Thread Below the Saturday Gardening Thread [Y-not]

An open thread for you non-gardeners...

**OOPS! Sorry about that guys. Y-not**

The Watercarrier, Eugene de Blaas, 1908
(Hat tip Carl Gustav, aka @CaptYonah on Twitter.)

Eugene de Blaas was considered to be a member of the Academicism school of art. If you like this painting, you might enjoy reading this essay about The Salon and The Royal Academy in the Nineteenth Century. And here's a link to other works of art from this school via The Met.

Open thread.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 12:00 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Yeah new thread

Posted by: Skip at May 07, 2016 11:57 AM (3wHFl)

2 I'm trying to garden but it's rained for a week solid

Posted by: Skip at May 07, 2016 11:57 AM (3wHFl)

3 It makes the garden grow.

Posted by: fluffy at May 07, 2016 11:58 AM (2hcmo)

4 Ain't ya sposed to see the pitcher in a art thread?

Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 07, 2016 11:59 AM (1xUj/)

5 *censored*

Posted by: eman at May 07, 2016 12:01 PM (MQEz6)

6 I was wondering if the picture was coming with the thread or go for the link to see it.

Posted by: Skip at May 07, 2016 12:02 PM (3wHFl)

7 Painted with invisible ink.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot Jr. at May 07, 2016 12:03 PM (k4M/B)

8 Continuing from last thread:

251
Vic, if you're still moving couches for your MIL, I don't think you're as old as you pretend to be.

Posted by: bluebell at May 07, 2016 11:56 AM (2WwbN)

BTW, originally all they wanted was to borrow my truck and two grandsons were supposed to move the couch. One did not show up so I got volunteered.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at May 07, 2016 12:03 PM (vvmPQ)

9 It's a conceptual art thread.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 07, 2016 12:04 PM (i7Y4C)

10 Hum, there are some nudes (as opposed to noods) in that link.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at May 07, 2016 12:05 PM (vvmPQ)

11 It's the 4'33" of visual arts.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 07, 2016 12:05 PM (1xUj/)

12 Some of those paintings are awesome....so much talent from those artists.

I can't even take pictures that look that good.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 07, 2016 12:05 PM (ej1L0)

13 Obama giving commencement speech at Howard on TV.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot Jr. at May 07, 2016 12:06 PM (k4M/B)

14 It's the 4'33" of visual arts.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 07, 2016 12:05 PM (1xUj/)
-----------------

It's always been my goal to learn that piece.

Posted by: bluebell at May 07, 2016 12:06 PM (2WwbN)

15 The Met link has the art. Ancient classical art is much more to my taste. There is so much to see in that style of painting.

Posted by: Skip at May 07, 2016 12:07 PM (3wHFl)

16 Dude painted to support his fapping hobby.

Posted by: eman at May 07, 2016 12:07 PM (MQEz6)

17 I have always preferred his "Black Square on Black."
I think that when he started his white period, the results were too airy for my taste. It was almost a descent into bourgeois sentimentality.

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at May 07, 2016 12:08 PM (T/5A0)

18
13 Obama giving commencement speech at Howard on TV.
Posted by: Bertram Cabot Jr. at May 07, 2016 12:06 PM (k4M/B)

That goes in the fart thread.

Posted by: eman at May 07, 2016 12:08 PM (MQEz6)

19 That goes in the fart thread.
Posted by: eman at May 07, 2016 12:08 PM (MQEz6)
-------------

Ha!

Posted by: bluebell at May 07, 2016 12:09 PM (2WwbN)

20
17 I have always preferred his "Black Square on Black."
I think that when he started his white period, the results were too airy for my taste. It was almost a descent into bourgeois sentimentality.
Posted by: Margarita DeVille at May 07, 2016 12:08 PM (T/5A0)

Maybe he was going for irony.

Posted by: eman at May 07, 2016 12:09 PM (MQEz6)

21 I hate getting willowed.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at May 07, 2016 12:09 PM (ODxAs)

22
Volunteered?

Nah,its more like voluntold in this family.

Posted by: irongrampa at May 07, 2016 12:09 PM (P/8aq)

23 Obama giving commencement speech at Howard on TV.

Will the CPT controversy be broached?

Posted by: That guy who always says... at May 07, 2016 12:09 PM (Tyii7)

24 >>> It's the 4'33" of visual arts.

ISWYDT

Posted by: John Cage at May 07, 2016 12:09 PM (2hcmo)

25 G'morning, Horde!

Posted by: HopefulMonster Bravely supporting kittens at May 07, 2016 12:10 PM (1D4Ef)

26 Ah, the ultimate in art. Just lean back, close your eyes and envision the picture in your own mind.

Enjoy!

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at May 07, 2016 12:10 PM (NeFrd)

27 Link? Oh. There's a link.
But I stand by my original criticism!

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at May 07, 2016 12:10 PM (T/5A0)

28 Hit the Eugene de Blass link to find the Watercarrer. The colors are so rich in her shaw to the beaten edges of her copper pot.

Posted by: Skip at May 07, 2016 12:11 PM (3wHFl)

29 22

Volunteered?

Nah,its more like voluntold in this family.

Posted by: irongrampa at May 07, 2016 12:09 PM (P/8aq)

Well tomorrow is Mother's Day after all.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at May 07, 2016 12:12 PM (vvmPQ)

30 Don't sleep on 'old man strength.'

Posted by: RWC - Team BOHICA at May 07, 2016 12:12 PM (hlMPp)

31 Gonna hafta cut the grass. That is a sure sign of spring. Snow went away early in April (Global Warming). Haven't seen the mosquitos, gnats, and blackflies yet. Still cold over night. Trees haven't started budding yet.

Road weight restrictions still in force. It's been warm enough in the daytime, and dry enough that frost should be out of the ground by now. I could put a spade in the ground and turn the dirt over, but soil temperatures still too cold to plant. (That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.)

Posted by: Loran Gerban at May 07, 2016 12:14 PM (JXcPZ)

32 8 Continuing from last thread:

251
Vic, if you're still moving couches for your MIL, I don't think you're as old as you pretend to be.

Posted by: bluebell at May 07, 2016 11:56 AM (2WwbN)

BTW, originally all they wanted was to borrow my truck and two grandsons were supposed to move the couch. One did not show up so I got volunteered.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at May 07, 2016 12:03 PM (vvmPQ)

When you consider his MIL is Lilith?

Posted by: Don Quixote at May 07, 2016 12:14 PM (qf6WZ)

33 This is the least objectionable art I've ever seen.

Posted by: Cloyd Freud, Unemployed at May 07, 2016 12:14 PM (fYFz4)

34 11 It's the 4'33" of visual arts.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 07, 2016 12:05 PM (1xUj/)
--
Cagey, bander!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at May 07, 2016 12:17 PM (jR7Wy)

35 What the hell are underoos?

Oh!

Nevermind.

Posted by: Loran Gerban at May 07, 2016 12:17 PM (JXcPZ)

36 If his work was any more realistic it would be considered photography. Just one thing though ... why don't any of the men in the paintings have any shoes? They must be spending all of their dough on babes. Some things never change.

Posted by: goon at May 07, 2016 12:18 PM (WCaSy)

37 What interests me about Trump's new finance guy is not so much his Soros connections but his last name, "Mnuchin." The MN is not something you find in Indo-European languages outside of Greek, though it appears to be German. (?)

I see there is a Mnuchin Gallery in NYC.
And Yehudi Mehudin's original surname was Mnuchin.
Maybe it's Yiddish.

Is anyone familiar with this name --- enough to know how to pronounce it?

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at May 07, 2016 12:19 PM (T/5A0)

38 I think she's standing listening to you flirting with her, but has pulled back, being nice but showing she isn't interested.

Posted by: Skip at May 07, 2016 12:20 PM (3wHFl)

39 >>> It's the 4'33" of visual arts.

ISWYDT
Posted by: John Cage at May 07, 2016 12:09 PM (2hcmo)

I hear you, man.

My best painting is titled: Polar Bear in a Snowstorm, eating a Dove on Whitebread, With Mayo Sammich.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 07, 2016 12:21 PM (Dj0WE)

40 Is this another one of those "blank canvas" modern art pieces?

Posted by: Brother Cavil at May 07, 2016 12:22 PM (D0J8L)

41 36 - That's what I love about classical art, before photography they captured every detail in the paintings

Posted by: Skip at May 07, 2016 12:22 PM (3wHFl)

42 14 It's the 4'33" of visual arts.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 07, 2016 12:05 PM (1xUj/)
-----------------

It's always been my goal to learn that piece.
Posted by: bluebell at May 07, 2016 12:06 PM (2WwbN)

The zither part is considered to one of the most challenging in the reportoire.

Posted by: Garth at May 07, 2016 12:23 PM (brIR5)

43 And Yehudi Mehudin's original surname was Mnuchin.
Maybe it's Yiddish.

Not looking anything up because looking things up is cheating.

That sounds more like Hebrew. Yiddish is basically a German dialect with various bits of Russian and Polish and other shtetl dialects mixed in.

Hebrew translated into English suffers from the same issues as Russian, Arabic and other languages with different alphabets. Since the letters don't correspond it's up to the translator to approximate the sound.

Also, back in the day they wrote Hebrew without vowels so you had to guess what the rest of the word was.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 07, 2016 12:24 PM (1xUj/)

44 I am on a word kick.
The best word I learned today is SPHAGNUM.

You know, could have a TV series about a private eye living in a guest house on the boggy estate of a famous Irish writer and call it "Sphagnum, P.I."

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at May 07, 2016 12:24 PM (T/5A0)

45 For those missing RDB's landscape art (or art at all, in this post's case), here's last night's pretty pix post from BlazingCatFur:
http://bit.ly/1Twzyqe

Posted by: mindful webworker - it's a beautiful world at May 07, 2016 12:24 PM (gJBE5)

46
My best painting is titled: Polar Bear in a Snowstorm, eating a Dove on Whitebread, With Mayo Sammich.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 07, 2016 12:21 PM (Dj0WE)

While blinking

Posted by: RWC - Team BOHICA at May 07, 2016 12:25 PM (hlMPp)

47 I guess fake mustaches on Cinco de Mayo cause administrators at the Univ of Denver to ban fake mustaches. What if your girlfriend wants a Dirty Sanchez?

These questions need answers.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at May 07, 2016 12:25 PM (89T5c)

48 PJMedia : Stephen Krusier

Who?

Stephen Krusier

Trump! gonna run America like a casino.

Dude! you dim bulb. It's not going to be a dumpster fire you .. you ... it's gonna be a conflagration, a wild fire, mass evacuation, run for your lives, every man for himself, burn this bitch down, payback. men trampling women and children to get to the life boats, gang war in the streets, 1930s all over again, jihad. Jeeze, open your eyes, man.

Posted by: Loran Gerban at May 07, 2016 12:26 PM (JXcPZ)

49 Margarita DeVille #37: ...Mnuchin... Is anyone familiar with this name --- enough to know how to pronounce it?

"Munchkin"

Posted by: mindful webworker - and your little dog, too! at May 07, 2016 12:28 PM (gJBE5)

50 Obama's boyfriend is named Howard.

Posted by: Typical White Woman at May 07, 2016 12:28 PM (gwG9s)

51 It's not going to be a dumpster fire you .. you ... it's gonna be a
conflagration, a wild fire, mass evacuation, run for your lives, every
man for himself, burn this bitch down, payback. men trampling women and
children to get to the life boats, gang war in the streets, 1930s all
over again, jihad.

News flash: It was going to be anyway.

Posted by: Brother Cavil at May 07, 2016 12:28 PM (D0J8L)

52 Our economy is a casino anyways. The federales are the house.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at May 07, 2016 12:29 PM (89T5c)

53 and yet, there's no gardening thread...

go figure.

Posted by: redc1c4 at May 07, 2016 12:29 PM (XOZxO)

54 I am on a word kick.

Hah! I can top that..

omphaloskepsis

it means 'navel gazing', as in looking at your navel.

Posted by: Loran Gerban at May 07, 2016 12:29 PM (JXcPZ)

55 and yet, there's no gardening thread...

It's hiding behind the picture.

Posted by: Brother Cavil at May 07, 2016 12:30 PM (D0J8L)

56 I am on a word kick.
The best word I learned today is SPHAGNUM.

You know, could have a TV series about a private eye living in a guest house on the boggy estate of a famous Irish writer and call it "Sphagnum, P.I."
Posted by: Margarita DeVille at May 07, 2016 12:24 PM (T/5A0)

Nah, if they tried to do that show today it would be too much of a re-peat.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 07, 2016 12:30 PM (Dj0WE)

57 43----Also, back in the day they wrote Hebrew without vowels so you had to guess what the rest of the word was.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 07, 2016 12:24 PM
------------------
Makes sense to me --- and leads me to think that the CH, rather than having a K sound (or CH one) may be an aspirated H. Thus, Yehudi Menuhin is simply using a new spelling of Mnuchin, one that is more phonetic in English.

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at May 07, 2016 12:30 PM (T/5A0)

58 I guess fake mustaches on Cinco de Mayo cause administrators at the Univ of Denver to ban fake mustaches. What if your girlfriend wants a Dirty Sanchez?

These questions need answers.
Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at May 07, 2016 12:25 PM (89T5c)

You can give her the dirty sanchez, you just can't say "ole!" when you're done.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 07, 2016 12:32 PM (Dj0WE)

59 49
"Munchkin"
Posted by: mindful webworker - and your little dog, too! at May 07, 2016 12:28 PM (gJBE5)
------------
Hah!
Actually, my eyes immediately transposed or filled in letters like that--- and I think I came up with Munchen, which led me to think "German."

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at May 07, 2016 12:34 PM (T/5A0)

60 Thank you, Y Not.

Saturday's gone to shit.

Posted by: Ricardo Kill at May 07, 2016 12:35 PM (pOiZo)

61 Margarita DeVille #37: ...Mnuchin... Is anyone familiar with this name --- enough to know how to pronounce it?

"Munchkin"

Posted by: mindful webworker - and your little dog, too! at May 07, 2016 12:28 PM (gJBE5)
=====
How high is his pompadour?

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 07, 2016 12:35 PM (MIKMs)

62 54
omphaloskepsis

it means 'navel gazing', as in looking at your navel.
Posted by: Loran Gerban at May 07, 2016 12:29 PM
--------------
I love that word!
And the noun, omphaloskeptic.

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at May 07, 2016 12:35 PM (T/5A0)

63 nood garden

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at May 07, 2016 12:35 PM (vvmPQ)

64 56---Nah, if they tried to do that show today it would be too much of a re-peat.
Posted by: BurtTC at May 07, 2016 12:30 PM (Dj0WE)
------------------
So? It isn't as if Hollywood isn't already swamped with remakes.

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at May 07, 2016 12:37 PM (T/5A0)

65 Margarita DeVille at May 07, 2016 12:35

I need to lose twenty pounds.

Posted by: Loran Gerban at May 07, 2016 12:37 PM (JXcPZ)

66 56---Nah, if they tried to do that show today it would be too much of a re-peat.
Posted by: BurtTC at May 07, 2016 12:30 PM (Dj0WE)
------------------
So? It isn't as if Hollywood isn't already swamped with remakes.
Posted by: Margarita DeVille at May 07, 2016 12:37 PM (T/5A0)

You know what they say, a rolling stone gathers no moss. There is lots of moss in Hollywood, they say. And not just behind Mick Jagger's ears.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 07, 2016 12:39 PM (Dj0WE)

67 42 14 It's the 4'33" of visual arts.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 07, 2016 12:05 PM (1xUj/)
-----------------

It's always been my goal to learn that piece.
Posted by: bluebell at May 07, 2016 12:06 PM (2WwbN)

The zither part is considered to one of the most challenging in the reportoire.
Posted by: Garth at May 07, 2016 12:23 PM (brIR5)

More Cowbell!

Posted by: Cloyd Freud, Unemployed at May 07, 2016 12:41 PM (fYFz4)

68 omphaloskepsis

*****

I had to give that up for lint.

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at May 07, 2016 12:41 PM (NeFrd)

69 28 The Watercarrier
Obligatory uncultured blurting of "She can carry my water anytime!"

This is why I avoid institutions that display the art from this period. Now that degenerate stuff that came afterwards, I just wander around and yell "FOCUS!"

Posted by: Headless Body of Agnew at May 07, 2016 12:42 PM (FtrY1)

70 Nah, if they tried to do that show today it would be too much of a re-peat.

I have a feeling we're about to get bogged down.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 07, 2016 12:42 PM (1xUj/)

71 Nah, if they tried to do that show today it would be too much of a re-peat.

Posted by: BurtTC

*****

I don't know how much moor of that type of comment I can take.

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at May 07, 2016 12:42 PM (NeFrd)

72 It's been raining here for the past couple of days, so the grass is too wet to mow.

Yeah. I'm going with that.

Posted by: rickl at May 07, 2016 12:43 PM (sdi6R)

73 Spahgnum P.I.

Starring Kate Moss!

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at May 07, 2016 12:43 PM (NeFrd)

74 If a libertarian pot smoker wants to talk about hydroponics, is that a gardening topic or is that politics?

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at May 07, 2016 12:47 PM (sl+zA)

75 So Trump has been ordered to go to trial for His Trump University scam.... That should go over well.... Maybe He can use the Hillary! "No malicious intent" defense....

Posted by: donna at May 07, 2016 12:47 PM (O2RFr)

76 If a libertarian pot smoker wants to talk about hydroponics, is that a gardening topic or is that politics?

Building demolition. We just had a guy blow his operation up because of a propane leak, or defective heater. Blown up, as in exploded, KaBOOM! Nothing left standing but a few support columns and part of the roof.

Posted by: Loran Gerban at May 07, 2016 12:50 PM (JXcPZ)

77 Building demolition. We just had a guy blow his operation up because of a propane leak, or defective heater. Blown up, as in exploded, KaBOOM! Nothing left standing but a few support columns and part of the roof.
Posted by: Loran Gerban at May 07, 2016 12:50 PM (JXcPZ)

There was a meth house, not far enough away from me (but not that close either) that blew up a few years ago. Said the roof bounced, but from the outside everything more or less looked intact. Whoever currently owns the place though, whenever I pass by, it's still got reconstruction work going on.

It's a sold, quaint little brick house. So I guess it was worth saving.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 07, 2016 12:56 PM (Dj0WE)

78 Spahgnum P.I.

Starring Kate Moss!
Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at May 07, 2016 12:43 PM (NeFrd)

See, this is the problem. You kill a thread. How is anybody supposed to top that?

I mean, here I sit, trying to think of a way to incorporate a pun into "top that," and anything I come up with would be lame.

Bleh!

Posted by: BurtTC at May 07, 2016 01:00 PM (Dj0WE)

79 Ole!
Aw shit.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at May 07, 2016 01:02 PM (89T5c)

80 Ole!
Aw shit.
Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at May 07, 2016 01:02 PM (89T5c)

Pow! Right on the kisser.

Posted by: T. Cruz at May 07, 2016 01:08 PM (Dj0WE)

81 Met Yehudi Menuhin once, back in the 80s, after a concert at Kennedy Center. Shook his hand. Still remember how surprised I was - it was soft as a baby's. I expected a monster grip.

Posted by: rhomboid at May 07, 2016 01:10 PM (QDnY+)

82 Obama's Hard Vard Yard Mincemeat Address was all MacGuffin-ized Identity Politics, even to include middle-aged white mens' feelings!

Instead of actually growing the economy or defending the country. That math is too hard for Barack Barbie.

Posted by: The Gipper Lives at May 07, 2016 01:11 PM (Ndje9)

83 There's an article in the sidebar pointing out that Trump is attacking other Republicans, and not attacking Hillary.

Above that are several articles attacking Trump, and not attacking Hillary.

Huh.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at May 07, 2016 01:11 PM (AroJD)

84
I don't know how much moor of that type of comment I can take

====

*throws apple at seamus*

Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at May 07, 2016 01:12 PM (Cq0oW)

85 We have "willowed" for threads that have been superceded by a nood. We all know what that means - and I think she even showed up, briefly, this week.

I propose "muldooned". I think we all know what that will mean, in reference to a thread.

Posted by: rhomboid at May 07, 2016 01:14 PM (QDnY+)

86 Met Yehudi Menuhin once, back in the 80s, after a concert at Kennedy Center. Shook his hand. Still remember how surprised I was - it was soft as a baby's. I expected a monster grip.

Not a lot of heavy handed violinists that are famous.

Posted by: fluffy at May 07, 2016 01:16 PM (2hcmo)

87 There's an article in the sidebar pointing out that Trump is attacking other Republicans, and not attacking Hillary.

Above that are several articles attacking Trump, and not attacking Hillary.

Huh.
Posted by: BeckoningChasm at May 07, 2016 01:11 PM (AroJD)

That's different.

Next thing you'll be trying to point out all the people last year talking about Party unity, and insisting Teh Donald doesn't go third party, now talking about not being able to support Teh Donald as the R candidate.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 07, 2016 01:17 PM (Dj0WE)

88 Well fluffy I really didn't have a detailed expectation of what a violinist's hands would be like, but I guess I figured more on the strong, taught end. Not the first/last time I figured wrong.

Posted by: rhomboid at May 07, 2016 01:18 PM (QDnY+)

89 Next thing you'll be trying to point out all the people last year talking about Party unity, and insisting Teh Donald doesn't go third party, now talking about not being able to support Teh Donald as the R candidate.

====

Kristol met with Romney, trying to get him to run I guess. They're both fkn idiots.

Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at May 07, 2016 01:20 PM (Cq0oW)

90 How did we get to the point where two old nasty, mean, goofus grannies are trash talking a billionaire in a contest for the presidency? It's like we're living in a twisted narrative from a comic book.

Posted by: Fritz at May 07, 2016 01:20 PM (f40FU)

91 Many art historians look down on the Academic School, as they are seen as continuing the "same old, same old" while their contemporaries in the Impressionist School were doing something new with painting.

Posted by: Josephistan at May 07, 2016 01:22 PM (7qAYi)

92 BeckoningChasm, and BurtTC, good points, and funny, in a dark way. Let's add the observation that many robotically doled out in past cycles - "don't be a 'purist', look our guy is better than the alternative" - now seems to have been suddenly and mysteriously retired.

Burt the "better support the candidate" drama of a few months ago juxtaposed with Ryan's little drama dance this week is especially funny.

I have stayed out of the Trump wars here and don't plan to dive in now, and while he wasn't on my list of top 150,000 people to have as president, to put it mildly, there is some limited amusement in observations like yours. It's almost as if one hoped for more self-awareness from folks who are clearly smart and on the right side of things.

Posted by: rhomboid at May 07, 2016 01:24 PM (QDnY+)

93 78 Spahgnum P.I.

Starring Kate Moss!
Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at May 07, 2016 12:43 PM (NeFrd)

Good show, but I like her brother Peat better.

Posted by: Josephistan at May 07, 2016 01:25 PM (7qAYi)

94 Picture no there. Sniper got water carrier.

Posted by: Richard McEnroe at May 07, 2016 01:30 PM (Kucy5)

95 #8 Vic moves couches with the winch on his Hover-Round

Posted by: Richard McEnroe at May 07, 2016 01:32 PM (Kucy5)

96 I'm not lichen the way this thread has bogged.

Posted by: Fritz at May 07, 2016 01:33 PM (f40FU)

97 I don't like Trump, and he wasn't my choice, but he's the Republican candidate for all intents and purposes. I don't know what goal is served by attacking him and not Hillary, but I don't have any say on this blog.

I feels like pique to me. Again, I don't know what the point is supposed to be.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at May 07, 2016 01:33 PM (AroJD)

98 I propose "muldooned". I think we all know what that will mean, in reference to a thread.

****

Miriam-Webstar
DEFINITION
muldooned- v. trans. (archaic, possibly Celtic

1. Raised to a level of transcendent excellence.

2. Made erudite

3. Nearly perfected

USAGE: "Mickey Mantle muldooned the bejeebers out of that hanging curve ball."

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at May 07, 2016 01:35 PM (NeFrd)

99 I have stayed out of the Trump wars here and don't plan to dive in now, and while he wasn't on my list of top 150,000 people to have as president, to put it mildly, there is some limited amusement in observations like yours. It's almost as if one hoped for more self-awareness from folks who are clearly smart and on the right side of things.

Posted by: rhomboid at May 07, 2016 01:24 PM (QDnY+)

This week my view appears to be changing, and I guess it's not surprising. I'm probably going to vote for the guy, because not only is he vastly different from voting for Hillory, he's also our best (only) shot at not allowing the Gopes in Washington to regroup after a Trump loss, and carry on, business as usual.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 07, 2016 01:36 PM (Dj0WE)

100 58 I guess fake mustaches on Cinco de Mayo cause administrators at the Univ of Denver to ban fake mustaches. What if your girlfriend wants a Dirty Sanchez?

These questions need answers.
Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at May 07, 2016 12:25 PM (89T5c)

You can give her the dirty sanchez, you just can't say "ole!" when you're done.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 07, 2016 12:32 PM (Dj0WE)

There's a Taco Bowl joke in there somewhere...

Posted by: Don Quixote at May 07, 2016 01:37 PM (qf6WZ)

101 Moss puns???

Who left the cabinet unlocked??

Posted by: RWC - Team BOHICA at May 07, 2016 01:41 PM (hlMPp)

102 I feels like pique to me. Again, I don't know what the point is supposed to be.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at May 07, 2016 01:33 PM (AroJD)

Times a fucking million!

Posted by: Velvet Ambition at May 07, 2016 01:41 PM (QPdNE)

103 Seamus, I prefer my proposed definition. Plus, you should see it as the homage it is to your infernal punning skillz.

USAGE: "Yeah, did you see that Trump thread below? Nukyler flame-war, basically. Then it got muldooned and everyone chilled out"

Posted by: rhomboid at May 07, 2016 01:42 PM (QDnY+)

104 National Review is just about as sad as you can get right now.

The "CON-servstive commentariate industrial comlex" is having a complete and total psychic break from reality.

Couldn't have happened to a bigger bunch of frauds.

Posted by: Kreplach at May 07, 2016 01:42 PM (/3r2s)

105 Heh, Urban Dictionary, in part:

"Muldoons avoid the beach and more often frequent the docks, municipal jail cells, & emergency rooms. The Muldoons girlfriend is a Patti. Pattis have pretty faces with red noses, saggy titties,a hard gut, square asses, and skinny "drinking legs". Pattis are light hearted, Muldoons are often melancholy... under the boardwalk is not just a song, it's a way of life!"

Posted by: BurtTC at May 07, 2016 01:43 PM (Dj0WE)

106 Posted by: rhomboid at May 07, 2016 01:42 PM (QDnY+)

***

Heh! I DO enjoy derailing an ugly thread now and then. Hard to do with the level of animosity that has been evident this primary season.

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at May 07, 2016 01:48 PM (NeFrd)

107 Willowed. "The Federal Reserve is an NGO but it is actually controlled so much by the government that it may as well be a government organization."

It's years since I've been close to this, so feel free to correct me.

The Fed is a collection of twelve banks which have the magical property of being able to have liabilities that bear no interest expense -- dollars. Which means it has great power to buy and hold financial assets.

There's a law that says that the Fed can't buy new Treasury debt directly from the Treasury, so the Treasury sells to the Prime Dealer Banks who flip it to the Fed. Which is a big mechanism for how we've been financing our deficits.

Since 2008 the Fed's balance sheet has grown enormously because of this. Since the crisis the Fed has also been buying things other than US debt, like Fannie and Freddie debt and exotic mortgage assets. The Fed has also done all it can to keep US interest rates low. Without this remarkable degree of intervention, who knows what would have happened to the US residential market since 2008.

The Fed has also gone long on maturities. Were interest rates to rise not all that much, on a mark-to-market basis the Fed would become balance sheet broke. That's because the left side of its balance sheet (assets) looks remarkably like a 1980s savings and loan.

What I can't figure out is who owns all this US debt (it can't just be the Chinese) and how it's affecting Big Bank excess reserves, and how it's all getting funded. Simple cynical answer may just be that US savings are in effect getting put into US debt instead of business loans. Big Banks are going along because they've had a litigation/regulatory gun put to their heads.

Don't know where this goes. Difficult to unwind, easier to drift. But the Fed has no bullets left to deal with the next official recession.

Once again Trump says something that sounds idiotic, noted in the sidebar here: "ask creditors to take a haircut on [US] outstanding debts" but he could be on to something.

Some think that going bankrupt to revise your debts is immoral, but it can make economic sense even for creditors. Right now all this debt is choking growth which can have momentous long-term consequences.

The net effect of how we resolved the 2008 crisis was to save the asses of Big Bankers and Current Home Owners. Handled differently, Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein might have been left with nothing but a barrel to wear. And your typical home owner might have been wiped out. But this wasn't free. It's kept the prices of lots of things higher than they'd otherwise have been.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 07, 2016 01:48 PM (bQxkN)

108 The Muldoons girlfriend is a Patti.

******

Patti is my cousin's name.

Hey, wait a minute. What exactly are you implying???

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at May 07, 2016 01:49 PM (NeFrd)

109
2008
GOP: Ok, McCains not your guy, but we have to band together to defeat Obama.
Me: Shit, OK

2012
GOP: ok, Romney's not your guy but we have to band together to defeat Obama.
Me: Shit, OK

2016
GOP: our guy didn't win so we're going to act like petulant children and actively work against the nominee cuz you peasants didn't do what your betters told you.
Me: Fuck you.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at May 07, 2016 01:50 PM (kTF2Z)

110 Perhaps it is best to adapt a classic movie scene from Dr. Strangelove in describing our sad political situation, one where we have to:

"choose between two admittedly regrettable but nevertheless distinguishable post-election environments, one where you've got Hillary as president, and one where you have a boorish loudmouth tycoon as president"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgyjlqhiTV8

Posted by: rhomboid at May 07, 2016 01:51 PM (QDnY+)

111 Trump is taking aim at Fauxcahontas, calling her goofy during a rally, which has the FauxSquaw on the warpath on Twitter. He also called her Hillary's friend.
Pretty funny. She's all: "YOU'RE NOT GONNA SHUT ME UP!"

Oh sample Donald:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/728777556804153346

Posted by: @votermom at May 07, 2016 01:52 PM (nbrY/)

112 GOP: our guy didn't win so we're going to act like petulant children and actively work against the nominee cuz you peasants didn't do what your betters told you.
Me: Fuck you.

=====

thats what John C Wright is saying now.

http://is.gd/XBk8JR

Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at May 07, 2016 01:54 PM (Cq0oW)

113 The Muldoons girlfriend is a Patti.

******
Patti is my cousin's name.

Hey, wait a minute. What exactly are you implying???
Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at May 07, 2016 01:49 PM (NeFrd)

I was going to try to make up my own Urban Dictionary definition, which was to be:

To Muldoon: When two or more Irishmen, not necessarily brothers, have sex with one drunk lass, in the hopes she won't remember the next day that they took turns.

As in: "Did you hear Seamus and Patrick muldooned Sinead last night. Everyone but her seems to know about it."

Posted by: BurtTC at May 07, 2016 01:56 PM (Dj0WE)

114 "There's an article in the sidebar pointing out that Trump is attacking other Republicans, and not attacking Hillary."

Among other recent hits by Trump on Hillary is his making the point that the Clintons left the White House "dead broke" but are now worth at least $150 million but have had no honest way to make that kind of money.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 07, 2016 01:57 PM (bQxkN)

115 104 National Review is just about as sad as you can get right now.
The "CON-servstive commentariate industrial comlex" is having a complete and total psychic break from reality.
Couldn't have happened to a bigger bunch of frauds.
Posted by: Kreplach at May 07, 2016 01:42 PM (/3r2s)

The Orange Clown is a much bigger fraud, and his worshippers have been disconnected from reality since last year.

Posted by: Orange Clown-Shaped Pile of Shit and Gargabe at May 07, 2016 01:59 PM (0ql0f)

116 thats what John C Wright is saying now.

-------

He called George will a mewling whelp. Heh

Posted by: Duke Lowell at May 07, 2016 02:00 PM (kTF2Z)

117 Posted by: Orange Clown-Shaped Pile of Shit and Gargabe at May 07, 2016 01:59 PM (0ql0f)

Either a regular, too timid to come out and face scrutiny, or a new troll, here to stir up trouble.

Either way, pass. Bye.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 07, 2016 02:01 PM (Dj0WE)

118
Posted by: Orange Clown-Shaped Pile of Shit and Gargabe

Is Gargabe one of those tin pot dictators?

Posted by: Bertram Cabot Jr. at May 07, 2016 02:02 PM (k4M/B)

119 BTW of course trump is going after Hilary. he just called her a "total enabler" for the awful things Bill did to women, as well as mentioned the horrible things she herself did on that score.

Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at May 07, 2016 02:02 PM (Cq0oW)

120 Either a regular, too timid to come out and face scrutiny, or a new troll, here to stir up trouble.

====

just an irrelevant piece of shit.

Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at May 07, 2016 02:04 PM (Cq0oW)

121 BTW of course trump is going after Hilary. he just called her a "total enabler" for the awful things Bill did to women, as well as mentioned the horrible things she herself did on that score.
Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at May 07, 2016 02:02 PM (Cq0oW)

That part of the narrative, that Trump only goes after Republicans, always struck me as weird. Of course he FOCUSED on his Primary opponents, because... duh. Now that they're gone, it should not shock anyone that he's going to continue to be crass toward them, and then when he DOES go after Hillory, which increasingly, he will, because, again, duh. What happens to that silly narrative? Do people just pretend they haven't been saying it over and over and over again?

The answer, again, duh, is yes. Yes they will.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 07, 2016 02:05 PM (Dj0WE)

122 Among other recent hits by Trump on Hillary is his
making the point that the Clintons left the White House "dead broke" but
are now worth at least $150 million but have had no honest way to make
that kind of money. Posted by: Ignoramus at May 07, 2016 01:57 PM (bQxkN)
=====

They inherited it, just like DT. Constant pitch on NPR and Public TV Stations is to call them to structure your wills and trusts to include them. Think about it, how many dem donors have set up that kind of 'giving program'.

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 07, 2016 02:05 PM (MIKMs)

123 thats what John C Wright is saying now.

That might sting Will a little. I'd go for the wind that bowtie a few times but I'm a Moron.

Posted by: DaveA at May 07, 2016 02:07 PM (DL2i+)

124 Ignoramus, good comment. However I'd differ (in my counter-factual speculation) as to the effects of a more historically normal, and I think rational, reaction to 2008.

The fundamental poison of the 2008 reaction, beyond the mind-boggling blindfolded gamble the Fed embarked on (and which you nicely outline), was the refusal to allow prices to re-set. Which is of course the most basic function of a market - to "discover" prices, real prices.

I don't think most homeowners would have been "wiped out" by a more responsible 2008 approach. "Normal" mortgages probably would have benefitted from lower rates and refinancing in the typical fashion. It's the inherently un-tenable or exotic mortgages that clearly would have been (rightly) wiped out - as indeed most were, anyway.

The "rationale" for the massive ill-advised interventions was no the mortgage market, but a much scarier doomsday scenario - general economic collapse and depression. None of which ever made any sense. Non-financial commercial paper issuance (a good metric for underlying economic health) was normal in the crisis period.

The "real economy" was not folding up its tent, nor about to. Sure there would have been a severe recession, probably.

A severe recession that, with accompanying sensible reforms (returning Fannie Mae to its sound, conservative historic role and behavior, getting Treasury and the Fed out of the business of pushing stupid exotic debt onto gullible foreign banks, etc.) would have had a cleansing effect, and probably brief duration.

Instead? Instead we had the colossal rent-seeking waste of TARP, Dodd-Frank to greatly increase the distortion and concentration of the banking sector, and of course the Feds' actions to protect private institutions that should have failed or been re-organized (a normal part of, um, bad business decisions). Not to mention the massive failed experiment in monetary base expansion by the Fed, and the accompanying gross distortion of "zero interest rates".

It's an unserious country in more than one or two respects, with degraded "elites" in more than one or two areas.

For a comparison, see 1979, when one conference call between a Fed chairman and the primary dealers (all responsible adults of the post-WWII variety) resulted in the "rejection" of a federal budget by the markets. Apologies to those who, understandably, might not even know what "budgets" or "markets" are supposed to be.

Posted by: rhomboid at May 07, 2016 02:07 PM (QDnY+)

125 I don't think any Fed suggestion by Trump can be as silly as the trillion dollar coin the Left was talking up a few years ago.

Posted by: @votermom at May 07, 2016 02:08 PM (nbrY/)

126 (hit the button too early)

So the Clintons made their money with influence peddling.

But AosHQ management won't link to anything like that because it wants to rabidly anti-Trump. All the News that Fits, indeed.

Ace got a Rush Limbaugh plug on Friday (congrats). But the irony is that Rush is fair and balanced, and thinks that (1) Trump could win in a landslide because of his Mad Media Skillz, and (2) the recent anti-Trump hysteria within the GOP has crossed a line. Rush wanted to be precise on #2: it's not that you can't criticize Trump, it's that he's never seen vitriol and panic from elements in the GOP like he has over anti-Trump -- these same folks hardly got worked up over the things Obama's done.

I seem to be prefectly aligned with Rush on these two points, but its's not the official party line at AoSHQ.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 07, 2016 02:09 PM (bQxkN)

127 104 National Review is just about as sad as you can get right now.

The "CON-servstive commentariate industrial comlex" is having a complete and total psychic break from reality.

Couldn't have happened to a bigger bunch of frauds.
Posted by: Kreplach at May 07, 2016 01:42 PM (/3r2s)

Yep. The Weekly Standard too. Bill Kristol can DIAF. He is a useless POS.

Their blatherings are only increasing my support for Trump. When you're getting flak, you're over the target.

Posted by: rickl at May 07, 2016 02:09 PM (sdi6R)

128 The Dems are voting this week on eliminating superdelegates or reapportioning and binding them according to the popular vote.

Try to imagine a Bernie/Donald debate. It would be like a shorthanded Three Stooges sketch.

Posted by: Richard McEnroe at May 07, 2016 02:11 PM (Kucy5)

129 I'm listening to the audio from the Gemini 8 flight now, which is actually more interesting than arguing about politics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HArRc_EOis8

Posted by: rickl at May 07, 2016 02:12 PM (sdi6R)

130 It's an unserious country in more than one or two respects, with degraded "elites" in more than one or two areas.

Posted by: rhomboid at May 07, 2016 02:07 PM (QDnY+)

I'm reading what you guys are saying, with interest (no pun intended... well, maybe a little), but since I have no real understanding of economics, I don't know what is real and what is not.

I do have a significant amount of expertise in human nature though, and I am now wondering if much of the animosity towards Trump might be coming from those who know quite well that he understands the shell game they are playing, much much better than 99% of the politicians gathered at the Washington pig trough.

In other words, the fear of a Trump Presidency is less that he's some sort of idiot, but more that when it comes to this economic nonsense in Washington, he's NOT an idiot.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 07, 2016 02:13 PM (Dj0WE)

131 128
Try to imagine a Bernie/Donald debate. It would be like a shorthanded Three Stooges sketch.
Posted by: Richard McEnroe at May 07, 2016 02:11 PM (Kucy5)

I would watch a Trump/Biden debate on pay per view.

Posted by: rickl at May 07, 2016 02:14 PM (sdi6R)

132 Posted by: rhomboid at May 07, 2016 02:07 PM (QDnY+)

Well said, as usual.

Bottom line: no good can come from subverting accountability. If a consumer - or a bank - makes stupid, irresponsible decisions, it deserves to suffer as a consequence, if for no other reason than to serve as an example to others.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at May 07, 2016 02:15 PM (oKE6c)

133 >>>68 omphaloskepsis

*****
I had to give that up for lint.
Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at May 07, 2016 12:41 PM (NeFrd)

Aarrgghh!
Good one.

Posted by: m at May 07, 2016 02:16 PM (sL8cH)

134 130
In other words, the fear of a Trump Presidency is less that he's some sort of idiot, but more that when it comes to this economic nonsense in Washington, he's NOT an idiot.
Posted by: BurtTC at May 07, 2016 02:13 PM (Dj0WE)

That is my read on it. My fantasy is that he tells a million Federal bureaucrats, "You're fired!"

And I frankly don't fucking care if he does it by EO.

Posted by: rickl at May 07, 2016 02:17 PM (sdi6R)

135 125 I don't think any Fed suggestion by Trump can be as silly as the trillion dollar coin the Left was talking up a few years ago.
Posted by: @votermom at May 07, 2016 02:08 PM (nbrY/)

That WAS outrageous, wasn't it? That proposal revealed either total cynicism or a profound failure to grasp anything to do with finance or economics.

Still, it would provide an excellent exam question in undergraduate economics to dissect what's wrong with that proposal.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at May 07, 2016 02:19 PM (oKE6c)

136 Posted by: Ignoramus at May 07, 2016 01:57 PM (bQxkN)

------------
Me likee. Linky?

Posted by: Iforgot at May 07, 2016 02:20 PM (uiVGU)

137 In other words, the fear of a Trump Presidency is less that he's some sort of idiot, but more that when it comes to this economic nonsense in Washington, he's NOT an idiot.
Posted by: BurtTC at May 07, 2016 02:13 PM (Dj0WE)

That is my read on it. My fantasy is that he tells a million Federal bureaucrats, "You're fired!"

And I frankly don't fucking care if he does it by EO.
Posted by: rickl at May 07, 2016 02:17 PM (sdi6R)

I think people underestimate the differences between categories of expertise. We encounter it all the time. Your doctor tells you to take more pills, and your therapist tells you to work on your coping skills. Those are two different categories of expertise at work.

Same thing with lawyers vs. economists. I guess they work together sometimes, but the lawyer says, to your suggestion of a Trump E.O., "You can't do that!" Well, maybe from the lawyer perspective, you can't, but obviously it can and has been done in other settings, including the thing that infuriates some people about Trump, which is his using cutthroat economic practices to amass wealth. It sure does work, whether it boggles one's mind or not as to how he can get away with it.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 07, 2016 02:21 PM (Dj0WE)

138 @113 -

Oh Burt, no! That's not our Seamus Muldoon at all! I think "to Muldoon" is to make the pun which tops all others. Once that occurs, the thread has thusly been muldooned.

Posted by: bluebell at May 07, 2016 02:22 PM (2WwbN)

139 "For a comparison, see 1979, when one conference call between a Fed chairman and the primary dealers (all responsible adults of the post-WWII variety) resulted in the "rejection" of a federal budget by the markets."

Great point. What the Fed's done since 2009 is enable Obama/Congress to avoid having to deal with the budget. Quite different from how the Fed acted in 1979. We've had a couple of Obama Boehner showdowns and even a kubuki over increasing the debt ceiling with the threat of default, but in the end Obama and Congress got all the spending they wanted.

It's like we have slow growing cancer, but we're OK so long as we keep getting our morphine drip.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 07, 2016 02:23 PM (bQxkN)

140 @113 -

Oh Burt, no! That's not our Seamus Muldoon at all! I think "to Muldoon" is to make the pun which tops all others. Once that occurs, the thread has thusly been muldooned.
Posted by: bluebell at May 07, 2016 02:22 PM (2WwbN)

Heh, true, but read his definition at #98. We don't want him getting too big a head about it.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 07, 2016 02:25 PM (Dj0WE)

141 Yes, but he'd get arrested with your definition

Posted by: bluebell at May 07, 2016 02:27 PM (2WwbN)

142 Posted by: rhomboid at May 07, 2016 02:07 PM (QDnY+)

Yet there was another trend going on after 2008... the sometimes forced Bank consolidation that the Fed Res Board and Treasury Sec made possible.

They didn't use TARP to buy up toxic assets, they loaned that money to a select few banks, who then used that money to buy other banks.

Now, as Banks own stock in the Fed Res Bank... and they get dividends from said stock...

This process created larger banks, with more stock, getting MORE profit...

Banks which are now WAY too large to fail...

Posted by: Don Quixote at May 07, 2016 02:28 PM (qf6WZ)

143 Yes, but he'd get arrested with your definition
Posted by: bluebell at May 07, 2016 02:27 PM (2WwbN)

I'm sorta assuming my definition is workable in some Brigadoon type world, where Irishmen laugh, get drunk, have inappropriate sex with drunken lasses, and nobody blows up or gets pregnant or has regrets afterwards.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 07, 2016 02:29 PM (Dj0WE)

144 "Yet there was another trend going on after 2008... the sometimes forced Bank consolidation that the Fed Res Board and Treasury Sec made possible."

Bank consolidation accelerated greatly. Clearly our smaller banks had no role in creating the 2008 financial crisis, but it led to Dodd-Frank and Liz Warren's Consumer Finance Protection Board. The new regulatory burdens have been killing off what's left our community banks -- the ones who sponsor the local Little League teams. Paging Mr. Potter!

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 07, 2016 02:32 PM (bQxkN)

145 I'm sorta assuming my definition is workable in some Brigadoon type world, where Irishmen laugh, get drunk, have inappropriate sex with drunken lasses, and nobody blows up or gets pregnant or has regrets afterwards.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 07, 2016 02:29 PM (Dj0WE)

/thinks back to his last Historic Fencing Weekend....

Well... add in a little sword fighting...

Posted by: Don Quixote at May 07, 2016 02:32 PM (qf6WZ)

146 @143 You left out the good crack. The Irish crave good crack when they get drunk, before the inappropriate sex.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 07, 2016 02:35 PM (bQxkN)

147 Trump is thinking about asking our creditors to take a "haircut," and everyone has their panties in a knot...

...and?

So, what do YOU propose, those who view this as the wrong thing to do?

How did you THINK it was going to end? What did you think the End Game was going to be like?

To default now would be merciful on us all. We're at 100% Debt to GDP, not including tiny other items like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and a whole lotta other things.

Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, both Bushes, and the king of them all: President 4-Putt. All of them have piled on debt upon debt. Now a businessman is looking at it and saying "ain't no way we're gonna pay that back..."

And what - you disagree? So tell me, genius, what do YOU propose? A 50% increase in taxes? A 50% reduction in spending? You really think that either of these things will actually happen without us first defaulting?

We are heading for open violence. Russia, China, muslims, transgenders, no blacks nominated for oscars... all of these earth-shattering topics have been chatter. Noise to keep us from the actual situation.

We owe 100% of what we make. All of us. Every man, woman, and child. We owe it to our government. A slice of our economy that is, what? less than 1/3 of the whole? has racked up debt equivalent to the whole pie... and only if you measure poorly.

We are screwed. Trump is just the first presidential candidate to have the balls to admit it, and propose the kind of action that this is going to take.

If you are a Keynsian then you believe that deficit spending is expansionary. With the exception of a few years in the 90's we have been "expanding" non-stop. Over 40 years of non-stop "expansion..." what, you don't believe there has to be a contraction?

Oh, yes. There's going to be a contraction. You ain't never felt anything like what's coming...

Posted by: RobM1981 at May 07, 2016 02:35 PM (zurJC)

148 In related news, has our stud-muffin American Pharaoh in the White House weighed in on his successor for the derby today?

Posted by: Fritz at May 07, 2016 02:37 PM (f40FU)

149 More Cowbell!
Posted by: Cloyd Freud, Unemployed at May 07, 2016 12:41 PM (fYFz4)

Like arty, cowbell always raises the stature of any encounter.

Posted by: Garth at May 07, 2016 02:38 PM (brIR5)

150 "They didn't use TARP to buy up toxic assets, they loaned that money to a select few banks, who then used that money to buy other banks."

Some of the toxic assets seem to have wound up at the Fed, which would be a back door Big Bank bailout.

Trump laid out an agenda for his first 100 days that included an audit of the Fed. Wonder what he's up to.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 07, 2016 02:38 PM (bQxkN)

151 For the cat and dog people, the pet thread is nood and up and running

Posted by: L, Elle at May 07, 2016 02:44 PM (2x3L+)

152 Link to piece on Trump hitting Clinton corruption. I don't know how to do tiny urls so please assemble

http://www.breitbart.com/radio/2016/05/06/

trump-hillary-clinton-wants-wages-americans

-destroyed-wants-coal-miners-fired/

Trump cites Schweitzer's Clinton Cash book a lot.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 07, 2016 02:48 PM (bQxkN)

153 Trump laid out an agenda for his first 100 days that included an audit of the Fed. Wonder what he's up to.

---------

Don't know, but I hope it involves people going to prison.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at May 07, 2016 02:48 PM (kTF2Z)

154 We owe 100% of what we make. All of us. Every man,
woman, and child. We owe it to our government. A slice of our economy
that is, what? less than 1/3 of the whole? has racked up debt
equivalent to the whole pie... and only if you measure poorly.

We are screwed. Trump is just the first presidential candidate to
have the balls to admit it, and propose the kind of action that this is
going to take.

Posted by: RobM1981 at May 07, 2016 02:35 PM (zurJC)

The best explanation to LIVs: we're like a family that makes $24,000 a year, spends $37,000 a year, and now owes $190,000 on its credit cards.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at May 07, 2016 02:50 PM (oKE6c)

155 147
Oh, yes. There's going to be a contraction. You ain't never felt anything like what's coming...
Posted by: RobM1981 at May 07, 2016 02:35 PM (zurJC)

Yup. Well said.

Posted by: rickl at May 07, 2016 02:50 PM (sdi6R)

156 Trump laid out an agenda for his first 100 days that included an audit of the Fed. Wonder what he's up to.

Hopefully just rounding up Paul voters.
I'd really rather we park that blimp and take the hydrogen out rather than just wander around lighting matches to see what scurries away.

Posted by: DaveA at May 07, 2016 02:51 PM (DL2i+)

157 148 In related news, has our stud-muffin American Pharaoh in the White House weighed in on his successor for the derby today?
Posted by: Fritz at May 07, 2016 02:37 PM (f40FU)

Ask Kerry. He'll have inside information, because ... well ... you know.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at May 07, 2016 02:51 PM (oKE6c)

158 Don and Ignoramus, absolutely yes about the consolidation in the banking sector. The part of the banking sector that 1) had nothing to do with the macro-problems of 2008, and 2) provides lots of economic and non-economic positives to the picture - is being squeezed by leviathan.

Makes perfect sense.

In a country so degraded that, well - so degraded that it has the oroblemns, and the incumbents and challengers, you see today.

Just like Sarbanes-Oxley - which made financial shenigans super-dooper-extra-illegal - not just illegal, as they long had been - the 2008 reaction materially damaged the country and economy, for no gain.

On public policy, from war to $$$, the country has been taking IQ tests for 10 years now, and scoring lower and lower each time.

Posted by: rhomboid at May 07, 2016 02:53 PM (QDnY+)

159 @156 We can't handle the truth! of a Fed audit.

What's been saving our ass is that most of the rest of the World sucks more than we do. So we haven't had capital flight.

It's a relative thing, but if you look out 20 years which nation will be in worse shape: the US, the EU nations, China?
.
YMMV but I'd bet that China will undergo a radical restructuring within that time frame.

I'd bet that the Middle East Sunni Shiite cold war gets really hot, and it won't take 20 years. Thank God for fracking.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 07, 2016 02:59 PM (bQxkN)

160 BurtTC, ignoramus, rhomboid,,, thank God.
Would I love to see this put in front of the M-F "daywalkers."
Not near as verbally fluent as you folks.
A Fed audit? Please God yes.
Then abolish the evil creature.

Posted by: teej at May 07, 2016 03:18 PM (ijopM)

161 Ignoramus you hit on a key concept - as poorly managed as the US is (blame to its populace and elites - everything has been done voluntarily, electively, self-inflicted), it still benefits from its *comparative* superiority to the rest of the world.

In other words, inertia. Resting on laurels, in a way. However badly - and it's bad - the US has imposed damage on its economy and society through stupid policies, it started from a uniquely superior base. So we're still a better bet on many things ("political stability", property rights, rule of law) - however much that tick-list makes the more savvy sorts laugh and shake their heads, when they think of how much better all of these were, even recently.

CA, as so often, is a perfect microcosm. It now subsists entirely on things it 1) it did not create and, mostly, cannot easily screw up, or 2) hasn't gotten around to screwing up.

Weather and natural wonders (tourism, lifestyle pull for so many who otherwise would rather live elsewhere).

Agriculture.

Technology (left alone, favored, as opposed to punished - though some of the advantage is inertial - it started here - and some is actually bleeding out due to the usual idiotic persecution of business).

Entertainment (some of the weather/natural wonder element, mostly inertial at this point - it started here).

A CA free of pernicious state interference (scientifically baseless "environmental" nonsense, minimum wage, disability, and other labor atrocities), lawlessness and racism (illegal immigration and race-based distortion of law), and an unbreakable toxic closed system of public employee unions and one political party, would be prosperous beyond the imagination.

Instead, it's just great for a few in the favored sectors, disastrous for the non-govt. employee middle class (esp. small business and small manufacturing), and "great" in a degrading and hopeless way for the vast under-class.

Opportunity cost is a simple, key concept that appears to be utterly incomprehensible to the cretins who dominate our society, and to a working majority of the clueless voters who sustain them.

Posted by: rhomboid at May 07, 2016 03:19 PM (QDnY+)

162 I shouldn't have restricted that to "verbally."

Posted by: teej at May 07, 2016 03:21 PM (ijopM)

163 CA, as so often, is a perfect microcosm. It now subsists entirely on
things it 1) it did not create and, mostly, cannot easily screw up, or
2) hasn't gotten around to screwing up.

Weather and natural wonders (tourism, lifestyle pull for so many who otherwise would rather live elsewhere).

Posted by: rhomboid at May 07, 2016 03:19 PM (QDnY+)

A liberal once replied to my rant about CA saying it would always be prosperous because it has the weather and the ocean.

"Oh, you mean like Baja?"

End of conversation.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at May 07, 2016 03:22 PM (oKE6c)

164 Opportunity cost is a simple, key concept that
appears to be utterly incomprehensible to the cretins who dominate our
society, and to a working majority of the clueless voters who sustain
them.

Posted by: rhomboid at May 07, 2016 03:19 PM (QDnY+)
We have extended the franchise way too far, vol 71.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at May 07, 2016 03:22 PM (oKE6c)

165 Clearing the spindle:

1.) I am not a Trump fan.

2.) I could see him winning.

3.) I could also see the greatest loss in the history of American politics, across he board.

4.) I expect nothing but double standards from the press.

5.) Ms. Clinton violated the law with the email server issue, in a serious way that would get me thrown in jail (at least, on initial booking charges).

6.) The Left is about to make its final push for complete cultural hegemony.

7.) The idea of "popular sovereignty" actually meaning anything is under existential threat.

8.) A Democratic sweep of all three branches will essentially nullify majority opinion in this nation for a decade.

Therefore, in case of a Clinton win, I recommend rebellion.

a.) You cannot rebel because of the loss. "Sore loser" would be the charge, and it would stick. You must wait, and then remind people that you obeyed the laws, even when you lost, which is something the Left does not do.
b.) You must wait for an excess on the goverment's part. You will get one--probably the assault weapons ban. That would be a good trigger point.
c.) You must be disciplined. You cannot go after everything you don't like. You must keep neutrals neutral.
d.) You do not have to fight for complete seperation, and I in fact don't recommend it. Nullifying federal authority so as to have negotiating leverage is what you want, but make no mistake--you need to be ready to fight army/cops/division level combat, if needs be.
e.) What you should fight for is for things to be done in this nation mainly via a legislature.
f.) Be patient. Wait for an excess.
g.) It would be better if you could make the other side rebel.
h.) There are other ways to secure liberty and the idea of a Republic, just that there is only one man I think up to the moment, and unfortunately he is still in the Class A minor league level, and will be a decade before he gets to the majors. If ever as a player. He may be more of a philosopher pilot.

Without good leadership--and you do not possess it--a mass rebellion of some sort, coming from the people, is your only hope, akin to the way the communist regimes fell in 1989. Nobody seems up to the moment, so it will have to come from yourselves.

Cheers.

Posted by: Horatius at May 07, 2016 03:30 PM (J3UIw)

166 The Sunday Morning shows tomorrow could be interesting. Trump will be on a couple, including ABC with Stephanopolous.

I've had a fantasy where Trump goes on Georgie's show and tells him that he's so in the tank conflicted for the Clintons that he should be fired, and that until he his, neither Trump nor anyone in his administration will ever go on ABC This Week ever again. Drops mike, walks out,

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 07, 2016 03:31 PM (bQxkN)

167 Gonna go to pet thread a recommend that when they're done they ought to come down here and start reading at 87.

Posted by: teej at May 07, 2016 03:33 PM (ijopM)

168 They have been notified.
I stopped short of saying that school is in session. Might have been over the top.
Now I'm going to shut up except for every other refresh which I can only do by posting.

Posted by: teej at May 07, 2016 03:43 PM (ijopM)

169 teej, no matter what everyone else around here says about you, you are a good guy ..... (heh)

Posted by: rhomboid at May 07, 2016 03:45 PM (QDnY+)

170 Wow Hillary trails trump by one point..... In Georgia...

Posted by: donna at May 07, 2016 03:52 PM (O2RFr)

171 rhomboid, there are very few people that I worry about what they think. On the entire planet maybe 15,,, maybe.

Posted by: teej at May 07, 2016 03:55 PM (ijopM)

172 Been watching Yankees pound the Red Sox.

Announcer says that he just noticed how many Irish pubs are in Manhattan. Seriously? Try walking across midtown Manhattan without walking by an Irish pub.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 07, 2016 04:03 PM (bQxkN)

173 Refresh

Posted by: teej at May 07, 2016 04:07 PM (ijopM)

174 Oh crap. Don't tell me I rang the class over bell.
Ah well, plenty there to digest if folks just take the time to actually think about it.
Really appreciate the time and thought you good people put into that.
And I should get a few more things done before off to see some of those special people for their daughter's graduation party.
Gonna be four of those very important people there.
Stay strong.

Posted by: teej at May 07, 2016 04:12 PM (ijopM)

175 Recent Trump comment on Hillary:

"Have you ever read what Hillary Clinton did to the women that Bill Clinton had affairs with? And they're going after me with women?

"She's been the total enabler. She would go after these women and destroy their lives," Trump said. "She was an unbelievably nasty, mean enabler, and what she did to a lot of those women is disgraceful."

Hillary just invented a nickname for Trump, in response to his calling her Corrupt Hillary.

He's the "presumptuous candidate" she says. Get it ... presumptuous, not presumptive.

This is going to be like watching a baby seal get clubbed to death. Except baby seals are cute.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 07, 2016 04:17 PM (bQxkN)

176 Yeah, Trump is going to yell at Hillary.

So did Cruz's Dad kill JFK?

Posted by: person at May 07, 2016 04:45 PM (mFkVC)

177 147 Trump is thinking about asking our creditors to take a "haircut," and everyone has their panties in a knot...

To be fair, it's the only economic trick he knows. He used to pull the same thing on his contractors. A man whose word is worthless probably doesn't care about his country's word...

Posted by: Richard McEnroe at May 07, 2016 04:50 PM (Kucy5)

178 #176 Only between setting his kid up with DC hookers.

My favorite Trumpzi stunt was the Photoshop of Cruz hugging Castro that was so badly done their arms stuck through each other.

Posted by: Richard McEnroe at May 07, 2016 04:51 PM (Kucy5)

179 #166 Technically that's both of them.

Posted by: Richard McEnroe at May 07, 2016 04:52 PM (Kucy5)

180 It looks like a painting of a water carrier naturally led to a discussion of how the media are covering the Democrats in general and Hillary in particular.

That painting is nice, but the Met's "Salome" and "Joan of Arc" kicks it old school. Skip the Le Brun show at the Met. Le Brun was a pretty woman with a schtick, and an upscale clientele of the crowned heads of Europe...except for Marie Antoinette, of course. After a while, all the paintings look the same. I think Dr. Johnson said something about such women...

Posted by: VIvi at May 07, 2016 05:36 PM (11H2y)

181 I went to a memorial last weekend and one of the guests worked for a contractor on a Trump project. Trump declared bankruptcy and stiffed everybody.
I guess it's makes us even if Trump wins. The Dems got President Incitatus, now it's the Republicans turn.

Posted by: VIvi at May 07, 2016 05:42 PM (11H2y)

182 I am warming up to Trump's economic nationalism.

45% tarrifs, banning companies from leaving, I'm going to be in full agreement, but only if we also ban foreigners from owning property, too.

In fact, maybe force them to sell off any property they own now, like aparatments in Trump buildings, for example.

I don't understand how buying foreign products is bad but letting foreigners buy our actual land is good.

Can't wait to see Trump agree to this. Sure, it would actually hurt his own business interests, but he's so willing to hurt other business interests, I'm sure he'll take one for the team.

Send those Chinese, Mexican, and Arab owners of Trump apartments packing. We don't need their business!

Posted by: Harun at May 07, 2016 05:48 PM (dZQh7)

183 "Trump is thinking about asking our creditors to take a "haircut," and everyone has their panties in a knot..."

Argentina and Greece have done well after asking lenders to take hair cuts.

Posted by: Harun at May 07, 2016 05:51 PM (dZQh7)

184 I'm just here to be called a racists by chemojeffo ..

Posted by: butthurt medicine at May 07, 2016 07:12 PM (qQk+U)

185
Her elbows are too pointy.

Posted by: The Chicken at May 07, 2016 07:20 PM (M6xzk)

186 Just noticed the painting is up.

Posted by: Skip at May 07, 2016 08:37 PM (3wHFl)

187 Not sure about carrying my water, but she can haul my ashes anytime. . .

Posted by: Ned Reid at May 07, 2016 08:50 PM (Nnmy9)

188 Looking at the painting above the link was better quality. Worth seeing the difference.

Posted by: Skip at May 07, 2016 09:05 PM (3wHFl)

189 The Watercarrier

Should have had a picture of Chris Matthews, with Oblama in the background.

Posted by: Blacque Jacques Shellacque at May 07, 2016 09:42 PM (MsI7y)

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