was Reagan and if he leaves riding a crest of popularity he will be around for many years to smack down the Republicans every time they try to take credit for things that went well on his watch, much like Bill Clinton did at the DNC this year. We could enjoy a decade or more of having two popular ex-Presidents gracing the scene and commenting on our affairs, both of them Democrats, and the Republicans will have George W Bush.

  27. 27.

    burnspbesq

    October 17, 2012 at 4:00 pm

    @Culture of Truth:

    Obama just got a terrorist plotting to attack the Fed.

    That’s not news. We’ve known about Ron Paul for a long time.

  28. 28.

    RaflW

    October 17, 2012 at 4:03 pm

    @EconWatcher: This actually has me really worried. If Mittens wins, he and the awful Republican fantasy-policy world will get the ‘credit’ for a recovery that’s been (slowly) under way for half of Obama’s term.

    Though I suspect Mittens could fuck a recovery up quite quickly. So there is that.

  29. 29.

    SFAW

    October 17, 2012 at 4:09 pm

    @RaflW:

    Though I suspect Mittens could fuck a recovery up quite quickly. So there is that.

    Yeah, he’d strip out the assets, leverage a ton of debt, then sell the country to China.

    Although I guess the “leverage a ton of debt” and “sell to China” are, in practical terms, the same thing. Just as long as he can make his don’t-need-to-pay-no-taxes-on-cap-gains-Bitches! billions from the deal.

  30. 30.

    Bruce S

    October 17, 2012 at 5:33 pm

    @Forum Transmitted Disease:

    Yup. It’s not pretty.

  31. 31.

    Grumpy Code Monkey

    October 17, 2012 at 6:34 pm

    Building in our neighborhood has definitely picked up, and not just in the “value” section. Lots that sat vacant for years are now being built on, and most of them have “Sold” signs on them. Even some of the existing homes are starting to move. Things started to happen in the spring, but the pace has really picked up in the last couple of months.

    This is just a little east of the Austin metro area, for reference.

  32. 32.

    JustRuss

    October 17, 2012 at 6:39 pm

    Purely anecdotal, but this weekend my wife and I met a contractor who builds stores for large retail chains. In 2009 he almost went bankrupt. Now he’s got 3 projects going simultaneously.

    I have an old friend who’s in the convention and promotions business. He’s doing twice the volume he was last year.

    Sorry Welch, but we’re turning the corner, go back to your gold-plated retirement.

  33. 33.

    gene108

    October 17, 2012 at 9:18 pm

    @ThatLeftTurnInABQ:

    The mythmaking that Americans really liked him set in after the economy started expanding during his 2nd term.

    Reagan wasn’t popular because the economy was bad.

    Reagan was very likeable per what I’ve read from news accounts 30 or so years ago.

    In short, people wanted to like him and support him, but the hard facts of a bad economy made people hesitant to trust him.

    The parallels between Obama and Reagan on that account are very similar. People would want to support Obama, because they find him likeable, but they just don’t feel good about the economy.

    This is one reason Republicans have worked so hard to screw things up, because Obama has all the charisma to really rebuild the Democratic brand.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

If This Doesn't Make You Feel Better, Then Nothing Will
Image by WG’s niece (6/16/25)

Recent Comments

  • Jay on Monday Evening Open Sportsball Thread (Jun 17, 2025 @ 3:40am)
  • Chetan Murthy on Monday Evening Open Sportsball Thread (Jun 17, 2025 @ 3:38am)
  • Jay on Monday Evening Open Sportsball Thread (Jun 17, 2025 @ 3:36am)
  • Chetan Murthy on Monday Evening Open Sportsball Thread (Jun 17, 2025 @ 3:36am)
  • Chetan Murthy on Monday Evening Open Sportsball Thread (Jun 17, 2025 @ 3:27am)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
No Kings Protests June 14 2025

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!