Chris Hughes, former Obama campaign staffer and EventheLiberal TNR‘s new owner, sends Noam Schreiber to report “Get Rich or Deny Trying (Where Obama Staff Veterans Are Working In 2013”:
… Welcome to the buckraking phase of the Obama era. If the campaign was about hope, and the early presidency was about change, increasingly the administration has settled into a kind of normalcy in which it accommodates itself to Washington far more than Washington accommodates itself to Obama. That’s not necessarily a bad thing when the result is a bipartisan schmooze-fest at the Jefferson Hotel. But when it comes to the D.C. custom of trading a White House security clearance for a private-sector sinecure, there’s a lot to be said for not going native so easily.
Within Obamaworld, there are a few unwritten rules about how to parlay one’s experience into a handsome payday. There is, for example, a loose taboo against joining a K Street lobbying shop and explicitly trading on administration connections. And while joining a consulting firm is acceptable, those who do are reluctant to work for clients reviled by liberals: gun makers, tobacco companies, Big Oil, union busters. Above all, there is a simple prohibition against excessive tackiness. “It’s like: Don’t embarrass yourself. You were part of something special,” says a longtime Obama adviser. “I think if [Obama] were to send an all-staff e-mail, it would be along the lines of Ron Burgundy—‘Stay classy, San Diego.’ ”
Alas, not everyone chooses to obey these norms. Take Robert Wolf, a former U.S. chairman of the investment bank UBS and an early Obama fund-raiser, who has served as an all-purpose (and highly visible) “first buddy” throughout the presidency. Last year, Wolf dreamed up the idea for a firm called 32 Advisors, which would instruct clients here and abroad on a variety of business transactions, such as how to secure U.S. government financing for export deals.
The firm opened its doors in February after signing up several prominent Obama alumni, including former White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee, who will provide “economic intelligence” as a “strategic partner,” and Kevin Varney, the former chief of staff of the government’s export-import bank (the very same agency clients will hit up for loans).1 Wolf hopes to keep the roster of companies he works with small and the interactions intimate. “We’re very exclusive,” he says. “The clients want to be serviced.” Goolsbee, for example, hosts a weekly conference call with roughly a dozen hedge funds and private-equity firms to opine on the topic of the day. He occasionally dines with one of the fund managers…
pokeyblow
Obama is far better than Romney.
But Obama is hardly a great president. There’s very little he’s done, or stood for (apart from the symbolism of his presence in office), which I feel great admiration for.
Schlemizel
@pokeyblow:
OH BOY! this should be a reeeeeeeaaaaaal funnnnnnn thread
Villago Delenda Est
Hey, it’s the corrupt DC culture, where, eventually, everyone who had been saying that they never asked “what’s in it for me?” goes all Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams and says “what’s in it for me?”
Davis X. Machina
I think all people of sub-cabinet rank, or the equivalent, should be shot when they leave government.
No people, no problem.
There are civil-liberties issues, of course, but you can’t get squeaky-clean government without paying some price, now can you?
With the appropriate level of medals-and-monuments, I think we can finesse the chilling effect this policy would have on recruitment for high-level positions in the Executive branch.
It is after all an honor just to serve.
For more humble types, former Congressional staffers, and such, a lifetime of hard labor on the public works should be sufficient. After all, I am not an extremist.
Ted & Hellen
Hope and change.
pokeyblow
Look at Hank Paulson. He managed to make an unearned $12,000,000,000.00 for Goldman Sachs without even leaving his post.
Schlemizel
One of the things future historians will comment on (assuming I am wrong & mankind does make it through the coming mass extinction event in any sort of recognizable form that maintains a history) is how the easy passage between government and highly paid asswiper was. Sadly this is emblematic of a dying republic.
Schlemizel
@pokeyblow:
I love the fact that the ad I can see is trying to get me to roll my 401k into gold. There is a great idea that should get a lot of interest today
El Caganer
I suspect that this same story could have been written about every administration going back to Washington. No, it’s not much fun reading about people cashing in on their gummint connections, but it certainly isn’t shocking.
cleek
how the fuck is the government supposed to stop people from getting high-paying jobs once they leave the government?
such a stupid thing to whine about.
Misterpuff
All whores in the K Street bordellos.
No words.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@El Caganer: been a long time since I read the Washington bio, but IIRC his post-presidential real estate dealings, involving much our nation’s capital and the state of Kentucky, would have raised your eyebrows right off your face.
Anya
@pokeyblow: That inadequate black man, only thing he’s good for is he makes liberals feel good about how much they’ve evolved on race.
ranchandsyrup
@pokeyblow: Yeah, well, you know, that’s just, like, your opinion, man. Watching you masquerade it as fact makes me chuckle.
The Dangerman
Kinda sounds like a high end Vegas hooker (not that I would know about these kinda things).
pokeyblow
I actually have about a third of my money in gold. Worked in investments (buy-side) for almost twenty years, but can’t convince myself anyone in the equities market knows anything.
Academics Elton and Gruber (or one of them) wrote a book called something like “Triumph of the Optimists” about the performance of the equity market. Seems like being optimistic about the market wins, sadly for my personal account results.
Of course, it helps when the government decides that propping up the stock market = (or at least approximates) sound economic policy, and is more than willing to expropriate savers to reward speculators.
Consider the Cyprus bank outrage. Then think about how much regular saving folks would have made — but didn’t — if not for the ongoing ZIRP (zero-interest-rate policy).
And Charles Pierce pointed out late last week that Obama was having a nice lunch with Blankfein, Dimon, Moynihan, et al. WTF? Through his appointment of Geithner, through his refusal to take any measures against rampant Wall Street larceny, and through the optics of his fellating Wall Street leaders, Obama makes it 100% clear that he thinks those guys are very smart and deserving of respect.
Speaking as someone who hasn’t met those individuals personally, but knows perhaps 200 people in the tier directly below theirs, this intelligence and judgment Obama seems to find there just doesn’t exist.
Oh well. At least Obama just wants to cut social security, not eliminate it entirely just yet.
Baud
Sorry. Not outraged. The notion that a Democratic administration cannot have officials who come from or go to business is ludicrous.
ricky
I would feel more comfortable if people leaving public administration were able to resume their honest careers in amateur collegiate sports.
pokeyblow
@ranchandsyrup, what specifically?
askew
WTF Anne Laurie. I know you are a PUMA but seriously with this shit? Obama staffers took jobs outside of government? Horrors!!!! Let me know when they are even 1/100th as corrupt as Clintons’ ex-staffers.
Morzer
I look forward to their detailed expose of Max Baucus and his 28 former aides who are now lobbyists.
And, shortly after that, to the story about the disgraced TNR alumni who supported the Iraq war.
Amir Khalid
@Schlemizel:
Thou speak’st sooth. I can hear the flame war approaching, even from my side of the planet.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@askew: given the title and the “EventheLiberal” I took this to be a critique of the journamalism, not the Obama admin
Thou speak’st sooth. I can hear the flame war approaching, even from my side of the planet.
So we’re carrying on, if not keeping calm?
pokeyblow
@anya, not sure whether you’re being ironic.
Doesn’t matter what color, any president who says “let’s look forward, not backward” regarding Bush-era war crimes is not someone I’d 100% admire.
In fact, lily-white Nancy Pelosi took impeachment “off the table” while we were learning more and more about the criminal waste of trillions in wealth, thousands in life, and unmeasurable in global respect. She was an asshole for doing so.
Morzer
@askew:
Steady down there. Anne Laurie wrote a blogpost, not the TNR story. And the story itself isn’t much of anything but a vague attempt to suggest that the Obama staffers aren’t perfect human beings. It’ll make Sully horny for more for a couple of days and then be forgotten.
ricky
Is Glass back at TNR?
Marc
@pokeyblow:
You say “Obama just wants to cut social security, not eliminate it entirely just yet.””
A few percent cut in benefits over a couple of decades, and you’re bullshitting about Obama wanting to eliminate Social Security. All we need are DRONES!, Greenwald and “thrown under the bus” to call buzzword bingo.
I’m glad that you’ve outed yourself as someone not to bother with. I’d hope that folks could resist feeding our outrage merchant du jour.
pokeyblow
Marc, it seems you’re not troubled that Obama volunteers social security cuts in his proposed budget.
Is that correct?
Marc
@pokeyblow:
I say that insinuating that he wants to eliminate it is complete bullshit.
Roger Moore
@askew:
Yeah, I think there’s a missing “Obama is worse than Bush he sold us out” tag.
askew
@Morzer:
This is just the usual crap Anne Laurie pulls. The passive aggressive Obama bashing gets old. Yes, he kicked Hillary’s ass. Get over it already.
Higgs Boson's Mate
The danger of the public/private revolving door, to me, is that it fosters the insularity of the cadre that actually decides how we’re to be governed and how the government’s money is to be spent. Those within this cadre already have more in common with each other than they do with any of us and that is, lamentably, often reflected in government policies and priorities.
Ben Franklin
@Davis X. Machina:
I think all people of sub-cabinet rank, or the equivalent, should be shot when they leave government
I have a simpler and less costly (ammo cost) solution on a slightly different tac.
No appointed or elected official can lobby for private industry for a period of 3 years after leaving office (job)
pokeyblow
Marc, are you happy that Obama blocked inquiries into misconduct leading to our Iraq invasion?
And you do realize many of those he is bargaining with do indeed want to eliminate social security, right?
Cassidy
Woohoo….more fire nagger bait. They just can’t help themselves. Lol
Marc
@Ben Franklin:
I like it in principle. In practice the issue is more one of whether you can take a job with companies that do government business, and that is tougher to make rules about.
I don’t like the way that a lot of these rules favor hiring the independently wealthy and penalize people who actually care about whether they have a job or not.
Marc
@pokeyblow:
Do you still beat your wife?
pokeyblow
Marc, I’ll stick around to see what the other, less sensitive folks have to say.
Thanks for engaging. If you do feel like answering my completely-fair questions as they are framed, that’s welcome, however.
Ben Franklin
@Marc:
I don’t like the way that a lot of these rules favor hiring the independently wealthy and penalize people who actually care about whether they have a job or not.
Ditto. But rules are generally implemented because a few take advantage of the vacuum.
School kids always resent being punished as a class when one dimwit fucks up, but it makes it a self-policing matter and grinding down the offender often happens on the playground.
Morzer
@askew:
Look like you are the one cherishing old grievances, not Anne Laurie. I myself was solidly pro-Obama from day one, so you’ve got that one wrong too.
You may now return to starting food fights with yourself.
Schlemizel
@pokeyblow:
Have you ever read Proust?
ricky
@Marc:
In point of fact it is “a few percent projected cuts in projected benefit increases over a couple of decades,” which, if conditions change that alter the assumptions underlying the projections, might even result in an increase in actual benefits over time.
But, hey, compared to the actual 25% cut in benefits that is projected when the sacred Trust Fund goes belly up in a couple of decades, it is the veritable end of the whole frigging world plus sacrilege to FDR’s memory.
pokeyblow
Schlemizel, no.
Schlemizel
@Amir Khalid:
I tried misdirection but it isn’t working s well as I had hoped because some people took his bait. I find with trolls like this or Douche & Bag its fun to either talk about them or to toss nonsequitors out to keep them busy without giving them the pleasure of the attention they so desperately want
Suffern ACE
@Davis X. Machina: Well, there’s other alternatives.
We could make public servants eunuchs, so that at the very least they would not have heirs to whom they could pass on their wealth and privelege. That’s been tried before.
We could also bury them with the president they served under when he dies like they did in other places. Think of how different the Bush administration would have looked without the holdovers from Ford, Nixon and Reagan.
Schlemizel
@Marc: I’m glad that you’ve outed yourself as someone not to bother with
and yet you bothered.
pokeyblow
All I said was Obama, in my opinion, is far from a great president. I offered two reasons for saying so.
I wasn’t aware this is a site which didn’t tolerate that view.
ricky
@Suffern ACE:
So if you served two or more administrations, do you get buried when the first President dies? That would have spared us from a lot of those Kennedy advisers who led the Johnson administration into the quagmire of Vietnam and spared us the horror of the RFK assassination.
kindness
@pokeyblow: A third of your money in GOLD?!?
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Karma is beautiful sometimes.
zombie rotten mcdonald
@Schlemizel:
You still have a 401K?
LUCKY
pokeyblow
kindness, please tell me specifically why the hostility?
Regarding the gold, I couldn’t be happier. I bought it at $490/OZ.
But seriously, wtf? It would be kindness indeed if you showed me something offensive I’ve said.
Morzer
@pokeyblow:
Well, now you’ve been dragged out and shot in the head rather than being either mocked or ignored….
Seriously, haven’t you learned the difference between intolerance and disagreement yet?
pokeyblow
Morzer, please explain my offense.
Ben Franklin
@pokeyblow:
They’re all about Bitcoins. I hope you don’t have paper gold, or trust your inventory to a vault controlled by another.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Tweety just jumped on the “Obama didn’t say terror till today” wagon, and now he has Larry Johnson on. Former CIA counter terrorism director. Is that Flowbee NoQuarter Larry Johnson?
Omnes Omnibus
@pokeyblow: Actually, you led off a thread about revolving door employment with your far from a great president comment. I’ll grant that it is not completely unrelated tot he topic of the post, but one senses you were stretching a bit to hit that ball. Or am I reading too deeply?
Morzer
@pokeyblow:
Public incoherence while driving an unlicensed Victimhood.
Next!
ricky
@pokeyblow:
Wouldn’t you agree with me that the property tax should be applied to all material possessions, including investment holdings, rather than just real estate and physical inventory?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
The stilted language and the persistence smell vaguely familiar.
Larry Johnson ties Boston explicitly to AQ– planning, timing and devices are “a hallmark of Al Qaeda”.
ricky
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I look forward to the Congressional “Who lost the Terror Vocabulary” Quiz/Hearings.
I am convinced Obama avoided the dreaded T word because it would have undermined the momentum he had in his War on Social Security.
David Koch
some people are really sick and can’t help themselves.
in the prior thread chuck lane is still busy refighting the 1960s
in this thread the PUMAs are still refighting Hillary’s 2008 defeat.
Seek. Help.
beltane
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Why are we giving Larry Johnson the time of day. Do people in the media even check someone’s blog postings before putting them on the air? Maybe Orly Taitz should also be asked for her opinion.
Redshift
@ricky:
That’s not real either. It’s the projection in one pessimistic scenario that the SSA is required to make, and Social Security has routinely outperformed that projection. Accepting that projection as fact is the basis of way too much Social Security fearmongering, and it drives me nuts.
pokeyblow
@Omnes, I suppose so, but I honestly am not remotely surprised that Obama’s people would be greedy and eager to participate in the shameful public-to-private gravy train. And I frankly think Obama having lunch with Wall Street heads is not unrelated to the manicured path his staff (like Bush’s, like Clinton’s, etc.) can take to obscene amounts of money. My opinion. Not sure why people here are hurt/offended/affronted by it. I’m a pretty occasional comments participant, and I’ve learned that often the editorial content of blogs doesn’t match the comments-section content. So, if the comments section is a no-criticism-of-Obama zone, please let me know.
@ricky, I have a novel idea about “taxes.” I say, cap wealth transfer at death to some agreed-upon, perhaps very high amount. Say, $10MM per heir. Whatever the amount is, everyone should agree that a person can live comfortably on that amount for a lifetime without working, if they so choose.
Whatever is left of the estate after the maximum cutoff should be put into a public fund. Once a year, every American adult (or registered voter, whatever) should get an equal-value check which represents a share of the entire year’s death fund.
It nauseates me that Paris Hilton and any number of useless Romneys can start out with multiple millions of dollars. We aren’t supposed to be a royalist society, we are supposed to be the land of equal opportunity. Inner-city kids can compete with someone who has a $5MM head start, but not half-a-billion.
Regarding property taxes, no. Apart from my pet idea described above, I am not a tax theorist. I own two houses and pay taxes on both, while having no children in school. C’est la vie.
Forum Transmitted Disease
@pokeyblow: Oh, so you’re an idiot. Thanks for the heads-up.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Agent Flowbee has the tapes! What a tool. No other group or individual in the history of the world has placed improvised munitions timed to detonate in succession in any planned way to kill civilians.
I’m beginning to wonder if AQ wasn’t actually a part of a long range plan to ensure that as many idiots as possible get full employment under the heading of “Security.”
StringOnAStick
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Larry “Flowbee” Johnson is an idiot. End of story.
Gawd I rue the period where I listened to that idiot because of the Plame outting. He may have had that right intially, but on everything since he is just embarassing himself by reminding us who he is.
SatanicPanic
@Cassidy: Your lack of response to their stupid questions is telling. OBOT!
Redshift
The BBC talked to Barney Frank about the bombing, and of course it was great. BBC interviewers are often somewhat combative, which suited Barney’s style very well. One incisive statement to the interviewer (working from memory here): “I wish people in my profession (politics) would stop acting like they’re experts in law enforcement, and I wish people in your profession would stop asking them to act as experts in law enforcement.”
ruemara
Well, this is silly. Both the article, the trolling and PUMA/no PUMA back and forth.
Schlemizel
I noticed that Douche & Bag jumped in earlier and then disappeared. Thats not like them, could it be that the other troll is just a sock puppet for D&B?
Roger Moore
@ricky:
Which is a bullshit right wing talking point that too many people repeat uncritically. The trust fund won’t go belly up in a couple of decades. What will happen is that payments will finally outpace receipts, so we’ll actually have to start dipping into the trust fund to make payments- exactly why we built up the trust fund in the first place. The real danger is that the Republicans want to default on the bonds in the trust fund (and have already mentally done so) rather than raise income taxes to pay them off. If we actually honor the government debt in the trust fund, Social Security is projected to remain solvent for far longer than anyone can reliably project.
pokeyblow
Wow. I didn’t realize that people who read this blog have no problem whatsoever with Obama’s social security “adjustment” proposal.
Fascinating.
ricky
@Redshift:
The only fact involved is accepting that it is a projection.
Some projected Americans in Iraq would be greeted as liberators. Others projected those who sent them there would be prosecuted, and were sorely disappointed when they were not led to a cell where they could be raped by a vicious gang of incarcerated banksters.
Lord Jesus Perm
Why does everybody keep going on about a basketball player? What does he have to do with the Boston attacks?
dollared
@ricky: What Roger Moore said at #72. Do not come here to spout right wing talking points, even if you do it in defense of our president.
Get fucking educated. Learn the assumptions behind that 25% discount. And learn why the fund is shrinking. If Obama were fighting harder to reduce unemployment, the fund would be larger and have better growth prospects.
eemom
@pokeyblow:
I have a BIG problem with that, and I’ve said so repeatedly here.
However, based on your thread debut
I have zero respect for your opinion of Obama.
JPL
OT.. The Governor is looking for Tyler who helped in the medical tent.. He has to be the one who wrote on Pierce’s blog today.
link
the girl he helped wants to thank him
SatanicPanic
@pokeyblow: I don’t have any problem with it. I am a huge fan of Obama (I named all three of my children after him!) and I trust every action he takes is in our best interest.
Omnes Omnibus
@SatanicPanic: Barack, Hussein, and Obama?
Roger Moore
@eemom:
This. I can (and do) dislike some of the things Obama has done without thinking he’s done or stood for very little worthwhile beyond symbolism. Pushing through Obamacare, advancing LGBT rights, bailing out GM and Chrysler, getting us out of Iraq, getting bin Laden, and appointing two excellent new Supreme Court justices are just a few of the things he’s done that are genuinely praiseworthy.
ricky
[email protected]Roger Moore: @dollared:
You guys want to explain why I should hold whiny “liberals” denial there is a fiscal problem with Social Security with any less contempt than “winger” denials of climate change?
Damn me for reading then spouting all these right wing talking points:
http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/43648-SocialSecurity.pdf
pokeyblow
eemom, thanks. May I ask for one or two examples of truly stand-up things Obama has done, from your perspective? He hasn’t closed gitmo, he campaigned on increasing taxes above, what, $250K, but then changed his position to $400K after the election (IIRC), he’s coddled Wall Street (IMO), and he’s done nothing about the crimes which took us into Iraq.
He brought troops (most? all? not sure) home from Iraq. That’s certainly good. And he’s saying good (not fantastic) things about gun control. But seriously, what am I missing?
And, again, if the comments section of this website is an Obama-criticism-free zone, just tell me. I’m not a sock puppet, I’m a nice, responsible, thoughtful guy (IMO, anyway) who likes lots of what he reads on this blog, likes what he reads about the various meet-ups, and would enjoy meeting smart and thoughtful people.
But if I’m going to be called a racist, an idiot, someone who deserves to lose money, be ignored, be mocked, and so on, based on what I posted here, then this certainly isn’t the right place for me.
Corner Stone
@Omnes Omnibus: Kenyan, Muslim and Usurper.
pokeyblow
Yes, of course Obama’s (evolved) position on LGBT rights is a good thing. Feel free to call me a monster because that didn’t occur to me in my most-recent post.
Zifnab
@pokeyblow:
DID YOU KNOW THAT OBAMA SOCIAL SECURITY ARGLEBLARGHLE HE IS GOING TO DESTROY ALL YOUR ENTITLEMENTS FOREVER?!
Indeed, pokeyblow. Indeed.
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: Obviously. I don’t know what got into me before.
Corner Stone
The reason ricky keeps spouting the same nonsense is because it defends and supports the meme that, “We must do something now before Hitler Jr. gets in office and does something much worse!”.
Corner Stone
@pokeyblow: Monster!
pokeyblow
ricky, I wholeheartedly believe we are in a complete fiscal mess. I’m the one who owns gold, remember? But offering up social security “adjustments” to the current republicans, who are clearly operating in bad faith and believe any solution involves more money to Romney and less to grandma, just isn’t something I can support.
We’re way past broke already. But maybe if we spent less on war planes which didn’t work, ag subsidies, oil subsidies, and do-over money for Goldman Sachs, we could somehow keep the comparatively solvent social security system free from damage.
And you know what? If Obama said that, rather than me, it might be a good thing.
Corner Stone
@pokeyblow:
This is not a liberal blog.
SatanicPanic
@Omnes Omnibus: Barack Hussein, Barack Hussein II and Baracka Husseina. You know, cause the 3rd was a girl. Should I have gone with Michelle?
Zifnab25
@Corner Stone:
Pfff! This is THE liberal blog. All other blogs are posers.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@pokeyblow:
If you find any of the things you mentioned unsettling then this certainly isn’t the right place for you. Being savaged once in a while is a part of commenting at this site.
Omnes Omnibus
@SatanicPanic: Ya done good.
Corner Stone
I don’t understand the hate for owning gold? If you have risk capital then investing in speculative investments is certainly something to be considered. It’s just another investment vehicle.
It’s the goldbuggery, scammers and people who believe in a return to the gold standard that have the issue. Gold is just another commodity when emotions are removed from decision making.
Corner Stone
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Burn in hell you useless old relic!
Redshift
@ricky:
You seem to give talking points about what the SS projections mean more credence than what the projections actually say, and at the same time compare projections that come with actual stated assumptions that allow them to be evaluated with BS “predictions” like being greeted as liberators. Weird.
I’m sorry I made the mistake of thinking you were someone who might be interested in actual information. Carry on.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Corner Stone:
Right after your nether regions are infested with the fleas of a thousand camels!
Corner Stone
@SatanicPanic: George Foreman, is that you?
danielx
If you really believe there are no moral implications for high ranking government officials leaving office and immediately going to work as lobbyists or in other capacities…
consider Lanny Breuer.
consider Billy Tauzin.
consider Robert Khuzami.
If you really believe there are no ethical problems with the revolving door syndrome – nothing to see, move along here – you are deceiving yourself.
@Schlemizel:
Correct. Fuck ’em, let them go back to Cedar Rapids or Shreveport or Fort Wayne and practice law or something.
SatanicPanic
@Corner Stone: Sure if people want to invest in gold, why not. It just seems a little sketchy to invest in the same commodity as a bunch of morons. I mean, maybe you could exploit that or maybe it would blow up in your face. who knows.
Corner Stone
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: That takes style to go with camels. We would have also accepted goats. Or lamb now that I think about it. Haven’t had a good lamb in a while.
Omnes Omnibus
@SatanicPanic: Also, putting 1/3 of one’s money into any one commodity seems a bit risky to me.
Corner Stone
@SatanicPanic: IMO, no more moronic than “investing” in orange juice futures or the Yen carry trade.
But meh, I still remember not buying silver at $4oz plus service. So…yeah.
Ben Franklin
@Corner Stone:
They equate all such things with the bitter almonds of bitcoins.
Gold doesn’t make much sense unless you think this mess is gonna rebound soon.
It also doesn’t make sense for joe lunchbucket, even if the dollar collapses and Benjamins have to be weighed to purchase that loaf of bread.
Poopyman
@Corner Stone: Nah. That would be George Hussein Obama (Foreman).
pokeyblow
Investing in what a bunch of morons want is the surest way to make money.
Poopyman
@SatanicPanic: Well yeah, some investment vehicles are riskier than others. But IIRC (w/o checking) Pokey-mon bought back when it was below $500, so he’s got a lot of room before that particular investment goes bad.
And I assume for his sake that gold is well below 50% of his portfolio.
Corner Stone
@Ben Franklin: I’m a long standing denouncer of bitcoins.
Gold actually does have a purpose, cosmetic, industrial, etc.
I don’t actually own any gold so no one come hunting my buried treasure. Just saying if you have capital to “risk” then speculation might be part of the calculation.
I would have preferred to buy property in/near Austin, personally.
Poopyman
@pokeyblow: As long as you get there early – and leave early.
SatanicPanic
@Omnes Omnibus: That too. Seems inadvisable.
@pokeyblow: As long as you’re the one doing the selling it probably is.
pokeyblow
Poopy, about $490 weighted basis. Silver around $17.
I’m delighted with my decision. The cash-in-bank component of my portfolio, however, royally pisses me off.
rda909
@pokeyblow: Oh aren’t you cute, peckerblow. Bravo! Nice, short list of a few of the things here, sweetie pie:
Think about this: this president has already achieved, in his first term, progressive milestone legislation and administrative policies:
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2013/02/barack-obama-most-liberal-president-in.html
That’s just a thumbnail sketch. Any objective analysis of President Obama’s time so far shows that he’s been the most liberal President in any of our lifetimes. This is especially amazing considering the fact that he’s faced the most obstructionist Congress in history…by far, and even the first two years when it was “democrats” in his own party forcing him to water down all the proposals otherwise they’d vote with Republicans. Truly amazing accomplishments. But you just carry on, honeybunch, with “There’s very little he’s done, or stood for (apart from the symbolism of his presence in office), which I feel great admiration for.” misdirections game.
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone:
He says misleadingly.
Cacti
Anne Laurie with PUMA sour grapes, Mistermix with chained-CPI howler monkey firebagging.
The quality of FP posts is circling the toilet of late.
pokeyblow
RDA, I was alive (quite young) when Johnson was president.
All I’ll say is, in 2008, America found Bush repulsive. America gave Obama a congress, and overwhelming, enthusiastic support.
He had it in his power to say “single-payer.” He had it in his power to tell the insurance companies “sorry, better luck next time.”
He didn’t. And I strongly believe he didn’t because he didn’t want to. Just like he didn’t want to get to the bottom of the Iraq debacle (which I think most Americans definitely wanted him to do when they voted for him in 2008), and like he does want to reduce social security benefits. <- my opinions.
Disappoints me, that's for sure. No question, again, he's a completely respectable choice, if your alternative is Romney. But disappoints me.
If you disagree, you know what? It won't make me think you're a racist, a sock-puppet, a fool, or whatever.
Corner Stone
I’ve long been horrified by the revolving door between the highest levels in government and comfy sinecures, selling their self for access.
But, I think the Meritocracy category this is in pretty much describes where we are. This didn’t start with Obama any more than it did with Tammany Hall, or whatever.
Just seems more people would be more pissed about it.
As for what these smart, driven people could be expected to do besides sell access to the depts they formerly ran, I think there’s an endless answer that doesn’t involve what we repeatedly see.
Maybe I have the wrong mindset because no one is offering me $12M for pony rides.
Laur
I’m so confused about what the intent of posting this story is. To laugh at the journalist who thinks it’s a big deal. Or if you genuinely want me to be upset that people who work for the government are parlaying their connections and experiences into other jobs. you know, like every fucking person in the world.
pokeyblow
Maybe a fool.
Cacti
So, which front pager will be the first to say “bombs in Boston is no different than Dr0nezz!”?
Ben Franklin
@Corner Stone:
Maybe I have the wrong mindset because no one is offering me $12M for pony rides
I know how you feel.
We need a benevolent dictator, but no one has asked me..
rda909
@Laur: Answer is in comment #1. Mission accomplished immediately for Anne Laurie.
Ted & Hellen
@Anya:
Could you explain why you feel Obama is “inadequate?”
Are you implying that you feel he is inadequate because he is black? Wow. How so?
Corner Stone
@pokeyblow:
I think you have this wrong. Obama made a calculation that if his admin went after any of the previous officials then it would end in total gridlock in DC. The Republicans would be so furious and vengeful they would completely gum up the works, doing anything and everything they could to forestall any helpful legislation he wanted. Use every tactic available like the filibuster or secret hold.
So he decided the better more pragmatic decision was to not take that path so he could get some types of limited cooperation from the opposition.
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone:
I think for some of these guys the money is just too much to turn down. You and I could say we would, but, like you noted, so far no one is offering
Ben Franklin
@Corner Stone:
Obama made a calculation that if his admin went after any of the previous officials then it would end in total gridlock in DC
I must take notes on that.
Corner Stone
@Laur: What’s to be confused about? I prefer to see these reports, even if nothing is surprising about them.
I wish Obama had made different staffing choices throughout his admins, but it can’t be a knock on him they made these decisions after their tenure.
pokeyblow
Corner Stone, isn’t that what the Republicans are doing anyway? What they made clear they would do via their behavior throughout the entire Clinton presidency?
Does Obama know about the Southern Strategy?
Why does Obama have such high hopes for republicans’ willingness to cooperate? Do you agree with Obama’s apparent opinion on that point?
Omnes Omnibus
@Ben Franklin: Yeah, it actually could have been worse.
Ted & Hellen
@pokeyblow:
Oh my. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were me.
That said…um…you’re not allowed to say what you said out loud here. It hurts Bot fee fees.
Anya
@Corner Stone: You’re an ass.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Hoo boy. Somebody better get a bucket of water cause I think Wolf Blitzer’s gonna light his own hair on fire.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ted & Hellen: My dear boy, you say it all the time. Clearly, saying is allowed. Why do you feel the need to lie in order to make your points?
Roger Moore
@pokeyblow:
Only if you get in before the thundering herd- which it sounds like you did, given the price you quoted. Of course the real trick is cashing out your position while it’s still near the peak. For gold, that would ideally have meant about 6 months ago, but today would be a perfectly good time, too. Next week genuinely could be too late.
SatanicPanic
@pokeyblow:
No he didn’t, that’s just silly. Never would have passed. BUT, because he’s laid the groundwork for it at the federal level some states are going to able to enact it. Either way, the ACA is a huge improvement over what we have.
Corner Stone
@Omnes Omnibus:
Sure.
Q: What’s better than having $500M?
A: Having $501M.
nah, a lot of these guys were probably moderately wealthy by Villager standards and securing their future and their family’s future is too easy a decision.
I dislike the immediacy and smarminess of it all. Like Orszag won’t have a role in the next D admin, and then slither back to private banking when he’s done.
I dislike the mindset that finds this so easily acceptable.
rda909
@pokeyblow: LBJ had some great signature achievements which were great, but his legislative victories, as a whole compared to President Obama’s on a liberal scale, pale in comparison to the current President, who also…there’s this minor detail…was elected to a second term. These are basic facts.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Corner Stone:
It has been wisely said that a puff of kif in the morning beats a pack of camels in the courtyard.
Cacti
@Omnes Omnibus:
The contentment of any good emo prog depends on equal parts of perpetual outrage and perpetual martyrdom.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@rda909:
The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act pale in comparison? Riiiiiight.
pokeyblow
@SatanicPanic, he has lips, gums, tongue, palate, teeth, and a moving jaw. He could have said “single-payer.”
And the people who lined the streets for his inauguration would have gone wild with enthusiastic support.
@Roger Moore, I am liberal as hell, but I don’t see any relation between that and being concerned about a nominal debt of $100,000+ for every American taxpayer. I blame Reagan for the mindset, but doesn’t matter now. We’re screwed, and I don’t personally see any to grow out of this. I believe we will end up debasing the currency (much further, it already debases at a pretty good base-rate clip). I own gold for some unknown someday, not interested in market-timing. I’m glad I bought when I did, and I’m not in the market to buy more, but I have no plans to sell.
I like Paul Krugman, and despite what should have been sufficient training, I don’t understand a thing about academic economics. So I won’t argue points… but I am persistently surprised when he “minimizes” concern over our national debt. I just think $100,000 per is a big number. <- my opinion.
Corner Stone
@pokeyblow:
I think he desires their cooperation, but I can’t reliably say what level his hopes were for it to happen.
And sure, we have to look forward if we are ever to move forward, not backward, and upward, always twirling toward freedom.
It was the only pragmatic choice available.
Foregone Conclusion
@pokeyblow:
‘He had it in his power to say “single-payer.”’
No doubt he would have changed Ben Nelson’s mind with his mystical Kenyan mind tricks, or something.
I genuinely think that, given how sclerotic the American political system has got over the past fifteen years (unless there’s a Republican president, of course), Obama has been amazingly successful. I think history will recognise that.
pokeyblow
rda909, one more fact: I don’t really give a shit about LBJ in the current context, except to say he was arguably more liberal than Obama.
Ted & Hellen
@Corner Stone:
THIS is an interesting subtext at BJ.
Cole certainly considers himself a liberal, or so he has screeched at me in countless email exchanges otherwise spent fixing my fee-per-comment rate.
But he has somehow amassed a predominant set of Nixon Republican Obots as ruling commenters and Kool Kids here. It’s kind of odd.
Of course, Cole tends to think in authoritarian/tribal terms and that appeals to the rabble here too.
Cacti
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
As a legislative victory, PPACA was a more difficult win in the halls of Congress than either of the above.
LBJ had 80 percent GOP support in both chambers for the Civil Rights Act, and even higher support for the Voting Rights Act.
Remind me how many GOPers voted for healthcare reform.
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: I don’t disagree with you. The revolving door between Wall Street and White House econ and Treasury Dep’t folk is particularly alarming.
For the rich already people, I can find no real excuse. For those who worked in public service/government jobs for years and are still paying off grad school loans…. Oh boy, that money could be mighty tempting. You know just make enough so you don’t have to worry about the the kids’ college expenses, and how about a decent house, and a couple of reliable cars – nothing fancy…. And off you go.
Roger Moore
@pokeyblow:
FTFY.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Corner Stone:
I owned a Tatra with a Praguematic transmission. They didn’t come with a stick so it was the only choice available.
*Yes, I’ve been watching Marx Brothers movies.
pokeyblow
Roger Moore, that is pretty weak. Surely you can do a better job convincing me that $100,000+ per (and increasing) isn’t a big deal.
I’d love to believe it isn’t, so please indulge my request.
ON EDIT: I’ll point out that I mentioned owning gold as a personal decision. I am not advocating policy here, in fact, I mentioned the gold when arguing against social-security cuts today, when another of you talked about the unsustainability of it all. However, I was called stupid for my highly-profitable choice, and what I wrote is (and is only) my personal justification for the decision to own gold. No talking points and no concern-trolling.
But please do tell me why I shouldn’t worry. I’m deadly serious, I would love to know that.
SatanicPanic
@pokeyblow: wouldn’t have mattered, because people in places like Nebraska and Connecticut who vote in Senate elections don’t care about single payer. The fact is, we’re closer to single payer now that the ACA got passed than we would be if Obama had insisted on single payer. We’d have got nothing if he’d have done that.
Corner Stone
@Cacti: Your criteria for impact of legislation now is the vote total?
pokeyblow
SatanicPanic, that’s your opinion.
His opportunity to say “single-payer” is a fact.
My opinion is, he could have said that and ended up with ACA if he didn’t succeed. Or he might have succeeded.
But the Obama way is to figure out what the other side wants, and start his negotiatin’ damn near that place. I don’t like it, perhaps you do.
rda909
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: I clearly was talking about total legislation as a whole. Yes, those two were great, as I also said, and – gasp – were the result of incremental changes before those. There were predecessors to each of those. Not to mention LBJ had anywhere from 60-70+ votes in the Senate his entire time in the White House, so “the people” were clearly “making him do it.” Anyway, the fact is still the same – President Obama is the most liberal president in any of our lifetimes, so not sure why so many supposed liberals are upset at him about that.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Cacti:
I see; it’s the impact of the legislation multiplied by the Degree of Difficulty. Thanks for setting me straight.
rda909
@pokeyblow: peckerblow, he did say single-payer a bunch. There’s video of him saying if he could start from scratch, he’d design a single-payer system, but he has to start with where we’re at now and try to move it in a better direction.
SatanicPanic
@pokeyblow: Based on his fluency in English, it is safe to assume that he can pronounce the words “single” and “payer”. There is zero chance he would have got single payer past Senators like Nelson, Lieberman or Baucus.
pokeyblow
That’s interesting, rda909. Do you have a link?
And any reason he couldn’t start from scratch? I mean, he had to do things the way he did?
What’s the use of being president if you can’t propose what you want? Or, as I learned just now, even say certain two-non-cuss-word phrases?
Higgs Boson's Mate
@rda909:
You clearly know little about the times and less about LBJ.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@SatanicPanic: Obama hadn’t even been inaugurated when Evan Bayh tried to form an official Senate Blue Dog caucus with the expressed intent of reassuring Wall St that they wouldn’t let Obama go too far. Reports at the time said he had a dozen Democrats eager to join him. I’m still kind of surprised he got the pushback he did. But you can’t argue with cult-of-the-presidency types who think the left blogosphere is a good representation of the broad electorate.
pokeyblow
Satanic, I know enough about statistics to tell you the chance was not zero.
You deal quite freely in absolutes, don’t you?
SatanicPanic
@pokeyblow: Sure dude, please identify the mechanism by which he would get those Senators to agree to a vote on Single Payer. I’ll need something better than “he just says the words lots of times”
SatanicPanic
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I know. Sure, there would have been lots of enthusiasm in states that had eagerly voted for him. Nebraska, not so much.
pokeyblow
SatanicPanic, I said quite clearly he might not have succeeded in achieving single-payer.
So the reason not to start his side of the negotiations from that point is…. ?
Omnes Omnibus
@pokeyblow:
Because we already have a system with health insurance and stuff. I think the current system sucks, but a lot of people don’t or they benefit from the way it is currently working. They would, shall we say, object to blowing up the current system.
Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
But will they come when you do call for them?
Mino
@Corner Stone: I’d argue the real problem is finding enough people that don’t fully expect this to happen. We have defined deviancy so far down it no longer exists.
pokeyblow
BRUTUS:
Our legions are brim-full, our cause is ripe:
The enemy increaseth every day;
We, at the height, are ready to decline.
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat;
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
…too bad Obama didn’t think about that in January ’09.
Emma
@pokeyblow: All I’ll say is, in 2008, America found Bush repulsive. America gave Obama a congress, and overwhelming, enthusiastic support.
See this? This is why I can’t take you seriously. The Senate “majority” included a bunch of “democrats” who held views to the right of some moderate republicans (back in my day there were some of those). It was THE DEMOCRATS who pretty much sunk the closing of Gitmo.
Support he had; Congress he didn’t. Anyone who ignores that is either ignorant or lying.
SatanicPanic
@pokeyblow: because you don’t open with fantasies
pokeyblow
But Emma, some (perhaps not you) think it’s ok for him to propose social security cuts “knowing they won’t happen.”
But proposing single-payer on the same understanding… that would have been irresponsible? foolish? impossible?
Suffern ACE
Hey. I have BCBS. Why are those libs taking my insurance away?
I guess I’d have to go back a ways, amtrack maybe. But when’s the last time the US nationalized an industry?
pokeyblow
Suffern ACE, the US decidedly didn’t nationalize a number of banks, even though we re-capitalized them.
That was awesome, says my friend the Hamptons real-estate salesperson.
DougJ
@cleek:
Obama could stop them with the bully pulpit.
Omnes Omnibus
@DougJ: Throw it in their paths and trip them?
pokeyblow
I’m not going to bowl 300 this game, may as well just aim for the side pins… hell, aim for the gutter a few times.
Emma
@pokeyblow: Actually if some of the projections fall right, my parents would make more.
But proposing single-payer on the same understanding… that would have been irresponsible? foolish? impossible?
Stupid. It wouldn’t have gone anywhere and it would have branded him from the beginning as a flaming radical and let me tell you, there were just as many so-called moderates terrified of the Black Man in the White House as there were crazy racists.
You seem to be highly educated. Did you ever read about Jackie Robinson and the shit he had to tolerate just to play baseball? A stupid game and he had to stand there and take crap I would kill someone for because it was his chance to push the doors open to other players. Obama walks that balance beam every day of his life in office and a lot of us on his side are as engaged on pushing him off as the Republican crazies. And that includes some Democrats in Congress.
The one thing I honor Hillary for is that once she cut her deal with Obama she stayed bought. There are lots of democrats that can’t say that.
And I’m done. After going back and reading some of your other comments… you’re trolling.
SatanicPanic
@pokeyblow: What you’re suggesting is tantamount to betting your car on the idea that you’ll bowl a 300 when you’ve never once hit a strike.
muddy
Did it ever get an answer about Che? I guess it was able to move on in the end, that’s nice.
Ben Franklin
@DougJ:
Obama could stop them with the bully pulpit.
Well it is superior to the wimpy pulpit.
pokeyblow
EMMA, He’s president. Being black doesn’t give him a handicap on the score card. (I’m not really familiar with golf rules, forgive me if the analogy is off….)
If he wants to be president, then he should be fucking president, black or not.
Pre-emptively taking Bush et al. off the hook for Iraq? Why? Because lots of republicans and some democrats hate black people?
Declining to investigate Wall Street thievery? Why? Because lots of republicans and some democrats hate black people?
Opening health-care negotiations with a big sloppy kiss for the insurance companies? Why? Because lots of republicans and some democrats hate black people?
Lame excuse. We need a president, not a “black president” who isn’t expected to have full strength in office.
pokeyblow
What I’m suggesting is I’d try to bowl a 300, and (in my case) say “hey, I broke 100! I never would have done that if I didn’t aim for the middle!”
Suffern ACE
@pokeyblow: we nationalized the home mortgage finance sector during that process. Also federal loan financing had been taken back. Which other banking would you like the country to own?
Ben Franklin
@SatanicPanic:
tantamount to betting your car on the idea that you’ll bowl a 300 when you’ve never once hit a strike.
Winning a National election twice of course, is a gutterball.
pokeyblow
Suffern Ace, every bank we fully re-capitalized, we should own.
Every bank we injected capital into, we should have acquired an equity stake equal to the capital paid-in. Negotiated as a distressed sale, by the way.
In particular, we should have acquired $12,000,000,000.00 worth of Goldman Sachs when Henry Paulson paid off their losing AIG bet.
Ben Franklin, your point seems to be that, since he won two elections, all’s good? No criticizing? Or, if not, what is your point?
Omnes Omnibus
@pokeyblow:
Boy, have you got hold of the wrong end of the stick.
Yutsano
@Suffern ACE: In a way GM & Chrysler were nationalised. They were just temporarily held in government ownership (although the US still owns a chunk of GM that it hasn’t sold yet) rather than kept as, say, a public utility. Which is something else that should be coming back with a vengeance.
mk3872
Who the HELL would go to work for the government if you were not allowed to get a good job afterward?
This is just silly bellyaching that I hear from Lefties over & over again.
Ben Franklin
@pokeyblow:
Ben Franklin, your point seems to be that, since he won two elections, all’s good? No criticizing? Or, if not, what is your point?
Obama is capable of bowling 300, but chooses not to.
pokeyblow
For Ben Franklin:
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we had an accountability moment, and that’s called the 2004 election.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12570-2005Jan15.html
You people like authority, don’t you?
Ben Franklin
@mk3872:
If you mean ‘why would someone spend $10 million to get elected and not be expected to double up on his return on investment’ I would say we need a better electoral system.
SatanicPanic
@pokeyblow: So aiming for the middle means adamantly yelling SINGLE PAYER at everyone in sight?
And now Ben Franklin’s in on it. I’m only responding because it’s funny now.
Ben Franklin
@pokeyblow:
I think you are feeling a little embattled, and therefore, rattled.
Read upthread on my comments.
SatanicPanic
@Omnes Omnibus: firebagger fight!
Ben Franklin
@SatanicPanic:
I’m only responding because it’s funny now.
Please, don’t ever change.
pokeyblow
SatanicPanic, middle (actually 1-2″ off middle) means aiming for a strike. Strikes are good, they are what bowlers want. Bowling is a game some folks play. I think it’s on TV once in a while.
The left-right-center thing in politics is a convenient grouping, but I don’t think it currently has physical meaning in the way that left-hand-for-wedding-ring does. I’m sure there’s a history someone else knows, but aiming for a political center aiming for the center when bowling.
I was told above (asked for a link, but didn’t get one) that Obama said many times that he wanted single-payer. He wanted it, you see… like a bowler might want a strike… but he chose not to aim for what he wanted. I can explain this to you further off-line if that will help.
pokeyblow
Ben, I am feeling disgusted.
I am not a troll, and I have still done nothing to deserve the bullshit people threw at me (mostly upthread, not so bad down here).
I hate cliquish behavior, it is really disgusting. People need to be “cool” so bad, they go into attack mode trying to impress one another. Pretty pathetic.
Of course, if someone were to reasonably and persuasively show me what I said to so deeply offend, I would take this back. Hasn’t happened yet.
Suffern ACE
@Yutsano: yep. But ford wasn’t. In terms of single payor, can the government take over companies that aren’t distressed and willing to be taken over? There’s a reason why the debate moved from single payor to public option rather quickly. Aetna, Humana, the BCBSs, kaiser and the like weren’t failing. Sure they can provide crappy insurance, but that’s not the same thing.
SatanicPanic
@pokeyblow: That’s very kind of you, but I doubt that conversation would go anywhere it hasn’t already.
YellowJournalism
@Omnes Omnibus: The location is hinted at in his name. Quick! Check all corner stones!!
Ben Franklin
@pokeyblow:
You have to understand most of the people here are dilanttantes. It’s a social forum which masquerades as serious opinion. They are territorial and seek to keep their neighborhood free of distraction.
‘Nuff said.
Corner Stone
@YellowJournalism:
Hot dammit! I knew that would come back to get me one day.
But I promise you, YellowJournalism, that if you diligently and thoroughly inspect my personage time and again, you will never find it! In fact, I dare you to try.
I’m sure there’s a motel/hotel betwixt here and there with mirrors on the walls.
Keith G
@rda909: “Pale in comparison”?
Jesus, have you taken high school US history yet?
“Taken as a whole”? Yeah right. Sorry, no wriggling out of the muck of disingenuousness you were using.
Omnes Omnibus
@Keith G: I look on the whole escalating in VN thing as a major negative for LBJ’s legacy. One “Aw shit” wipes out a bunch of “Attaboys.”
Keith G
@pokeyblow:
You are not from Texas are ya son?
If ya were, yu’d be feeling fine right about now. There is no harm in voicing a deeply held opinion. Forget your troubles, come on get happy. Chase all your blues away.
….or to borrow from a better vita
Don’t let the hobgoblins of small minds impact your feelings.
Corner Stone
@Omnes Omnibus: Nothing to do with what rda909 was claiming.
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: True, but I had no intention trying back up rda909. If one wants to argue against LBJ as monster liberal prez of all time, Vietnam is the way to go.
lojasmo
@Ben Franklin:
I suspect that would run afoul of amendment one.
Keith G
@Omnes Omnibus: He fucked that up so royally. It is so astounding that he could not summon the strength to do what he knew he needed to do – to not escalate, to not let his fear of the attacks from his political right be his master.
Yet, his vision of how we needed to address (and goddamnit, fight like hell against) social inequality is without peer in the men who have been, and are, President.
lojasmo
@pokeyblow:
This has been litigated here ad nauseum. If you were a regular reader, as you have claimed, you would know this. That you claim not to know outs you as a troll. I agree that you are probably a sock puppet.
FOAD.
pokeyblow
lojasmo, I’ve read the blog entries, not the comments. What I have read, I haven’t read super-closely.
I’m not a troll, but you’re a rude piece of shit.
karen
I work for a collection agency/law firm. Because we represent international clients as well as domestic clients, we’re very careful about our collection tactics and the type of debts we collect on. I had an account where a man owed $43K. I spoke to the lawyer that the man retained and the lawyer informed me that the most the man could pay was a $10K full and final settlement. If that was not sufficient or acceptable for us, he would file bankruptcy and this debt would be discharged completely.
I managed to convince our client (A Dutch bank) that it was better to get about 25% of the debt in a lump sum than to get nothing. They weren’t happy but they took what they could get.
Yes, we could have sued the guy but what would we have gotten. We took what we could get.
Obama’s situation reminds me of the lack of choice our client had. He’s stuck with a Republican House who openly wish for his assassination. And we have a country where there are more moderates than liberals and a Tea Party that has taken over the sane part of the GOP.
With less employment, we have less people paying into Social Security so something has to be done. But if it does, they should stop being pussies and instead of purposely planning it for ten years later so this generation’s seniors doesn’t string them up by their balls, they should start NOW. Incrementally.
And I’m sorry to break the news but if super liberal Dems could win, we’d have Kuchinch for President or even Bernie Sanders for Pres. Ted and Hellen and Anya, why don’t you get together with the Tea Party, you’re the same, not being satisfied with anything but 100%.
And both of you don’t care how it would happen, you just want Obama out of the Presidency. Am I implying that you don’t care if one of those ways would mean Obama was dead? I’m not implying a thing.
lojasmo
@pokeyblow:
No. As a matter of FACT, he did not.
Nelson, Lieberman, and a few others publically stated they would not vote for cloture on SP.
Here you go, lying assclown
Keith G
@pokeyblow: Some are rude, some are exasperated by ideas that conflict with their own, and some just are not all that creative.
Whether you are a lurker or a troll is less relevant than the idea that you are bringing up uncomfortable ideas and plopping them on their plates.
pokeyblow
So what? Seems like the republicans say they want things they may not end up getting all the time. That is how negotiation works. That is how politics works. People ask for more than they expect, ask for even more than they’ll be satisifed with, all the time.
So blow me, lojasmo, you rude jackass.
Corner Stone
@pokeyblow: I’d be careful there. He’s on record as threatening to kill his coworkers and has received work related sanctions for same.
So yeah, his request you FOAD may not actually be entirely a verbal request.
Omnes Omnibus
@pokeyblow:
Then perhaps you shouldn’t make assumptions based on your cursory examination of the record. One of the reasons no one is really engaging with you is that the subjects you are raising have been discussed, rediscussed, and then beaten to death, buried, dug up, and beaten again.
pokeyblow
Poor Obama. First, he’s black, and so he shouldn’t try for achieving what a white guy in his place should try for. Second, he’s got a speech impediment, a rare condition which prohibits this man (who otherwise exhibits ordinary, nay, greater-than-normal vocal dexterity) from saying “single-payer.”
sɪŋgəl-peər… looks so easy!
pokeyblow
Omnes, I take that to mean “if you haven’t been around hangin’ with us for a long time, you’re not welcome here.”
Not unusual. Pathetic clique behavior, but not unusual.
Ted & Hellen
Pokeyblow rules.
Perhaps a sock puppet for Cole, as his last ditch effort to speak his own mind on his own blog which is ruled by commenters he loathes but fears?
Twould be irresponsible not to speculate…
rda909
@pokeyblow: oh cutie, you see some people have these things called “lives” and have to go do thing things with other people sometimes, including their children and spouses. I decided to come back to see the intellectual wreckage you probably left in your wake, and you did not disappoint. Bravo, again.
So since you don’t seem to know what The Google Machine does, here’s the first link that showed up, which handily includes a whole bunch all edited together:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvg8qVKZYuM
Note how it’s made a someone who thinks single-payer is a bad thing. I have to leave again in few minutes, so hopefully you’ll figure out how to do your research in the future.
Omnes Omnibus
@pokeyblow: It was not meant that way. But if you want to be part of a forum that discusses things (politics, music, pets, whatever else around here), it probably does not hurt to be aware of the lay of the land. Some things are more or less played out as discussion topics until and unless something happens to reanimate them. You can take this as me being cliquish if you choose, but I am trying to be helpful.
lojasmo
@pokeyblow:
Thank you for your insight. Fuck yourself.
lojasmo
@Corner Stone:
Oh, fuck you. That is not what I did, and not what I posted here, assholeish stalker.
pokeyblow
rda909, thanks for the link. I watched eight seconds. He said he was a proponent of single-payer health care. Like you said he did. So why on earth wasn’t he saying that in January of 2009, after all those people came out to cheer his inauguration?
My opinion: Not because he didn’t think he’d get enough democratic support, but because he wanted (and still wants, so desperately wants) republicans to approve of him. <- my opinion.
And I'm disappointed.
Regarding research, I don't jump on google and verify everything some unknown person says on the internet. If you do, well, bless your heart!
Omnes, it was exactly that way. I said nothing offensive. I said something which apparently (unbeknownst to me) was inconsistent with received wisdom among the queen bees of this blog. Nothing inflammatory, just a response to a mildly interesting front-page post. And I got, in the immortal phrasing of dearly lamented Washington Post hall-monitor Deborah Howell, a "batch of shit" for doing so.
Your explanation was very useful. People are people. I'll try to be more careful about your double-secret society.
pokeyblow
Jason, the ones who call themselves “radical atheist pinko democrats” are decidely NOT the ones you have to worry about.
I’ll be safe.
rda909
@Omnes Omnibus: Seeing some of the other comments on the topic now, and not sure how I could be more clear…multiple times. I’m clearly suggesting that if one looks at a President’s overall record of legislation and accomplishment, President Obama has the most liberal record of any President in our lifetimes (certainly since FDR, who also had Senate majorities that President Obama can only dream of, and WWII fever supporting him). I’m not trying degrade what LBJ did and even promoted those things, but my main point is still the same. More support here (even though it way out of date already):
http://www.hamell.net/list-of-obamas-accomplishments-while-in-office/
pokeyblow
It’s awesome how you paste someone else’s lists of what Obama has done to make him the most liberal president since FDR!
Damn persuasive! Cool moniker too!
Keith G
@pokeyblow: There is a shark out there. Don’t jump it.
Omnes Omnibus
@pokeyblow: Well then, toughen up, cupcake. Talk about whatever you want but don’t get whiny if people who disagree with you are harsh.
pokeyblow
Keith, I won’t be welcome here unless I undergo a pledging period of X months, watching for cues from whoever “holds the axe” as they say in the investments biz. I’m not really patient enough for that. And I have a hard time being nice to people who have acted, ad hominem, like complete assholes to me.
Jumping a shark or not really isn’t something I’m concerned over.
pokeyblow
Can cupcake be my pledge name? It has a nice demeaning ring to it, reminds everyone that — no matter what I type — I’m not “in.”
rda909
@Keith G: There’s been no clearer example of Groupthink than the Obama Derangement Syndrome dominating so many of the big “liberal” blogs since the day President Obama won. Since the first comment on this thread, peckerblow has been providing a Greatest Hits compilation of those tired tracks that have been on those blogs every single hour of every single day since 2008,. The projection then of that behavior onto people here would be comical, if it weren’t for the fact there are such crucial elections coming up in 2014, and party unity is a must in order to get back the House.
pokeyblow
Pokeyblow: I don’t think Obama is all that great, although thank GOD Romney isn’t president.
rda909: OBAMA DERANGEMENT SYNDROME!!!^^^^^^^^
It’s hard being a pledge around here. The mystery rivers of your fellowship run deep.
BruceFromOhio
@Misterpuff: This.
The language is even the same.
eemom
@Ted & Hellen:
oh fer fuxsake T. Even I am not gonna let that one slide.
Cole fears us? bwaaahaaaahaaaahaaahaaaaa.
pokeyblow
@eemom:
Again, I’m not a sock-puppet. I’m some guy who thinks Bush belongs in a War-Crimes docket and wishes Obama had pushed for single-payer health care and prosecuted some Wall Street thieves.
In other words, I have Obama Derangement Syndrome, in the words of your highly-excitable friend.
rda909
@pokeyblow: “But Obama is hardly a great president. There’s very little he’s done, or stood for (apart from the symbolism of his presence in office)” Yea, such a supporter, you are. Better than Romney…really going out on limb for him, yessiree.
Try going to CrooksAndLiars blog or Glenn Greenwald’s place and promoting President Obama. You’ll see a “cool kidz club” like you’ve never seen before. What’s odd too is that there are many regulars here who are anti-Obama, yet you keep acting as if you’re some sort of martyr here. Well, you have fun with your little game here, and bless your heart.
Keith G
@pokeyblow: There is no fellowship. Just a collection of odd balls and such who usually toss around stuff a lot worse than what you have dished out. In this league if you want to go to the hoop, get ready for the elbows and use a sense of humor as you dish right back at them. It drives them crazy.
As O.O. exhorted above, “…toughen up, cupcake.”
This isn’t a symposium let by Plato, it’s more like drunken roller derby. I understand if that is not to your tastes.
pokeyblow
My martyrdom has to do with the uncalled-for personal attacks on me. I don’t think of these various bloggers as having “places” I want to be in, although that’s certainly apt. I read something, I react (or don’t), I rarely say something in response.
As a non-fanatical reader of this blog, I enjoy the variety of things I see. I like cats, I like animals generally. As I note above, the meetups which take place seem(ed) like great things. I didn’t realize I was applying for such an exclusive club by posting my thoughts on the revolving-door entry. I would have consulted Groucho Marx first, had I known.
Do you regard what you do as “promoting” Obama? Why? I mean, isn’t what you do more like “comment on things as they are?” I think that’s what I try to do. I don’t want to harm Obama, I don’t want a republican congress. But I wish he’d prosecute some Wall Street crooks, instead of feting them.
Anyway, you’re super-cool, and I hope you give me a white ball when the times comes!
Ted & Hellen
@karen:
Does pleasuring yourself with these types of delightful fantasies, in which you would get to not only mourn a martyred leader, but be also martyred as one of his or her devoted followers who always just knew it was coming, darn it?
Would your anguished tears be oh so painful and yet oh so sweetly scented with righteousness? Would you wear a black scarf and look at yourself in the mirror, posing in imitation of Jackie, Coretta, and Ethel?
pathetic. Fuck off.
pokeyblow
Karen says:
“I spoke to the lawyer that the man retained and the lawyer informed me that the most the man could pay was a $10K full and final settlement. If that was not sufficient or acceptable for us, he would file bankruptcy and this debt would be discharged completely.
I managed to convince our client (A Dutch bank) that it was better to get about 25% of the debt in a lump sum than to get nothing. They weren’t happy but they took what they could get.”
Now picture Obama saying
“I spoke to John Boehner and he said we’d never get single-payer health care….”
Sad. Neither Obama nor Karen try very hard, do they?
pokeyblow
“But the guy’s lawyer said so!”
Corner Stone
@lojasmo: Sure. I apologize. As your work saw fit to suspend you from operations for your comments in the workplace I will defer to them.
Please don’t hunt me down and kill me and my family.
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: Once you are dead, can I have your gold?
Ted & Hellen
@Corner Stone:
Hey can I get an update on the Loosejism psycho history of work place violent threats? Please do tell. I don’t think I’ve heard about this before, and it would explain so much.
A great many Hope and Change Bots harbor, contrary to what one would expect to be sunny and generous dispositions, a general demeanor of rabid, vicious anger.
Corner Stone
@Ted & Hellen: He told his fellow coworkers he was about to “go postal” on them, IIRC. This was reported to management and they counseled him and suspended him from work for 3 days, IIRC.
Lojasmo clearly has multiple anger issues and is a real loose canon. He continually stalks me through threads, and has done for a year or so now.
Really a violent vibe and I hope he gets the help he needs.
I recommend not getting on his bad side as he is on record for telling people he works with IRL he’d kill them in violent fashion.
Going postal
Fuck off
Ted & Hellen
@Corner Stone:
Thank you.
EXPLAINS SO MUCH
karen
@pokeyblow:
What would you suggest I have done? Really, what would you suggest?
karen
@Ted & Hellen:
I’m not thrilled with Obama, darlings. But I know that based on patterns in voting, he was the best we were going to get. When you can work towards making Bernie Sanders a viable Democratic or even third party candidate, then you can talk. I know which battles to fight. I used to work for AEI in the 90s so I know that the “right wing conspiracy” was the truth. I’ve seen the underbelly of think tanks and how they’re funded. I know how the “scholars” come up with their tripe and funnel their ideas to the politicians in Washington, DC. If it’s all or nothing for you, then you’ll just get nothing. But then you wouldn’t have a reason to kvetch.
You actually surprised me, I thought you would be screaming how I’m worse than Obama because I actually try to get people to pay their debts.
karen
@pokeyblow:
Don’t forget your Delta Tau Chi pledge pin soldier.
LosGatosCA
@Misterpuff:
@The Dangerman:
I take it as true sign of leadership and superior intelligence that these folks know who needs to be serviced and exactly how to service them.
Do you want
friescaviar and pinot noir with yourburgerfellatio?They are who we thought they were, all along.