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Bouncing along the bottom

The Federal Reserve announced today that it believes that while the economy will continue to grow over the next two years, it will do so at a very slow rate.  They’ve dropped their estimates for economic growth to about 1.6 percent this year and about 2.5 percent next year.  Unemployment is expected to stay above 8 percent for the foreseeable future.

The Fed has pretty much shot its bolt on anything other than psychological help anyway.  With interest rates already at or near zero, there’s really nothing they can do to give an incentive to the private sector to produce and consume.   Look for Bernanke and friends to keep doing their rhetorical human pyramids and backflips for the next few quarters, or at least until the people who actually produce figure out a way to create jobs and make money without their help.

Remember, folks, these are the government’s economic cheerleaders talking here.  Part of their job is to help boost confidence in the economy and health of the nation.  They’re probably feeling heat from the rest of the government to give as rosy a picture as they can.  If they’re expecting the economy to stay sluggish for at least the next couple of years, we’re probably boned.

by daddybear71 on November 2, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Politics

Posted by daddybear71 on November 2, 2011

https://daddybearsden.com/2011/11/02/bouncing-along-the-bottom/

Follow-Up

Matt G has some more information on how the family of William the Coroner would like for his memory to be honored.  They’re asking that in lieu of flowers and such that a small donation be made to Heifer International.  Basically, this charity provides livestock and poultry to the poor so that they can become more self sufficient. 

Matt G kicked in $25, and I had an extra bit of cash in the budget that seemed to need a home, so I threw that in the pot.  Anyone else care to join us?

by daddybear71 on November 2, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized

Posted by daddybear71 on November 2, 2011

https://daddybearsden.com/2011/11/02/follow-up/

Impressive

The high-speed rail project that would allow someone to get on a train in San Fransisco and get off in San Diego got re-planned and re-costed recently:

The California High-Speed Rail Authority released a new business plan Tuesday that stretches out construction time and triples the project’s estimated cost.

OK, no problem, I understand that no plan ever comes in on time and under budget when taxpayers foot the bill.  Tripling the cost is troublesome, but progress is never cheap.
Service from San Francisco to Anaheim was originally scheduled to begin in 2020 but that could be put off until 2034, with other parts of the system completed first.
Wow, we’re not going to see this thing at work until I’m in my 60’s.  But they’re at least making progress on the shorter legs already, aren’t they?

Even before the first shovel of dirt has turned, the cost estimates have nearly tripled.

Are you kidding me?  You’ve tripled your costs to almost $100 billion, don’t expect this thing to be useful until my grandchildren are out of college, and you haven’t even started digging yet?
I must say, I’m impressed.  This is incompetence on a scale that boggles the mind.  You’re looking to spend billions upon billions of our dollars over the next two and a half decades so that someone can go from the Embarcadero to DisneyLand.  
These ‘planners’ need to be either pilloried or put up for a medal.  It must take a lifetime of “How can I screw the taxpayer today?” to come up with a scheme like this.  My hat is off to them.  I’m really interested to see if the taxpayers in California get out their torches and pitchforks over this.
And if I’m overwhelmed by this, I can’t wait to see the cost in money and time it will take for Obama’s proposed fast rail system between large cities in the mid-west.  The over/under is probably 30 years and $1 trillion.  Anyone want a piece of that action?
by daddybear71 on November 2, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Politics

Posted by daddybear71 on November 2, 2011

https://daddybearsden.com/2011/11/02/impressive/

An Open Letter

Dear Senator Feinstein and Assistant Attorney General Breuer,

After reading transcripts of your performances yesterday, all I can say is this:

With all due respect to your offices, bite my hairy butt. 

Madam Senator, more people are killed by cars every year than will ever be killed by people using modern sporting rifles they bought at a gun store after undergoing a NICS check.  Oh, and by the way, anyone can walk into a dealership and buy a car with no background check, or pay cash to someone they met online for one, or even purchase an automobile across state lines and have them shipped to their homes.  One final thought for you:  ownership of a car is not enshrined in the document that authorizes you to draw a paycheck.

Mr. Assistant Attorney General, our right to keep and bear arms has nothing to do with sporting or hunting.  It’s about self defense, preparation to defend the nation, and keeping our government respectful of our other rights.  Putting food on the table or shooting skeet is just a side benefit.  Saying that we should only own guns that are useful for hunting or sporting is like saying that we should only be allowed to read books that fall into the comics and self-help genres, or be represented by lawyers who fall into the personal injury or family law specialties. 

Hopefully this little screed helps you to remember that “shall not be infringed” does not equate to “if we feel comfortable letting you”.  I’m assuming that you both can read at some level, so here, educate yourself.  Feel free to ask for help in sounding out the big words.

Respectfully,

Daddy J. Bear

by daddybear71 on November 2, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Guns, Politics

Posted by daddybear71 on November 2, 2011

https://daddybearsden.com/2011/11/02/an-open-letter-2/

Rare Breed Getting Rarer

One of the local funky little music stores, Ear Xtacy, went out of business this week.  It’s in the Highlands, which is about as hippie as you get in Louisville.  I’ve been in there a few times, and it was a throwback to the days when you had to go somewhere off the beaten path to get good music.

One of the few upshots of moving to California during high school was being able to go to Berkeley* and spend a few hours at Rasputin Records.  It was the first place I heard Nirvana, Green Day, and a bunch of other music that you don’t get in suburbia, both new and old.  The guys who worked there usually looked like they’d stepped right out of Woodstock.  I think they made as much money on tee-shirt and poster sales as they did on selling vinyl, but it was one of my favorite places as a teenager.  There’s something about just flipping through albums to find something that you haven’t heard before that you just don’t get from iTunes.

Of course, with the advent of digital music, these places are starting to become rarer and rarer.  One good thing is that a lot of music that never got past these little places is accessible to a wider audience.  The bad thing is that there are fewer places for small bands to get a toehold.

If you all will excuse me, I’m going to go see if I can find the turntable and listen to that old Hendrix album I’ve got around here somewhere.

*What can I say?  Telegraph Avenue was a lot of fun back then once you got past the politics.

by daddybear71 on November 2, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized

Posted by daddybear71 on November 2, 2011

https://daddybearsden.com/2011/11/02/rare-breed-getting-rarer/

Helping out small business

Apparently, the Occupy Wall Street crowd in New York is really having an impact.  Unfortunately, it’s impacting the small businesses around their little people’s paradise and the people who are employed in them.

Marc Epstein, owner of the Milk Street Cafe at 40 Wall Street in lower Manhattan, said he had to cut 21 of the 97 members of his staff on Thursday and Friday after seeing sales plummet by 30 percent in the six weeks since the protests began. He’s also been forced to slash the restaurant operating hours, moving up his closing time from 9 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays

So a protest movement that’s supposed to be sticking it to the man has taken food off the tables of 21 families, and made it likely that 78 more will be poorer by the time they’re through.  


Way to go guys!  Nothing takes down capitalism like making sure that people who are hustling to keep a roof over their heads can’t keep their jobs.  Hey, if you work really hard, maybe you can drive all of the small businesses in the area out and then you’ll have a place to crash this winter.


Update – Looks like the folks out in Oakland are bracing for a general strike on Wednesday.  I’m sure all of the hourly employees of the small businesses that are staying closed out of concern for security and safety will enjoy being short a day’s pay.  

by daddybear71 on November 1, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized

Posted by daddybear71 on November 1, 2011

https://daddybearsden.com/2011/11/01/helping-out-small-business/

Good Man Gone

I saw the news today of the passing of William the Coroner.  I met him at the NRA convention in Pittsburg this spring, and have enjoyed reading his writings ever since.

William, thank you for your humor, your insight, and for the happiness you brought with you wherever you went.  We are diminished by your absence.

by daddybear71 on November 1, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized

Posted by daddybear71 on November 1, 2011

https://daddybearsden.com/2011/11/01/good-man-gone/

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!

Two twelve year old boys in New York have been arrested after they allegedly pushed a shopping cart off of a building, which struck a mother in the head and put her into a coma.  Reports are that the two miscreants were joking and laughing as they were led away.

I thought there was little left in the world that would shock me, but yet again, I was wrong.

Look, I’ve played pranks in my day.  The culmination was probably the night two friends and I tied a rope around a mannequin and hung it from a highway overpass somewhere in the wilds of North Dakota.  If I recall correctly, that one required a county sheriff to pull off the road and investigate.  No-one got hurt, and other than a police officer who had to get out of his warm cruiser on a crisp late October evening, no-one was inconvenienced.

Here we have these two twits who think it’s cool to push shopping carts off the side of buildings onto crowded sidewalks.  Since they’re only 12, I assume they’ll be tried as juveniles, which means at best they’ll get a slap on the backside and told to not do it again.  Their parents will go on the nightly news and cry about how their kids were just confused and out for a bit of fun, and how sorry they really were.  When shown footage of their sons smiling for the cameras and not looking remorseful at all, the term “your lying eyes” will probably be uttered in some form.

I had a conversation with both Little Bear and Junior when they turned 12 or so, and I’m due to have it with Girlie Bear.  Basically, it summed up how they could get into trouble that I couldn’t help them with, and their chances if they were ever arrested.  To put it in a nutshell, if they find themselves in jail, I suggest they get comfortable, because I’m not bailing them out.  It matters little to me whether or not they actually did what they are accused of, or if it was a friend that got them into trouble.  Simply being in a situation that might bring the attention of Officer Friendly is reason enough for them to spend a night in jail.

Junior got through high school without an arrest record, and things are looking good for Little Bear.  Hopefully their sister and little brother follow in their footsteps.

Something has changed in our children, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out what it is.  Whatever it is, we, as parents, need to find and eliminate it. 

by daddybear71 on November 1, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in news, WTF

Posted by daddybear71 on November 1, 2011

https://daddybearsden.com/2011/11/01/whiskey-tango-foxtrot/

News Roundup

  • From the “Barbarians at the Gate” Department – Security researchers have discovered a new trojan program for MacOS titled “Tsunami”.  Apparently, the malware is a recompiled program adapted from an earlier Linux Trojan.  Those of us who use Macs have a reputation for not getting malware.  Time to prove it.  Be careful where you surf, don’t click on things you can’t identify, and for heaven’s sake, wear a computer condom when surfing adult content.  
  • From the “Shocked Face” Department – Another company that got funding for energy research from the Obama administration has filed for bankruptcy.  Now, our energy secretary is supposed to be a smart guy.  Don’t you think he’d have taken a look at how these companies were going to use the money and made good decisions as to whether their technology was more than vaporware?  Then again, maybe the idea was to give gobs of money to everyone, and hope that someone invents the next big thing.  Kind of like a drunk who spends the rent money on lottery tickets.  If he buys enough of them, one of them has to win big!  It’s foolproof!
  • From the “This’ll Fix It!” Department – The president, after making the seas flow back and feeding the hungry, has decreed that the FDA is to henceforth ‘fix’ the problem with shortages of drugs.  Apparently telling the agency to make those mean pharmaceutical companies pump out the medicines quicker is the fix to the problems with the current five-year plan.  Lord knows, the pill corporations are just sitting on mountains of finished product and ingredients, and can just add in a 3rd shift at the plant to keep the pipelines full.  And of course they won’t mind losing money on making medicine that the government is about to make them almost give away.  
  • From the “Spitting on a Fish” Department – Authorities in Arizona announced that they broke up a drug smuggling ring that was centered around the area between Phoenix and the Mexican border.  This ring works for the gang that “is believed to be responsible for 65 percent of all drugs illegally smuggled into the U.S.”.  Show of hands, people:  How many people have heard about big busts that were supposed to absolutely disrupt the flow of illegal drugs into the country at least once a year since about 1978?  
  • From the “Good Start” Department – UNESCO has given the Palestinians a seat at their table, prompting the U.S. delegation to cut off funding for that agency.  I’d say we need to follow that line of reasoning, cut off all funding to the Manhattan Invitational Debate Club, invite the collected potentates, dictators, and kleptocrats to move to Switzerland or wherever their planes run out of fuel, and then sublet that big building in Manhattan towards something more productive, like hog farming.  Another show of hands, people:  How many people here can tell me one thing that we’ve ever gotten out of our involvement with the U.N. that we couldn’t have gotten without them at half the price?  Anyone?
by daddybear71 on October 31, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in news

Posted by daddybear71 on October 31, 2011

https://daddybearsden.com/2011/10/31/news-roundup-71/

Today’s Earworm

by daddybear71 on October 31, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Earworm

Posted by daddybear71 on October 31, 2011

https://daddybearsden.com/2011/10/31/todays-earworm-94/

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