“Gains faded late as investors turned cautious before the Federal Reserve’s policy announcement and President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address on Wednesday,” Mikolajczak reports. “The Fed’s Open Market Committee began a two-day meeting on Tuesday against the backdrop of a Senate debate over Chairman Ben Bernanke’s reconfirmation. The meeting is expected to yield few policy shifts, with a Fed statement on the economy and interest rates expected on Wednesday.”
“The Senate is expected to vote this week on confirmation of Bernanke for a second term as Fed chairman. Some senators have said they will vote against the U.S. central bank chief because of the Fed’s handling of the financial crisis,” Mikolajczak reports. “U.S. stocks fell 5 percent in a three-day span to close out last week after the Obama administration proposed new restrictions on large banks.”
“After a lower open, stocks rose on data showing consumer confidence rose for a third straight month in January to its highest level since September 2008, easing concerns about individual spending,” Mikolajczak reports. “But the Dow Jones industrial average ended down 2.79 points, or 0.03 percent, to 10,194.07. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 4.62 points, or 0.42 percent, to 1,092.16. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 7.07 points, or 0.32 percent, to 2,203.73.”
“Apple gained 1.5 percent to $205.94, a day after reporting strong quarterly results and on growing anticipation over its tablet product launch on Wednesday,” Mikolajczak reports. “The iPhone maker provided the biggest lift to the Nasdaq, followed by Microsoft Corp, up 0.7 percent to $29.50, which is scheduled to report results later this week.”
Mikolajczak reports, “Stocks opened lower on concerns about a Chinese government clampdown on bank lending. Banking sources said China’s central bank told some banks to increase their reserve ratios to curb excessive lending.”
Read more in the full article here.
Three things I can’t understand about Apple…Al Gore, their lean towards the left, and their very noticeable French influence…no offense…I just don’t get it…save the flames until tomorrow.
I wonder if MDN gets more advertising dollars on their recent dabble in politics than they do on the Apple and iPhone stuff.
For fsk sake MDN pull your Republican crap in. Wall Street is down because of many many things, not the least of which is thirty years of unfettered free market shenanigans under a failed ideology that has left the US middle class trying to sell off the family jewels (living standards, environmental laws, etc.,) as a government of the people, for the people, by the people has been reduced to a market place of used car salesmen and investment snake oil pundits.
Capital punishment needs to be reintroduced, if a corporation has the same rights as a person then we need to throw most of the SoB’s in the can and introduce “true” public ownership—nationalize crooked companies, starting with Microsoft but not ending there…
We all know that stocks are up up up since the male model was elected!
Shame MDN! don’t you read your own political FUD?
Lets face it guys, you collect Apple news, and do a good job at it, but your political stuff needs help…..
Yes, hard to understand why they’d have the first Congressman to understand the importance of the coming digital revolution back in the 80’s, or why a fan of Dylan who believes in changing the world for the better would be attracted to progressive politics. It is beyond understanding!!
It’s San Francisco’s culture — left-wing, creative, intellectual, pro-diversity, etc. Apple wouldn’t be Apple if it weren’t infused with these values.
MDN didn’t write this, Reuters did – including the headline.
If you have a problem with it, contact Reuters.
French influence? QTF?
@killbill… where exactly do they serve that koolaid ya been drinking?
@ theloniousMac
Don’t forget to say “..On Steroids”
“Gains faded late as investors turned cautious before the Federal Reserve’s policy announcement and President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address on Wednesday,”
Because, you see, this morning, investors had completely forgotten that the Fed meeting and the SotU were happening on Wednesday. It completely slipped their minds until they broke for lunch. When they all checked their Blackberries at Burger King, investors suddenly remembered these terrifying events were only a day away, and rushed sell everything they’d bought in the morning.
Not Obama card again MDN!!! Your cheap degenerated bias is ridiculously obvious.
It doesn’t take a genius to see that MDN posts this garbage in a specifically crafted way, ties it loosely with Apple, and offers virtually little or no “Take” just so they can bait us into a flame war over stuff that has nothing to do with Macs or Apple news. It’s a game, and you all fall for it! Just move on to the next article. There is nothing to see here.
@ conschmillo
You should cross-post your comment from Google Finance. Not that it would help.
Again, MDN didn’t write this, Reuters did – including the headline.
If you have a problem with it, contact Reuters.
Republicans: “We’ll tell whether you can marry someone of the same gender, whether you can gamble, whether you can get an abortion, whether you can possess or smoke marijuana, blah, blah, blah,” but spend your money however you please! How does the right wing so blatantly and paradoxically reconcile fiscal conservatism and Christian fundamentalism in its politics, especially when this reconciliation is a result of the arbitrary happenstance that northern Democrats spearheaded desegregation and caused a migratory shift of the Christian south to the Republican party? In other words, the right wing is some kind of social mutant filled with strange and self-contradictory creatures who are militant about causes they aren’t sure why they have.
By the way, MDN, have you read the latest cognitive research? The kind that suggests that people are actually fallible and adopt heuristics and biases when making financial decisions? A requirement of free markets is that agents are rational and self serving, but there’s little evidence that people are actually rational. Even the cool-headed Wall Street traders can screw up, hence last year’s crash! It’s OKAY to adjust your views. This knee jerk finger pointing crap has to stop though.
What a steaming pile of crap.
Some real facts…
• Apple’s intra-day high today was $213.71 at around 1pm, before falling away in a round of profit-taking.
• $213.71 is a mere 0.87% from Apple’s all-time high (215.59)
• Both the all-time closing high and intraday high were set a mere 14 trading days back on Jan 5.
• Back in the first half of 2006, in the time before the Obama administration (or even the Obama nomination) and before the 2006 mid-terms which led to the Republicans losing control of Congress, Apple fell from $85.59 on Jan 13 2006 to $50.67 on July 14 2006.
• This fall of 40.79% (from a lower base) was only marked by http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/10164/P0/
Strangely, there is no political comment or sub-text.
Draw your own conclusion.
@Once again
Yes and it belong on Reuters, not here.
@ Sam
You’re using too many big words and complex ideas. Are you trying to confuse the Rill Americans?
@ C1
Et tu parlez Français, aussi, mon petite choucroute?
C’est bien!
I hereby apologize to MDN because I am so stupid that I have no idea what quotation marks mean and I am unable to click a link to the source article. It’s really no wonder that I voted for Obama.
@ Sam
“Public opinion, I am sorry to say, will bear a great deal of nonsense. There is scarcely any absurdity so gross, whether in religion, politics, science or manners, which it will not bear.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Obama is nothing but a pure fsckup. Almost as bad as Jimmy Carter.
Again, MDN didn’t write this, Reuters did – including the headline.
Presumably, some men in black from Reuters came round to MDN’s offices (wherever that might be) and pointed a pistol at the office cat until MDN published the article?
No?
So MDN could have done the same critical analysis that I did in my post at 5:39pm and decided that the story had an unwarranted political slant that is inconsistent when compared to much more serious long-term falls in the past.
It took me 10 minutes and I wasn’t rushing.
@ Hm…
Watch your language.
@ C1
Привет, товарищ! Какой?
Oh, oh. Now “x” has seen me post на русском языке. He now knows for sure that I’m a commie-pinko-hippie-fascist!
I think we should all as readers send MDN publishers a clear message that we want to read about Apple News and that it would behoove them to NOT post articles that are in reference to Obama, Government, or any other government based official or office.
MDN you are so good at your Apple News Takes. Why not stick to something we ALLl enjoy reading?
We just want the Macs ma’am!!
Whenever Maobama is mentioned on this site all of the liberal-comm loons go ballistic. They want to silence all opposition to their mad dash to destroy the US and capitalism and everything great about the US. You freaks know you’re in trouble and will be kicked out of power in the fall and in 2012. You drones actually believe the BS Maobama and friends through at you. Pathetic.
If a conservative doesn’t like guns, they don’t buy one. If a liberal doesn’t like guns, then no one should have one.
If a conservative is a vegetarian, they don’t eat meat. If a liberal is, they want to ban all meat products for everyone.
If a conservative sees a foreign threat, he thinks about how to defeat his enemy. A liberal wonders how to surrender gracefully and still look good.
If a conservative is homosexual, they quietly enjoy their life. If a liberal is homosexual, they loudly demand legislated respect.
If a black man or Hispanic is conservative, they see themselves as independently successful. Their liberal counterparts see themselves as victims in need of government protection.
If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation. A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.
If a conservative doesn’t like a talk show host, he switches channels. Liberals demand that those they don’t like be shut down.
If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn’t go to church. A liberal wants any mention of God or religion silenced.
If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it. A liberal demands that his neighbors pay for his.
Keep up the great work MDN! We love your site. NObama affects what happens with Macs. Don’t listen to the censorship loving liberals.
Oh Gilbert. What a silly boy you are. You are so lucky having a clever guy as a President, instead of a dumbo like you used to have.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” /> Bring back Roosevelt and Churchill and Atlee
We’ve just got a dull plodding Scots accountant these days, running England, after that crazy lap-dog Tony Blair. “Go to war Mr Bush? Oh yes please Master! When can we help you? Such an Honour. Please kick me!”
Did they learn nothing from Vietnam? Of course they didn’t. BLAIR actually said he didn’t follow history!
Hm…
I wouldn’t worry about it.
He probably thinks his display is broken and is shaking it as we speak to make the pixels work properly.
As soon as a religion gets into a majority – it silences everyone else. Listen to that guy – silly Billy – shouting his mouth off. Can’t you just imagine him in a Gestapo uniform? Bashing down your door demanding to know where your Bible/Koran was, and why you weren’t at prayer?
Irrational god botherer.
Even a stock as great as Aapl will struggle against tomorrow’s State Of The Union address. The housing mess comes from overspending, but overspend is government policy, despite the campaign promises. You can expect a similar, if not proportionally larger, financial mess or fallout from all this governmental drunken-sailor spending. No change in this path will squash hope for a better tomorrow. Just ask any country, business, or family that spent a zillion times than it earned. Ask any country that let it’s printing presses run ’til the cows came home. It doesn’t end well.
Even a stock as great as Aapl will struggle against tomorrow’s State Of The Union address. The housing mess comes from overspending, but overspend is government policy, despite the campaign promises. You can expect a similar, if not proportionally larger, financial mess or fallout from all this governmental drunken-sailor spending. No change in this path will squash hope for a better tomorrow. Just ask any country, business, or family that spent a zillion times than it earned. Ask any country that let it’s printing presses run ’til the cows came home. It doesn’t end well.
(getting popcorn…)
NObama affects what happens with Macs
I’m sure I’m going to regret asking, because the answer will probably be rooted in a form of dingbat logic that will make my head hurt, but in what way does the President affect what happens with Macs?
Hey….how bout them Saints?
Go F yourself Republicans and Conservatives. You want hits? Keep this up- you’ll lose mine. I’m outta here- again!
Just to make sure, I hereby apologize to MDN again because I am so stupid that I have no idea what quotation marks mean, or the “Reuters:” portion of the headline, and I am also unable to click the link to the source article.
It’s really no wonder that I voted for Obama.
MDN MW: “decision” As in, I couldn’t make a good decision if my life depended on it.
Go F yourself Democrats, Liberals, and Progressives. You want to leave? Be my guest!
Conservatism:
In Western politics, the term conservatism often refers to the school of thought based on British politician Edmund Burke’s criticism of the French Revolution. Though his legacy as a conservative is disputed, he wrote against the excesses of mob rule.
R. J. White wrote: “To put conservatism in a bottle with a label is like trying to liquify the atmosphere … The difficulty arises from the nature of the thing. For conservatism is less a political doctrine than a habit of mind, a mode of feeling, a way of living.” Russell Kirk considered conservatism “the negation of ideology.”
Liberalism:
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of individual freedom. Liberalism was an important idea in the Age of Enlightenment, rejecting many foundational assumptions that dominated most earlier theories of government, such as the Divine Right of Kings, hereditary status, and established religion. John Locke is often credited with laying the philosophical foundations of liberalism arguing strongly for limited government. He wrote “no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.”
Just to ask: how many of you actually fall into one of these two categories?
“If a conservative doesn’t like guns, they don’t buy one. If a liberal doesn’t like guns, then no one should have one.”
Libs actually would prefer regulation so that retards can’t easily get a hold of guns. Conservatives apparently want any disgruntled head-case to be able to walk into wal-mart and easily buy their future murder weapon by just throwing some cash on the counter.
”If a conservative is a vegetarian, they don’t eat meat. If a liberal is, they want to ban all meat products for everyone.”
Most liberals are carnivores. Radical Vegans would be the only ones who want to ban meat.
”If a conservative sees a foreign threat, he thinks about how to defeat his enemy. A liberal wonders how to surrender gracefully and still look good.”
A lib actually tries to figure out how to get justice while at the same time trying to solve the situation without making it more volatile. A conservative just wants to go in all fired up on revenge, guns blazing, with no thought about if what their doing will actually resolve anything or if it will instead escalate the entire issue. In other words, were coming up on year seven of the Iraq war, is our enemy (Al-Qaeda) defeated, are we now safe?
”If a conservative is homosexual, they quietly enjoy their life. If a liberal is homosexual, they loudly demand legislated respect.”
If conservatives actually had any respect for the freedoms of others, then the oppressed wouldn’t have to demand their freedom or respect through legislation.
“If a black man or Hispanic is conservative, they see themselves as independently successful. Their liberal counterparts see themselves as victims in need of government protection.”
Er, if a liberal black man or Hispanic is successful, why would they see themselves as a victim?
”If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation. A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.”
If a conservative is down-and-out, I’m guessing he’s going to ask SOMEBODY for help, family, friends, church, and if all else fails, whatever government help is available, because pride only goes so far. If you’re homeless, the odds of you getting off of the street with no help at all, are against you, right or left.
”If a conservative doesn’t like a talk show host, he switches channels. Liberals demand that those they don’t like be shut down.”
Unless, that talk show host is Howard Stern, or any liberal talk show, then the conservative whining and protests starts just as loudly as any crazy lib.
”If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn’t go to church. A liberal wants any mention of God or religion silenced.”
If a conservative is a believer, he doesn’t keep it to himself, he forces his belief upon everyone else, by trying to cram it into schools, into legislation, and into politics, all the while denouncing anyone else’s religion or beliefs.
”If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it. A liberal demands that his neighbors pay for his.”
“or may choose a job that provides it”?, your saying that your job should pay for your health insurance. In other words, somebody else should pay for your health insurance. At least the libs want everyone’s, including their own taxes to pay for everyone’s health insurance and companies should be focused on making profits in hopes of the increased revenue will trickle down into job security and possible raises. Conservatives, apparently, think that, in addition to the pay they receive for their job, that their company (somebody else) should also pay for their health insurance. Maybe your company should also wipe your ass for you too?
Now go be a good conservative, and tell your job that you won’t need them to pay for your health insurance anymore, that you’ll now pay for it all out of your own pocket because you don’t like handouts.
Yeah, I thought so.
The housing mess comes from overspending, but overspend is government policy, despite the campaign promises.
28% of Federal government spending (over $1 trillion) either goes directly to the Department of Defense or gets there indirectly through NASA and other departments.
Another 15% or so goes on interest on Federal debt.
So 43% on two major items.
Presumably, you think there should be cutbacks on Medicaid (I’m sure TowerTone won’t mind his daughter getting her own medical care) or Medicare (so all those nice grandmothers and grandfathers can clear out of their government-subsidised residential homes).
Maybe Social Security should be reformed: I’m sure all those guys who fought in WWII will be cool with that.
Before all of that though: can politicians who grandstand on the evils of the socialist redistribution of wealth, like Bachmann, not cash in on Federal agriculture subsidies. Otherwise it looks dangerously like hypocrisy.
@Below Me
“Now go be a good conservative, and tell your job that you won’t need them to pay for your health insurance anymore, that you’ll now pay for it all out of your own pocket because you don’t like handouts.”
I actually pay for my health insurance. Does that make me a conservative? Liberal? OR someone who needs health insurance and pays for it?
Go F yourself Democrats, Liberals, and Progressives. You want to leave? Be my guest!
Gee, that’s big of you!
Except the last time I looked…
• Democrats, liberals and progressives held the reins of power in both the legislature and executive.
• It’s you and your dittohead neo-con(servative/federate) colleagues who have a problem with the way the country is being run. Why don’t you leave? After all, that’s what you used to tell us to do during the Bush 43 regime.
Typical wing-nut. Believes it owns and runs the country when it barely owns its house and can’t run a bath.
“I think we should all as readers send MDN publishers a clear message that we want to read about Apple News and that it would behoove them to NOT post articles that are in reference to Obama, Government, or any other government based official or office.”
Hrmm…..
off to macrumors i guess!
@drackmere
I don’t know what that makes you, but if you bitch about and fight the idea of national healthcare and pay for your own health insurance 100%, then your not a hypocrite and, be my guest, keep bitching about the health care issue. You have a right.
Any other conservative that bitches about others paying for peoples healthcare while their company pays for theirs, no doubt by “taxing” everyone at the company by paying lower wages to be able afford the healthcare, is pathetic.
So, is this what we’re getting from MDN from now on? Every time the market goes down, find a way to blame it on Obama?
——RM
I know what you mean, Robin.
Seems like only yesterday it was all Bush’s fault.
Or was it the day before?
Obama is a Marxist.
“I think we should all as readers send MDN publishers a clear message that we want to read about Apple News and that it would behoove them to NOT post articles that are in reference to Obama, Government, or any other government based official or office.”
Typical Democrat/Liberal/Progressive: Try to silence any ideas that do not mesh with their misguided, pie-in-the-sky, sound-good-on-paper-but-don’t-work-in-the-real-world, so-called “ideas.”
The article is from Reuters. It discusses a financial market in which Apple participates and even mentions Apple specifically.
If MDN did not cover this article, as some of you idiots suggest, they wouldn’t be doing their usual fine job.
@MCCFR
Obama promised to fix the economy. Too much debt will crush the economy. There’s much unaccountable, wasteful spending by the government. But you make it sound so clean and efficient. Plus there’s the bailouts and Bernanke’s handouts. It’s terrible that our leaders won’t fix this country’s finances like they promised. The debt level is so insane, how can one not worry about this country’s economic future.
@MCCFR
Obama promised to fix the economy. Too much debt will crush the economy. There’s much unaccountable, wasteful spending by the government. But you make it sound so clean and efficient. Plus there’s the bailouts and Bernanke’s handouts. It’s terrible that our leaders won’t fix this country’s finances like they promised. The debt level is so insane, how can one not worry about this country’s economic future.
Superior Being (btw, congrats on getting those narcissist ego problems under control)…
The problem is as I described at 5:39pm.
Back in 2006, under the aegis of a Bush administration and Republican Congress, 40.2% drop – no political comment for the entire period. Just a Reuters article in the middle of July with no political slant.
Now, with Apple trading in a narrow 5% range, Reuters attributes any fall to the Obama administration.
Normally, if MDN wants to draw attention to the troll-like nature of an article, it publishes a take and then issues a Think Before You Click warning: but, no matter how specious the link between a minor stock market adjustment – a market which you (as well as MDN and many others) appear not to have noticed has risen by nearly 48% (Nasdaq) or 25% (DJIA) since the Obama inauguration – and the current administration, MDN doesn’t seem to want to deploy “Think Before You Click”.
Why would that be? Click-baiting. Rabble-rousing. Just naked prejudice?
Maybe MDN should focus on researching and publishing information on the many fascinating products that exist TODAY for the Mac platform. Isn’t that what a site called Mac Daily News should do for the benefit of readers and advertisers alike?
Read it and weep, Libs:
Fox News is the most trusted television news network in the U.S., according to a new poll out Tuesday.
A Public Policy Polling nationwide survey of 1,151 registered voters Jan. 18-19 found that 49 percent of Americans trusted Fox News, 10 percentage points more than any other network.
Thirty-seven percent said they didn’t trust Fox, also the lowest level of distrust that any of the networks recorded.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/32039.html
The White House is really getting desperate. Enough with the chimp, now they’re trotting out the gorilla:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100126/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_michelle_obama_military_3
@Racial Humorist
A true Republican!
Bush, Bush, Bush. It’s all Bush’s fault. Bush this, Bush that. You liberals are effing pathetic. Disgusting! Can’t wait for November and 2012 to vote you sick asses out of power. Losers.
Plus there’s the bailouts
What, the banking bailouts?
You mean TARP or Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.
I think the giveaway is the usage of the number 2008 and also the word EMERGENCY, but let’s analyse some things for your remedial learning.
The act was signed into law by President George W Bush within hours of being approved by the House 263-171 on October 3rd 2008.
Not wishing to be a stickler for accuracy or a dogmatic SOB, but I could have sworn that – in October 2008 – the Goopers were still convinced that they were going to retain the White House and retake Congress (the Senate already being balanced 49/49 with two independents).
In any case, the election of Obama and a Senate majority was still a month away and a Senate super-majority didn’t arise until 14th July 2009 when Al Franken was sworn in after the elongated battles with Norm Coleman.
I know that Republicans like to use their “zero-time reset” button the moment they lose influence in the wake of yet another monstrous clusterfsck, but let’s try and remember that it was President Bush who was in power (although hardly in control from what I understand from friends of friends) when this crisis came to a head and that it was McCain who – even on September 15th 2008 – was claiming that the fundamentals of the economy were strong.
As for unaccountable government spending: you’re right. But many on your side of the aisle said absolutely NOTHING whilst Bush/Cheney committed the country to an illegal war which it is widely believed will have an end-cost of around $3 trillion. I would think that a text book definition of “unaccountable” would be issuing no-competition contracts to the likes of Blackwater, Haliburton and KBR.
Your side of the aisle voted for Bush on the grounds that he was someone with whom you’d be comfortable sharing a beer: well, I don’t really care who you drink with, but that’s a nonsensical way to choose your head of state and commander-in -chief.
So, after eight years of “my way or the highway” executive power enabled by six years of rubber-stamp approval in Congress, you’d like Obama to dig you out of the crap in his first year in the midst of the worst recession for several decades.
And Republicans believe they’re the party of personal responsibility. And they say Americans have no sense of irony.
Read it and weep, Libs:
Fox News is the most trusted television news network in the U.S., according to a new poll out Tuesday.
And 20% of Americans apparently also believe in astrology.
OK, let me ask you a question.
If you trust them so much, which one of FNC’s presenters would you like to see in elected office or a cabinet-level position and why.
You gain extra points if they’re qualified for the post and even more points if they’d actually stand a chance of getting past scrutiny either by the electorate or a Congressional committee.
Have fun.
@akikaze
LOL. Indeed, consider Apple or a similar company managed by a reactionary rightwinger. What kind of products would they produce? Well, the iSlate would be…a piece of slate that innovatively has a piece of chalk attached with a string.
Nice job MCCFR
You can speak for me, Those in favor say aye!
@Below Me.
So what you are saying is: anyone who complains/bitches about health care reform and gets it through their work is pathetic. What if they truly think it is a bad idea? Does that still make them pathetic? Or, pathetic simply because they don’t believe what you do? It just seems there are a great many people on this site that truly don’t want, or even know how to have a conversation, or to agree to disagree. Now that is pathetic.
The responses to this type of article are a lot more humorous when one resists the urge to post and just reads. My hat goes off both to the extremists and the moderates, the researchers of fact and the fabricators thereof. Scroll through the forum and, sooner or later, you will find that someone has already posted ideas similar to your own on the subject. That is so much more satisfying and efficient than posting them yourself…
Still basically sticking to the pledge to post on-topic. I have to take it one day at a time, though. It is so tempting to tee off on idiots.
KingMel is clearly a communist.
@First 2010, then 2012
This isn’t political in nature, so I can post without violating my pledge.
The general public is not exactly top heavy with intellectual capacity and has been duped time after time with scams, frauds, and hustles. These are the same people who look to the Enquirer for guidance…the same people who believe that a millionaire is going to spend his/her time teaching them to become millionaires if only they buy the friggin’ book. I seem to recall a mass panic induced by a radio show some decades ago… There is a reason that Homer Simpson is a stereotype.
If Americans trust Fox News more than other news agencies, then that indicates two things to me. First, the general public is not exactly top heavy with intellectual capacity. Second, the other news agencies must be doing a terrible job to make Fox News look more trustworthy in comparison.
Polls are only as good as their design and execution. It is quite easy to intentionally elicit a desired response. And it is also quite possible to unintentionally bias results.
Plus, I really don’t care what most people think.
@ChrissyOne
Darling…you finally responded directly to me. Now I can stop fantasizing about you and the wireless Magic Mouse.
Communism might actually work quite well for a while if it did not go against human nature. However, I suspect that the lack of incentive to excel would eventually lead to societal stagnation and decline. Then again, that is the result of most historical examples of human civilization that were not decimated by war, disease, or famine.
Labels are generally useless, and often harmful. They generally represent an oversimplification for the small-minded, an anchor for the sound bite on Fox News.
@MCCFR
I guess TARP didn’t come from Obama, and agree that Cheney/Rove/Rumsfeld wronged the country. I just don’t trust Obama being so cozy with so many Goldman Sachs guys around him. They tell him to spend our way out of trouble, with Goldman Sachs the main beneficiary. Lots of broken promises and nontransparent, unaccountable deals, the opposite of Obama campaign rhetoric. I knew not to believe him during the campaign. At least McCain made only one promise, that he’d go after the people who got us into this mess, which I believe are the same people telling Obama how to spend for miracles: Goldman Sachs and Bernanke.
@MCCFR
I guess TARP didn’t come from Obama, and agree that Cheney/Rove/Rumsfeld wronged the country. I just don’t trust Obama being so cozy with so many Goldman Sachs guys around him. They tell him to spend our way out of trouble, with Goldman Sachs the main beneficiary. Lots of broken promises and nontransparent, unaccountable deals, the opposite of Obama campaign rhetoric. I knew not to believe him during the campaign. At least McCain made only one promise, that he’d go after the people who got us into this mess, which I believe are the same people telling Obama how to spend for miracles: Goldman Sachs and Bernanke.
By the way, when I said Bernanke, I knew Greenspan started trouble, but associate the two together for their bubble-making zero-interest policies.
By the way, when I said Bernanke, I knew Greenspan started trouble, but associate the two together for their bubble-making zero-interest policies.
Hope & Change…
Guess what: if I had my way, there would be a dozen “bankers” whose heads would be mouldering on pikestaffs in every major financial centre just as a warning to others.
But that’s why I’m not in power.
It would be nice if Obama wasn’t surrounded by people like Geithner (who I trust about as far as I could spit a rat), but the simple truth is that you need people who are qualified in that field to run that part of government.
You need to remember that we are to a certain extent dealing with human nature (in as much as many bankers can be described as human) and then process the following facts:-
• Just like there is huge amount of money to be made in the wake of a war (through general profiteering, the black market and just honest rebuilding), there was (and continues to be) a huge opportunity for “bankers” in the post-subprime/credit crunch world. I’m going to write something controversial here – I suspect most “bankers” are in it for the money and wouldn’t understand the concept of service to a wider society even if you gave them a really detailed presentation.
• I can imagine that the number of qualified people queueing up to grasp the poisoned chalice that is either Treasury Secretary or Chairman of the Federal Reserve at reduced rates of compensation is pretty limited. The up-side is probably quite significant – the problem is that you probably won’t be around for the up-side and, in the meantime, things might get worse before they get better.
So you filter out the greedy, take the best that you can find that have some form of public service ethic and can pass the scrutiny of Congress and hope for the best.
As for McCain: let’s remember that – until he made his “nation of whiners” comment – McCain’s chief economic adviser was Phil Gramm, architect of the CFMA (which was bolted on to an omnibus spending bill in the dying days of the Clinton administration) and the man who emasculated both Glass-Steagall and the SEC.
Gramm always manages to get a place in any “Ten People Who Caused The Meltdown” list and – even when he was McCain’s adviser (and probably Treasury Secretary in waiting) was Vice-Chairman of UBS’s investment banking arm (which we used to call UBS Warburg).
Just for a little colour, we should also remember that Phil’s wife (Wendy) did really well from the Enron loophole in Phil’s CFMA legislation: when she left the public sector, she was a board member for Enron and may have made as much as $1.8 million from her involvement with them.
You’ll forgive me if I don’t actually put much store in what John McCain might have said: he was busy telling people that the fundamentals of the economy were sound as Lehman Bros. staff were making their way onto the pavement with their possessions in a box.
It must be painful for all conservative right wing readers at MDN (and the MDN crew, off course) to live with the fact SJ voted for Obama…
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Force Factor
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=2236872
Once again:
The Little Red Hen called all of her Democrat neighbors together and said, ‘If we plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat. Who will help me plant it?’
‘Not I,’ said the cow.
‘Not I,’ said the duck.
‘Not I,’ said the pig.
‘Not I,’ said the goose.
‘Then I will do it by myself,’ said the little red hen, and so she did. The wheat grew very tall and ripened into golden grain.
‘Who will help me reap my wheat?’ asked the little red hen.
‘Not I,’ said the duck..
‘Out of my classification,’ said the pig.
‘I’d lose my seniority,’ said the cow.
‘I’d lose my unemployment compensation,’ said the goose.
‘Then I will do it by myself,’ s aid the little red hen, and so she did.
At last it came time to bake the bread.
‘Who will help me bake the bread?’ asked the little red hen.
‘That would be overtime for me,’ said the cow.
‘I’d lose my welfare benefits,’ said the duck.
‘I’m a dropout and never learned how,’ said the pig.
‘If I’m to be the only helper, that’s discrimination,’ said the goose.
‘Then I will do it by myself,’ said the little red hen.
She baked five loaves and held them up for all of her neighbors to see. They wanted some and, in fact, demanded a share. But the little red hen said, ‘No, I shall eat all five loaves.’
‘Excess profits!’ cried the cow. (Nancy Pelosi)
‘Capitalist leech!’ screamed the duck. (Barbara Boxer)
‘I demand equal rights!’ yelled the goose. (Jesse Jackson)
The pig just grunted in disdain. (Ted Kennedy)
And they all painted ‘Unfair!’ picket signs and marched around and around the little red hen, shouting obscenities.
Then the farmer (Obama) came. He said to the little red hen,
‘You mustnot be so greedy.’
‘But I earned the bread,’ said the little red hen.
‘Exactly,’ said Barack the farmer. ‘That is what makes our free enterprise system so wonderful. Anyone in the barnyard can earn as much as he wants. But under our modern government regulations, the productive workers must divide the fruits of their labor with those who are lazy and idle.’
And they all lived happily ever after, including the little red hen, who smiled and clucked, ‘I am grateful, for now I truly understand.’
But her neighbors became quite disappointed in her. She never again baked bread because she joined the ‘party’ and got her bread free. And all the Democrats smiled. ‘Fairness’ had been established.
Individual initiative had died, but nobody noticed; perhaps no one cared…so long as there was free bread that ‘the rich’ were paying for.
EPILOGUE
Bill Clinton is getting $12 million for his memoirs.
Hillary got $8 million for hers.
That’s $20 million for the memories from two people, who for eight years, repeatedly testified, under oath, that they couldn’t remember anything.
IS THIS A GREAT BARNYARD OR WHAT?
@ MCCFR
I didn’t know about Phil Gramm and his ties with McCain and his part with Glass-Steagall and that last minute free-for-all omnibus which probably also let China into the WTO, despite China’s not respecting human rights. I do know that repeal of Glass-Steagall was the cause of this mess. I do hear that McCain wants it reinstated, while Obama talks of reinstating a modified version. I don’t know how effective Obama’s version compares to the old one, considering how seriously misguided this president is, but probably anything is better than nothing. The problem with Obama is that it’s usually just talk. As far as qualified people for the Federal Reserve or for the Treasury, your filtering suggestion makes sense, unlike Obama’s decision to rehire people associated with starting and profitting from this mess. It gives me little confidence that Obama seeks advice from Steve Balmer about developing technology for the country. Hillary should have won.
@ MCCFR
I didn’t know about Phil Gramm and his ties with McCain and his part with Glass-Steagall and that last minute free-for-all omnibus which probably also let China into the WTO, despite China’s not respecting human rights. I do know that repeal of Glass-Steagall was the cause of this mess. I do hear that McCain wants it reinstated, while Obama talks of reinstating a modified version. I don’t know how effective Obama’s version compares to the old one, considering how seriously misguided this president is, but probably anything is better than nothing. The problem with Obama is that it’s usually just talk. As far as qualified people for the Federal Reserve or for the Treasury, your filtering suggestion makes sense, unlike Obama’s decision to rehire people associated with starting and profitting from this mess. It gives me little confidence that Obama seeks advice from Steve Balmer about developing technology for the country. Hillary should have won.
In the interests of balance, China’s entry into the WTO was all Clinton’s work and I think it genuinely casts a pall over his legacy, largely because it was given away with next to no leverage being applied to China on corruption, protection of intellectual property, democratic values or human rights.
But other than that, it was a great piece of foreign policy </snark>
Yeah. If Glass-Steagall was still in place, and China was forced to play fair as a price for joining the WTO, I’m sure Obama and all his empty promises would have been fine by me. I am not a fan of Pelosi, but I have to credit her with giving a fantastic speech against China joining the WTO. “Vote with your conscience, not with your cash registers. “, she said.
Yeah. If Glass-Steagall was still in place, and China was forced to play fair as a price for joining the WTO, I’m sure Obama and all his empty promises would have been fine by me. I am not a fan of Pelosi, but I have to credit her with giving a fantastic speech against China joining the WTO. “Vote with your conscience, not with your cash registers. “, she said.