Yield Curve Inverts

[satpak77]

did I say Bush was a moron ?

 

[73-Driver]

Thanks Magnum!

Best of luck to you in 2006.

 

[satpak77]

best of luck to everybody in 2006, FI forum disagreements aside

Happy New Year from SATPAK

** I have attended anger management counseling and realize everyone can contribute to the greater good on this planet, to include world peace and the elimination of hunger

 

[stonewall]

best of luck to everybody in 2006, FI forum disagreements aside

Happy New Year from SATPAK

** I have attended anger management counseling and realize everyone can contribute to the greater good on this planet, to include world peace and the elimination of hunger

Can you feel the luv? I can feel it...I can....

About to jump to ATL on AirTran for four days of heavy boozing and debauchery. And a much needed break from FI! Happy New Year everyone.

 

[Dan Roman]

Before you go Your right about corporate greed. It's cross's all party lines.
Have fun!

 

[Andy]

I agree with everything you said there. But, you're mistaken if you believe it's a Republican politician problem. I'd say it's a US politician/no business ethics problem. Follow the $$$. Kerry is great friends with Fred Smith (just like Bush). Ken Lay hosted fundraisers at Tereas Heinz Kerry's house. The dotcom boom/bust and seeds of all the recent lapses in bidness ethics were sown during the late 90s (under Clinton's "watch"). Do I blame him for that? No. I blame greed, greed, and greed. That's not unique to any particular political party.

The rest of your stuff about US foreign policy was just dumb. Happy New Year.

Spot on with your assessment that it's a bipartisan problem. There is widespread ethical lapses in both Democratic and Republican parties (I'll refrain from calling it outright corruption; Lincoln said it better). Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.

I see foreign military gaffes by both parties. Magnum is correct that the Balkans were handled extremely poorly by Clinton. The senior Bush was warned before the disastrous Somalian operations. dubya did a great job in Afghanistan but has dropped the ball in Iraq. For Iraq, Rumsfeld recommended going in there on the cheap (not many boots on the ground), which is the root cause of the current instability. Long term, good plan. Short term, they continue to screw the pooch (Iraq is now IMPORTING oil. WTF!).

As for the hurricanes, there's plenty of blame to go around. But I wouldn't tag it as a dubya problem; he appointed Michael Brown as the head to FEMA to handle FEMA hurricane response. dubya doesn't have time to micromanage Brown and FEMA. Louisiana state/New Orleans city government response was terrible; they're Dems. Again, more than enough blame to go around.


As for b6guy, I reread his PM. What a whack job; my sympathies to everyone at B6. I posted a link to the DoD budget for FY 1940-FY2009 in response to his assertion that Clinton reduced the defense budget during his tenure (ignoring the fact that the senior Bush POMed a end of Cold War DoD reduction since we no longer need to have 24/7/365 vigilence against the evil empire). His response to the chart: "I haven't looked at any of your links and won't waste my time." Yeah b6guy, don't let facts get in the way of an incorrect argument. Your insults toward Jay B were also way out of line. I can see that b6guy is one of JetBlue's 5%ers.

 

[maru657]

Dubya Dimwit didn't have time to micromanage? He should have left James Lee witt in charge of FEMA then. The local leaders in Louisana might have been able to handle the mess if they had access to their own states national guard. But no, they were guarding roads in Iraq. You know against all of those people who welcomed us with flowers. The magnitude of the disaster on the Gulf coast overwelmed all local attempts at control. Thats why we have a national guard, that and so rich chickenhawks can hide somewhere during any real fight.

 

[stonewall]

Dubya Dimwit didn't have time to micromanage? He should have left James Lee witt in charge of FEMA then. The local leaders in Louisana might have been able to handle the mess if they had access to their own states national guard. But no, they were guarding roads in Iraq. You know against all of those people who welcomed us with flowers. The magnitude of the disaster on the Gulf coast overwelmed all local attempts at control. Thats why we have a national guard, that and so rich chickenhawks can hide somewhere during any real fight.

Jerk. I'm in the Guard...and I ain't no rich chickenhawk. Niether is anyone in my Guard unit. And I HAVE fought...in the Balkans and Iraq. I can't even escape you in ATL...curse my bud's laptop! Now I'm goin' drinkin!

 

[Peleton]

My take on politicians and red vs blue states.

The politicians are all playing football though just for different teams. When the cameras go off they are all buddy to each other as they go out to dinner on some power brokers dime.

 

[Andy]

Dubya Dimwit didn't have time to micromanage? He should have left James Lee witt in charge of FEMA then. The local leaders in Louisana might have been able to handle the mess if they had access to their own states national guard. But no, they were guarding roads in Iraq. You know against all of those people who welcomed us with flowers. The magnitude of the disaster on the Gulf coast overwelmed all local attempts at control. Thats why we have a national guard, that and so rich chickenhawks can hide somewhere during any real fight.

Cool! I'm now getting shot at by nonthinkers who back both the Dems and Republicans. It appears from your bio that you have zero military time. I continue to serve in the AF Reserve, having been on active duty for close to 15 yrs and in the Guard for 5 yrs.

Let's start with dubya's handling of the hurricanes. What you expect from him is equivalent to the CEO of an airline to monitor reserve availability of all crewmembers and address any manning shortfalls. That's not the CEO's job. And it isn't dubya's job to manage hurricane relief! That's why there's a head of FEMA. Perhaps he made a bad choice in selecting Brown. But to let the state & local gov't off the hook scott free is asinine.

As for state and local leaders having access to the national guard, do you have any idea the extent of LA guard members being deployed to Iraq? I haven't had a chance to look it up; if you know the answer, post a link. Otherwise don't assume that the entire LA national guard was in Iraq. Besides, unless you've got the right specialties in place, the guard won't do you much good. Exactly how would you have used the personnel from the 159th Fighter Wing (F-15s) in this case? If you were really concerned about people being in place to assist, you should've drug your a$$ down there; your value probably would've been the same as anyone in the 159th FW.
And what's this welcomed us with flowers crap? There aren't enough boots on the ground to maintain order.

As for rich chickenhawks hiding during any real fights, you are stepping into territory that you are totally unfamiliar. In the military air forces, there are shooters and there are targets. I have spent almost all of my military flying career being a target. While in the National Guard, I have orbited with a plane full of gas just a short distance from the Iraq border while Saddam was in power. If you think that the Air Guard (or Reserves, for that matter) is a place for 'rich chickenhawks' to hide out during conflicts, you are proving to everyone that you are total moron. Since this is coming from someone who has likely not spent a single day in the military, I've got to wonder if your intelligence quotient is too low to even qualify for service.
FWIW, I've got almost 26 years in a uniform (active duty, guard, reserve). My wife is an ICU RN with over 13 years in a uniform (active duty, reserve). We both continue to serve. Either or both of us can be called up to go to a hotspot at any time. My wife still has nightmares from her time at Weisbaden taking care of wounded troops, and is likely to deploy to Iraq in 2006. Whether or not we agree, my wife and I will follow the Commander-in-Chief's orders. What will you do? Open a beer and watch CNN while armchair quarterbacking the events that transpire? You have much in common with b6guy.l