hu.man's Comments (812)

“For example:

The second 100K of any interest or capital gains income will be taxed at 75% rate unless it is invested in a qualified venture capital fund.

You can adjust the amount and tax rate according to how much you want to fund into job creation funds. In this plan, the first 100K is exempt to leave out people with nominal incomes.”

“My first hand experience tells me that our job creation model is broken. In this risk averse economy all those with capital are clutching it and all those in need of capital all left empty handed.

The only way to stimulate job growth is to make sure those have the capital to invest to loosen up the purse strings. That can only be done with an aggressive tax policy that essentially says "use it or lose it". There are plenty of opportunities to invest but incentives are just nowhere to be found. A short-term tax policy that can stimulate the investment community into acting is the recipe for success.

Too much money is just sitting on the sidelines waiting for the investment climate to improve. It is a chicken or egg thing. We need to initiate the investment process by investing and thereby improving the investment climate.”

“America schooling in Middle East:

Grade 1: Khomeini schools Americans on how their vast arsenal of power is useless against a popular uprising in Iran.

Grade 2: Saddam schools Americans into helping him in the war against Iran by providing him with critical satellite intelligence to push back the Iranian advance and avoid certain defeat.

Grade 3: Saddam schools Americans by invading neighboring Kuwait demonstrating his total disregard for regional security and American interests in the Middle East.

Grade 4: Saddam schools Americans in pouring billions of dollars into the Gulf War to drive him out of Kuwait which is something that could have been handled through negotiations.

Grade 5: Saddam schools Americans by staying in power after he was defeated in the Gulf War. CIA predicted that he was going to fall through a popular uprising.

Grade 6: Bin Laden schools Americans by attacking their soil on 9/11.

Grade 7: Americans respond to 9/11 by invading Iraq and overthrowing Saddam. Iraqis school Americans by bogging them down in a 6 year old insurgency. Many American lives are lost and billions are spent in Iraq with little to show for it.

Grade 8: Americans also respond to 9/11 by putting troops into Afghanistan. Once again Americans are again being schooled by Afghans by a widespread insurgency in the southern region.

Grade 9: Americans commit to more troops in Afghanistan without a clear understanding of why they are being schooled over and over in this region.”

“America schooling in Middle East:

Grade 1: Khomeini schools Americans on how their vast arsenal of power is useless against a popular uprising in Iran.

Grade 2: Saddam schools Americans into helping him in the war against Iran by providing him with critical satellite intelligence to push back the Iranian advance and avoid certain defeat.

Grade 3: Saddam schools Americans by invading neighboring Kuwait demonstrating his total disregard for regional security and American interests in the Middle East.

Grade 4: Saddam schools Americans in pouring billions of dollars into the Gulf War to drive him out of Kuwait which is something that could have been handled through negotiations.

Grade 5: Saddam schools them by staying in power after he was defeated in the Gulf War. CIA predicted that he was going to fall through a popular uprising.

Grade 6: Bin Laden schools Americans by attacking their soil on 9/11.

Grade 7: Americans respond to 9/11 by invading Iraq and overthrowing Saddam. Iraqis school Americans by bogging them down in a 6 year old insurgency. Many American lives are lost and billions are spent in Iraq with little to show for it.

Grade 8: Americans also respond to 9/11 by putting troops into Afghanistan. Once again Americans are again being schooled by Afghans by a widespread insurgency in the southern region.

Grade 9: Americans commit to more troops in Afghanistan without a clear understanding of why they are being schooled over and over in this region.”

“I think you are just referring to the last sentence of my comment because I got it right everywhere else. What is the difference anyways? I fail to understand why you are so insulted by this type of designation? It is just a name, it doesn't mean that Democrats are more Democratic than Republicans or Independents. Let me know because I am not so sure that understand what is the cause of so much angst.”

“My sense of it is that Democrats in congress are losing ground while Obama is maintaining a relatively high approval rating. Bush set pretty low standards when he left office so Obama's ratings look very good indeed even though historically they may just be floating around the average.

Congressional Democrats are a different story though. I thought that Republicans will continue on their self-destructive path by their relentless attacks on Obama. But it looks like a familiar pattern is beginning to shape for the mid-term elections in 2010. Looks like the electorate might want to cut deeply into Democrat's lead in the congress and perhaps even allow GOP to take back the Senate.

Republicans are having a measure of success in framing the debate around running away deficits and the unchecked power Democrats seem to be wielding around the health care reform. Looks like the electorate and specifically independents are ready to clip the Democratic wings. Even though it may not be accurate to say that Democrats are now overreaching their mandate because of the solid majority they hold in both chambers, the Republicans have managed the frame so that is what the electorate is beginning to buy into.

My perception is that GOP is always more adept at power grab even though in sheer numbers Democrats always enjoy greater level of support among the masses. The Democrat congressional leaders leave something to be desired. They usually seem to overplay their hand.”

“Unemployment is a lagging indicator. Many employment agencies are now reporting a rise in temporary position hiring which is traditionally an indication of a positive trend in the overall employment picture in a downturn.

All economic trends are pointing upward or flattening out. If we continue on this same curve, we will be seeing a positive trend develop in unemployment reduction. The only looming danger is a double dip recession which would be an event large enough to result in erosion of confidence in the economy and a general pull back from the business sector.

I appreciate the call for fundamental reform in the financial sector and beyond. The time to enact those reforms is when we are completely out of our current crisis. It is only when we have had enough time to reflect on the events of the past couple of years that we can enact meaningful lasting reforms. Right now, any reform may be shaped by a knee jerk reaction.

I believe that many of our problems are the result of an outdated global financial system in an increasingly globalized world. There may just be the need to pull in more closely with the other developed nations in the world and create a system that increases accountability and closes cross border loopholes that has gotten us into so much trouble as of late.”

“Enjoyed this tremendously. I would like to see Stewart move to MSM. May be it is just wishful thinking on my part but he articulates his positions better than many and perhaps even most pundits out there. Comedy Central seems like a limited venue for someone of his capacity. It's time to move to majors Jon!”

“Buffett just spent $26 billion to buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad. If he believed that economy was still deteriorating then he would hold off for a better deal. He is doing what any reasonable investor would do which is to purchase assets when you are convinced that a rebound is on the way. That way you can still take advantage of the discount that is built into the price because the recovery is not fully realized yet.

Buffett is talking with his wallet which is louder than any words he might say or pom-poms he might shake. He cannot articulate his position as well as an economist would because he isn't one. But if he was cheer leading the economic recovery but at the same time off-loading his assets, then it would be clear that he was not sincere about his views.”

“It is rare to hear from anyone these days who will find anything positive about the recent financial debacle that has rocked our nation. There is a lot of fingerpointing and people are generally disgusted with bankers and the titans of the financial industry.

It looks like the source of our negative focusing is the compunction to find the culprits and hang them with a noose. The only way to find the positive focus is to move away from this position and realize that the responsibility is borne by all of us and we can only collectively arrive at a workable solution that doesn't lay blame.

This is why we primarily repeat the same lesson over and over without seemingly learning anything from it. How many banking crises have we have had in the past 100 years or so? Yes there has been reforms but they never go deep enough to prevent the disease from coming back. It is a band aid approach that is destined to fail in the long run.

We find ourselves in the same situation again today.”

“May be repeating the "tag line" as you put it, is an egregious error on the part of the Ambassador. But Ahamadinejad's denial of Holocaust is akin to pouring salt on an open wound. Ahamadinejad demonstrates his complete disconnection from reality by making these hurtful assertions and then he claims that there is some sort of conspiracy afoot because further examination of facts regrading the Holocaust is somehow being prevented by the powers of the be here.

Ahmadinejad simply fails to understand no one wants to closely examined this truly shameful chapter of the history particularly those who were complicit in it by standing by and allowing it to happen. So Ahmadinejad's dwelling on this subject and the consequent annoyance by all those who want to move off the topic is particularly irksome because Ahmadinejad has absolutely no business injecting himself into the Holocaust debate.

Israel's anger with Iran may not be fully justified based on the "tag line" you refer to here but it is more than fully justified with Ahamdinejad's lack of sensitivity toward this stain (the Holocaust) that exists on the conscious of humanity.”

“Obama is a pragmatic and not an ideologue. If he were to follow the path proposed here, he runs a high probability of getting into trouble with the center and having his agenda derailed for some time to come.

Obama strategy revolves around getting the center firmly into his corner and then going after problems that have been sorely neglected for the past 30 years such as urban decay and educational inequality. Rest assured that the Obamas have not forgotten their roots.

The folks occupying the White House today are as real as they come in our largely contrived society.”

“This looks like Murdoch is just wanting to test the waters and get a reaction. I doubt that he will pursue such a radical solution. I think he may be wanting a piece of the action from Google which would be $$ for every page served through the search engine. Google might go for it if it can combine its own advertising with Newscorp content. Interesting changes may be afoot.”

“This situation requires a lot more emphasis on diplomacy and lot less empahsis on the military. Total disengagement is not a viable option given our previous role in training and arming the insurgency there in early 80s. That is the original sin we are now payiing for in Afghanistan.”

“I think the economics discipline is in dire need of some new type of thinking that takes into account the emerging globalism in recent decades. Within the purview of this new paradigm, the concept of inflation which is central to understanding and practice of economics has taken on a whole new meaning that is infinitely more complex than the traditional understanding which centers around Consumer Price Index (CPI).

This is particularly important now because the economists believe that there is a buildup of inflationary pressure emerging down the road that is the outgrowth of Fed's quantitative easing. This type of expectation that is being pushed forward by economists and followed by those who make crucial investment and economic decisions is counterproductive to the recovery efforts. Clearly, economists fail to understand that the excess global capacity that exists as a result of massive global downturn is absorbing the "wall of liquidity" produced by Fed.

The antiquated thinking that you can't create prosperity by printing money is not applicable to the post-industrial 21st century. There is an insatiable appetite for liquidity on a global scale and there is really no viable method currently to satiate it other than the enormous U.S. budget deficits.

The U.S. treasury bond yields are historical lows even though the projected budget deficits are at historical highs. That is an oxymoron unless you truly understand the scale and scope of how much liquidity is out there looking for some place to land.”

“Palin has the potential to become the president if independents are alienated in sufficient numbers. That is how Bush got in.”

“I don't remember anyone laughing when W took the oat of office!”

“http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781453.html

Look at the 1994 midterm election turnout. It is THE highest midterm turnout from 1986 to 2006.”

“CORRECTION:

It was in 1994 not 1992 when Clinton got himself in a jam.”

“Undoubtedly many on the progressive front of the politics feel that Obama has been a disappointment. Nevertheless, Obama continues on his path unfazed by scathing criticism he is now facing from his left flank. This is mainly due to the fact that he clearly understands that the support that makes the difference in elections comes from the center. If he loses the support of the center, then he is toast, to put it mildly.

In 1992, the right managed to undermine Clinton's agenda by handing him one of the worst defeats in the congressional history. The right did this by absconding the center through invoking scare tactics of the dangers of government overreach which is what the center buys into readily (hence the fear mongering about the public option on the health care reform from the right).

I believe Obama is working on an 8 year plan. Anything else would be short-sighted and fool hearty. That means going slow and taking the center along with you in every election cycle. As for the left, the back stop is Sarah Palin. The prospect of her ascendancy into the highest office in the land is enough to keep the left in check.”

“There has to be some sort of distinction between those who are seriously downloading movies and music and the rest of us.Any other restriction is just another method by which telecoms will be attempting to limit internet access to subscribers.

I would venture to say that we wouldn't even be discussing this if it wasn't for the downright disastrous record the telecoms have with the consumers over all manners concerning communication. Net Neutrality is just another way of saying we don't want to give telecoms free reign by allowing their nose under the tent.

So the message to telecoms is keep the net neutral and find a creative way of apportioning bandwidth. One such method could be prioritizing the traffic on the net. Telecoms just don't want to spend the money to develop the technology that can effectively handle internet traffic. Handling this dilemma like public utilities do which would be metering consumption is not the 21st century answer.”

“Obama is between the rock and the hard place. If he denies the troops requested for the Afghan war, then he will be deemed responsible for any possible set back in this campaign down the road. If he approves the troop levels, then he is caving into those who want us to become more mired in this seemingly never ending conflict.

Therefore, he has little choice but to give the go ahead to the military request. But, he must engage the diplomatic front in full force in order to bring a termination to the hostilities because this war cannot be won the military front.

The military may be able to at best contain the opposition and stop them from gaining any additional ground. But to think that any troop level will actually result in a wholesale triumph over the Taliban is sheer fantasy.

The troop level increase must be accompanied by performance conditions that military must abide by. Too often military just gets a pass under the banner of patriotism. It is time now that we hold the brass accountable for their failure to perform effectively. This is the only way that badly needed reforms can be enacted in the military.”

“The exercise in nation building can be futile one specially when there is no effective central government in Afghanistan and most aid needs to make it through war lords and regional administrators who would want a piece of the action before giving it the green light.

In a country when tribalism reins supreme, the key is to unite strong elements within the tribal hierarchy and create a central government out it. Karzai is not effective because he is not a tribal leader and not rooted within Afghanistan. He came from abroad to lead the country post Taliban collapse.

The solution to this problem is not more head banging. Obama's envoy to the region should focus on forming a coalition government and convince all the elements that it is in their best interest to unite under a single banner and work to improve the conditions in that country.

Once the government in place and the hostilities have ceased, then in the next phase we can focus on massive aid and development this blog is proposing. The aid is indeed needed to sustain the fragile government until it gets its sea legs.”

“Loved the scene at Izzy's Deli, a favorite hangout of mine, when neither Larry or Jerry would move over for Richard to sit down. Larry's comedy depicts the heights of narcissism people rise to with a modicum of accomplishment. It isn't just funny, it is really sad indeed because it is indicative of the shallowness of relentless pursuit of materiality.

Shouldn't Jews also be insulted by what was said in a previous episode when Susie Greene said Larry would never pass the interview for the Beverly Park Country Club: "This one would stick out like a sore f-----g thumb, this Jew-face over here!"”

“I think is Obama is better off pulling this bill rather than having a watered down version of it pushed through which will make no one happy. If this happens, it will undoubtedly be registered as a defeat for the President. Putting through a lackluster bill might be even a bigger defeat because it would be hard to recover from. If this is shelved for the time being, Obama can come back to it when he is better prepared.

Chuck it up for experience. He is new at this so this kind of performance early on is not unexpected.”