I Thought Turkeys Could Govern
by Hal_10000
I expect the next few days to be light blogging and light reading as the Americans in the audience go through the usual Thanksgiving tryptophan comas, family squabbles and Black Friday craziness. So we’ll start the long weekend with something fun. CNNSI has their list of the sports scene’s biggest turkeys, Infoworld has their picks from the tech universe.
So let’s get the ball rolling here. Advance and argue for your nominations for RTLC’s Biggest Turkey of 2007. I tend to favor giving Turkey awards to the silly and stupid rather than the criminal and dangerous. That’s why, despite her amazing ability to provide straw men to Right Wing blogs, Hillary is not in my list. I don’t find her funny.
But the award is wide open. It doesn’t have to be political. If there’s enough response, I’ll tally up the votes and the winner will be acknowledged as such in future posts like so:
Alberto “Turkey” Gonzalez testified from prison yesterday on the US Attorney scandal, claiming he didn’t remember serving in the Justice Department and had no idea who “Dick Cheney” was.
or
2007 Turkey Dennis Kucinich has brought clean energy technology here from his home planet
I have three nominations:
Alberto Gonzalez, whose performance in front of Congress was cringe-inducing and whose flaying of the Constitution was fear-inducing.
Nancy Pelosi. Jesus, what a dingbat. From trips to Syria to blaming Bush for her Congress doing, um ... man, what the hell have they done this year? I’m surprised this dim bulb dem doesn’t get more derision.
Hugo Chavez. The Original Latin King of Comedy has done everything from calling Bush the devil to being told to shut up by the King of Spain to having his ugly monument to Che destroyed. He’s a modern day Kruschev, only without the nuclear arsenal. It’s non-stop laughter with this dork.
Dishonorable Mentions: Britney, Bush, Osama bin Laden (Darken that beard in just five minutes!), OJ Simpson, Al Gore, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, Notre Dame football, Nick Saban, Star Simpson (what *is* it with Simpsons these days), Rosie O’Donnell, Michael Moore, Hollywood producers and the RIAA.
It’s truly been a Year of the Turkey in this country. The inmates are not only running the asylum, they’re locking up the sane. Be sure you’re stocked up on food and ammunition.
And Happy Thanksgiving. May your gravy flow abundantly.
(The title of the post gives me an excuse to link to this piece of comedy gold.)
Comments
Larry Craig- For not only making every male in America reluctant to use a public restroom, but for not having the good sense leave gracefully.
Ted Haggard- For wearing his religion on his sleave while vascillating with his internal struggle to determine which is worse, being attracted to men or being a meth addict.
Heather Mills- For thinking that 100 million pounds is not enough, she wants everybody to admit that she is the “nice” one.
Mark Cuban- For thinking being a billionaire and a sports mogul is not enough, he wanted to get into bed with the movie industry (making such gems as Loose Change and Redacted) and in the process showing the world what a cluseless rube he really is.
Crystal Mangum- For not being able to spell “lacrosse”, unable to count dollar bills in her “G” string, and ruining the live of 3 innocent students because she was too high to know what happened,and too intimitated to admit she was a liar, a fraud, and maybe too needy to some misplaced attention.
The War Czar - just the concept, not necessarily the person. Why the hell didn’t he exist at the beginning of the war, so it could get planned right? Yeah, the disaster is the war czar’s fault . . .
Law Enforcement From the FBI using a discredited bullet matching technique and admitting to having lied to keep innocent men in jail for decades, to the umpteenth wrong house raided by SWAT teams, to getting harrassed at airports and border checkpoints for actually being American, this has not been a stellar year for those who are supposed to keep us safe.
Celebrity Adoptions Just buy a puppy or something, already.
Star Simpson? Wasn’t she the chick from MIT that showed up at an airport with the light-up sweater? That was a dumb idea on her part, but it seemed to me like the security personnel should get the “dishonorable” mention as oppose to her. Sorta like the Mooninite Terrorists a while back. Holy overreaction Batman!
A&E;Network, anyone who “supports” the Jena 6, Al Sharpton, Dog the Bounty Hunter, and Michael Richards: For doing more to set back race relations in 2007 than at any time in at least 80 years by raising words above action as a “criminal” activity and guaranteeing that noone gets to enjoy a racial joke without worrying and looking over their shoulder...forever.
The President and Board of Columbia University: No matter what you did or said to anyone under the auspices of free speech, you just shouldn’t cordially invite such a person as Mahmoud Amadinejad to speak.
The Federal Reserve: Whose actions have and will continue to cause a plunging dollar, skyrocketing fuel and commodity prices, and this general malaise. If they can’t soft land this soon, we could really be in for some inflation.
The Federal Reserve: Whose actions have and will continue to cause a plunging dollar, skyrocketing fuel and commodity prices, and this general malaise. If they can’t soft land this soon, we could really be in for some inflation.
To soft land it they will reduce interest rates, which will lead to inflation. To prevent inflation they need to jack rates up more, but that creates a recession.
When you spend more money that you earn, there are three ways out - spend less (recession), default on your debt (inflation) or do more work. The fed can’t really do much about the latter.
To soft land it they will reduce interest rates, which will lead to inflation. To prevent inflation they need to jack rates up more, but that creates a recession.
But the inflation itself will cause a recession. It was a big screwup to lower rates for so long. Delaying the inevitable will worsen the result.
But the inflation itself will cause a recession. It was a big screwup to lower rates for so long. Delaying the inevitable will worsen the result.
Oh I completly agree; but this has generally been Bush/Fed economic policy. One bubble pops so just create a bigger one somewhere else and never actually deal with the first one. Not enough money coming in taxes to pay for government expenditure - who cares; just cut taxes. Whole thing is a clusterfuck; which is why the $US has crashed.
If the US looses its $US status as reserve currency I do still think in 50 years historians will look back on economic policy by Bush et all as possibly having worse long term consequences (for the US) than Iraq.
Not enough money coming in taxes to pay for government expenditure - who cares; just cut taxes. Whole thing is a clusterfuck; which is why the $US has crashed.
But tax revenue is at an all time high. I posted a graph a few weeks ago that showed tax revenue for this year the highest its ever been, this year higher than last and so on. The Bush tax cuts have increased money flowing into the government, but its the spending on the other end that has increased as well and that is what has tipped the apple cart.
If the US looses its $US status as reserve currency
Is that even possible? Aside from bankruptcy (which would never happen) I don’t know how this could happen.
I do still think in 50 years historians will look back on economic policy by Bush et all as possibly having worse long term consequences (for the US) than Iraq.
I always thought that it was the fed chairman (Greenspan and now Bernanke) that decided fed policy independent of the U.S. Government.
Regarding historians looking back 50 years from now, I think they will be somewhat forgiving of Bush. If you factor in 3 occurances, 9-11 and Katrina (beyond his control), and the war (his call) and adjust for windage, the budgets during his tenure would look way different.
But tax revenue is at an all time high. I posted a graph a few weeks ago that showed tax revenue for this year the highest its ever been, this year higher than last and so on. The Bush tax cuts have increased money flowing into the government, but its the spending on the other end that has increased as well and that is what has tipped the apple cart.
I didn’t see the graph, but by how much? Tax revenues should increase every year at least by inflation + economic growth, so if they were not increasing about 6% per year, then they are not standing still.
Is that even possible? Aside from bankruptcy (which would never happen) I don’t know how this could happen.
When non americans stop holding $US and stop buying and selling stuff (like oil) in $US. It’s happening now as central banks start holding Yen, Euros, Pounds etc. There are whole countries that use the $US (e.g. Ecudaor) and lots of countries that use it as a second currency (half of Africa). It will cost the US a lot of money if they use something else because you are earning 3-4% per year (inflation) on all their $US in circulation.
I always thought that it was the fed chairman (Greenspan and now Bernanke) that decided fed policy independent of the U.S. Government.
They decide monetary policy, Bush et all decised fiscal policy.
Regarding historians looking back 50 years from now, I think they will be somewhat forgiving of Bush. If you factor in 3 occurances, 9-11 and Katrina (beyond his control), and the war (his call) and adjust for windage, the budgets during his tenure would look way different.
That is where we will have to agree to disagree. You may as well after the coming recession.
I didn’t see the graph, but by how much?
I’m sorry, I’m rather rushed today and can’t find the article I linked, but it showed a graph of tax revenue by year (including the Clinto years) and there was a marked increase starting in 2003 when the Bush tax cuts took effect, I’ll look further wwhen I get back.
When non americans stop holding $US and stop buying and selling stuff (like oil) in $US. It’s happening now as central banks start holding Yen, Euros, Pounds etc. There are whole countries that use the $US (e.g. Ecudaor) and lots of countries that use it as a second currency (half of Africa). It will cost the US a lot of money if they use something else because you are earning 3-4% per year (inflation) on all their $US in circulation
Alright, I misunderstood your first post, I thought you were referring to America not using dollars as a currency. Yes, I have heard supermodels would like to be paid in euros. 8% of the federal budget is used to pay of the public debt now, so i would be in favor of a monetary tightening. If the dollar drops further your gloom and doom scenario is a possiblilty but there are a lot of factors that govern the health of the dollar and some projections I’ve read have it bouncing next year.
I do still think in 50 years historians will look back on economic policy by Bush et all as possibly having worse long term consequences (for the US) than Iraq.
I’m curious, what Bush ecinomic policies are you referring to? Aside from out of control spending, which has been a congressional malady for 40 years, what do you think he has done wrong?
That is where we will have to agree to disagree. You may as well after the coming recession.
I’m worried as well at our financial health into the future but am not sure the brunt of it should be placed on Bush’s doorstep.
I’m sorry, I’m rather rushed today and can’t find the article I linked, but it showed a graph of tax revenue by year (including the Clinto years) and there was a marked increase starting in 2003 when the Bush tax cuts took effect, I’ll look further wwhen I get back.
Would definitely be interested to see it, be interesting to see why the amounts increased - given the economy didn’t grow more than a couple of %, I don’t really see how a tax decrease can result in higher tax revenue when the amount being taxed hastn’t increased that much.
Alright, I misunderstood your first post, I thought you were referring to America not using dollars as a currency. Yes, I have heard supermodels would like to be paid in euros. 8% of the federal budget is used to pay of the public debt now, so i would be in favor of a monetary tightening. If the dollar drops further your gloom and doom scenario is a possiblilty but there are a lot of factors that govern the health of the dollar and some projections I’ve read have it bouncing next year.
I think it may bounce back a bit, but it may also be too late. Since I started my company for example, the rate has gone from $1.40 to the £1 to $2.05. This is a major change, I am seriously considering pricing in Euros now. Generally however the issue istn’t just the x-rate but inflation, and as the fed again lowers rates to try and stave of economic problems (instead of dealing with a mild recession which is what you need) the $US inflates, people stop using etc.
I’m worried as well at our financial health into the future but am not sure the brunt of it should be placed on Bush’s doorstep.
Spending is a massive part of it, I think I read today that he has expanded the federal government by 35% (adjusted for inflation) since coming into power. Simply not sustanable.
But the Fed deserves a lot of the blame, Greenspan in particular. But the idea that the fed is completly independant is of course a complete myth. Bush can’t tell Greenspan what to do, but it’s not like he can’t make it clear what he wants; but you are right - Greenspan deserves as much (if not more) blame. I guess I was more talking about the Bush years than Bush in particular - so you are probably right; his wikipedia entry in 2050 might rate him as a disaster more for Iraq than the economy.
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