Wednesday morning links

RE New York City Set To Stop Enforcing Law Against Peeing On Sidewalks Because…RACISM!

yes, I now understand "What the haters miss about the joys of New York living". You people are unhinged.

#1 Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz on 2016-03-09 09:15 (Reply)

RE The Hidden Hunger Problem on Campus

“Do I work a shift to feed our kids, or do I come to school to try and better our lives?"

try the cake, its pretty damn good. seriously, you don't belong in kollege. get a job, feed your vermin.

#2 Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz on 2016-03-09 09:20 (Reply)

College students are hungry? Get a job. You can't because you have to take care of your kids? Well, I guess you made some bad decisions and had children without the resources to care for them.

Seriously, folks, visit any elementary or high school where "free meals" are part of the day, then look at the trash at the end of the school breakfast/lunch/snack period. It's loaded up with the Michelle Obama choices that students won't eat. The problem existed before her intervention, but the costs have increased with the same results. The students aren't sufficiently hungry to eat what is offered.

Now the do-gooders want to expand the program to college students? In my neighborhood we not only have school-based programs for birth to through high school, we have huge food depositories, church programs, NGOs rounding up leftovers from restaurants for redistribution, Meals-On-Wheels for the homebound, plus the various food stamp programs from the government.

These academics who get paid to find problems to solve are the biggest problem. They're part of the rising cost of college educations which could be better spent buying food.

#2.1 jma on 2016-03-09 13:27 (Reply)

College is suppose to be about learning. And learning how to live poor in those short college years is an investment that pays off in later life. Not to mention, it builds camaraderie, fights consumerism and sparks the innovative juices.

Here is a very cogent, and humorous rant on why college students shouldn't have a lot of money from a British pundit.

#3 JK Brown on 2016-03-09 09:32 (Reply)

Great video, JK. I recommend it to everybody.

When I went to college (public commuter university), all my friends worked through school. With their earnings from working at fast food restaurants, manual labor, or co-op jobs, they were able to pay for college, drive their own car, share an apartment with a friend, party and attend concerts. They learned the lessons delayed gratification, prioritizing, money management, and self reliance. College students don't learn any of those today and in fact don't seem to learn anything else of value either.

On a wider scale, there is great value in learning from mistakes and hitting bottom - both of which were part of the college education when you had to do it on your own. We have tried to deprive people, not just college students, of both of those for many generations and it's showing. Too many people don't save for retirement, are willing to rack up tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt, buy cars and houses they can't afford, and in general have no plans beyond, "it will work out somehow." And why not? They expect to be rescued by some government program down the road and they probably will be. They've learned that all they need to do is vote for the guy who's going to give them free stuff.

Our country started to die when it was decided that it is ok to take what one person earned and give it to somebody who else.

#3.1 mudbug on 2016-03-09 10:10 (Reply)

The ACA and immigrants have killed your vision of what college kids 'should' be doing (have a PT job). Nearly impossible to find these PT jobs or get one to fit an erratic college schedule. Not impossible, but harder than it used to be.

With minimum wage going up in many places, those PT jobs are less in number.

Certain areas of the country are rife with immigrants who will take low-paying work. And guess what? They will work whenever you want them to...not just the hours that they are free from school.

I remember being in college. I had no car, but I still tried to find a job within walking distance of the campus. Not many opportunities. Filled out some apps, but never got a phone call. Gave up after about 2 months. I only had ONE friend who worked during college. She had a retail background, I did not.

I even had friends who were not very well-off, but couldn't find work. So not as easy as you think.

My experience was over 20 years ago.

#3.1.1 MissT on 2016-03-09 12:53 (Reply)

"The problem with tariffs"

Interesting that a tariff is so bad but 40% tax is OK. The article implied that the higher prices that a tariff caused was a terrible imposition on the consumer and yet we tax American companies at 40%. So which is it? Do taxes/tariffs raise prices to consumers? Of course they do. But the larger question is do high taxes drive jobs and money out of the country? YES! And do zero tariffs encourage/allow foriegn countries to dump cheap goods on America while paying zero taxes here? Again yes!

So what is the right answer for America? I propose a tariff or tax on everything not made in America. A strict rule that taxes proportionally all foreign products and services. If you have your call center in India than 20% of the total costs are paid to the federal government. The other side of the coin is I would propose zero income tax on business/corporations within the U.S. The businesses that are here already provide substantial benefit to the country by providing jobs and paying their workers payroll taxes. Lets put this country first and stop subsidizing taking jobs offshore.

#4 GoneWithTheWind on 2016-03-09 09:44 (Reply)

Guess nobody is actually listening to what Trump is saying about tariffs. He mentioned it the other night. You threaten the tariffs, perhaps even have it in place for a short period of time, in order to force the other guy to act. Come on, do you really think Trump wants years worth of high tariffs? It is a negotiating tool that we NEVER use b/c everyone is too afraid. That is a problem.

#4.1 MissT on 2016-03-09 12:55 (Reply)

Agree with adding a stiff tariff to imported goods and services, that includes work vistas, as that would address the imported cheap labor problem as well.

#4.2 indyjonesouthere on 2016-03-09 14:14 (Reply)

Tariffs > devaluation > no net change, other than to make the US Fed look good when inflation falls. Inflation is already checked by the devaluation made inevitable by rolling collapse; ergo they're one and the same. Do you know why?

Do we really think the Chinese won't just repeg their currency in precise synchronization with the Party's export quotas? Do you really want that trade war? In other words, do you really want more of the same bottom-seeking spiral we're already in?

Maybe we should be asking ourselves why slow-down and recession and bubble and collapse have become an accepted phenomena right down to the household level in a planet of 6B producers whose toil is going on roughly a century now. Or why the US is $150T upside down, or a decade of GDP.

As long as you rock-ribbed rightists refuse to look at problems structurally you'll continue to propose these foolish economical positive feedback loops.

#4.2.1 Ten on 2016-03-09 15:25 (Reply)

I would change the foreign worker laws in a simple way. If they are not citizens and they work in the U.S. than the employer must pay for the lost benefit to the citizens. I would guess at a minimum $100 a day for an employer to hire a foreign worker but no less than the amount they pay the employee. That is if they work for $80 a day the employer pays the federal government $100 a day. If they pay the employee $200 a day they pay the federal government $200 a day. I would also favor a low requiring that no non-citizen could live in the U.S. for more than 180 days of of 365 consecutive days. That is student, employee, tourist, legal, illegal if you aren't a citizen you can visit for up to 6 months a year.

#4.2.2 GoneWithTheWind on 2016-03-09 16:56 (Reply)

You just love bloviating all that neocon positive feedback don't you, Windy? There's no system we can't manipulate beyond all recognition if we just try. Just imagine all the opportunity for economic devastation and graft that'll take a whole new round of corruption to correct.

Said no Framer ever.

#4.2.2.1 Ten on 2016-03-09 17:46 (Reply)

I believe we are witnessing the end of America as we know it. I think there is a bloodless coup underway and it may not stay bloodless. I think that the mass immigration we are experiencing is calculated and will end with a Balkanized and paralyzed country that in the end will be destroyed from within and without by our enemies. This is either the mother of all conspiracy theories or a clever plan that once passes a event horizon cannot be stopped. I think we are approaching that point with the 61 million people who are immigrants. I expect the final plan will be a real or contrived disaster in the countries to our South which will in inundate us with "refugees". I think we see that now on our Southern border and I think it will be suddenly increased following some "event". We have been set up for it by the left and the MSM who will readily call citizens and politicians names if they dare suggest even slowing the invasion. Imagine what is happening today in Europe but ten times larger happening on our borders and shores.

#4.2.2.1.1 GoneWithTheWind on 2016-03-09 20:46 (Reply)

Wrong thread, Uni-paragraph, unless you aim to stop contrived markets by continuing to oppose the corrective know as honest competition.

The thing with neocons is there's no contrivance you can't fix by simply adding more patriotic contrivance.

#4.2.2.1.1.1 Ten on 2016-03-10 06:59 (Reply)

Another patriotic contrivance I would implement is to end foreign ownership of property and companies within the U.S. Foreign investors could still invest in the stock market and other commodities markets but just not own companies, land and homes within our borders.

I would also get the UN out of the U.S. Move it to Brussels. The UN is an anti-democratic anti-U.S. entity and a cover for spies and espionage within our borders.

#4.2.2.1.1.1.1 GoneWithTheWind on 2016-03-10 09:46 (Reply)

Foreign ownership is a sovereignty issue, Windy, and falls under rightful borders and traditional national interest. Even security.

But it's still just another neocon contrivance ignorant lovers of economic positive feedback correctives lump in with all the rest of their market-ruining fantasies on rigged systems and global mischief. As such, you won't touch this handiwork of yours with a ten foot principle and so the whole thing happily augers in anyway.

You are aware of positive feedback, are you not? It's up to your chin. On the other hand, progressivism originated with the Republicans so I suppose there's a shred of continuity in it.

Congrats. You king-makers love this stuff, especially when you have the King's ear...

#4.2.2.1.1.1.1.1 Ten on 2016-03-10 10:08 (Reply)

Ten; I always enjoy your witty disagreement and it confirms for me that I am on the right track.

#4.2.2.1.1.1.1.1.1 GoneWithTheWind on 2016-03-10 12:41 (Reply)

Speaking of wit, Windy, in a world resembling yours I'd imagine that brevity is evidently somehow the soul of eloquence, and denial, of logic.

#4.2.2.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 Ten on 2016-03-10 14:01 (Reply)

"...brevity is not the soul of eloquence..." Because two-tons of opinion has replaced it.

#4.2.2.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 Ten on 2016-03-10 14:26 (Reply)

I have never been one to hide my light under a bushel.

#4.2.2.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 GoneWithTheWind on 2016-03-10 16:17 (Reply)

The Farm's very own Lightbringer.

#4.2.2.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 Ten on 2016-03-10 16:51 (Reply)

Spoken like a statist-collectivist.

#4.3 Ten on 2016-03-09 15:27 (Reply)

What, exactly, is wrong with products that aren't made in America? Only a third world, subsistence level society produces all of its own products.

I happen to enjoy some cheap foreign products. In many instances they increase my quality of life. If they were to cost much more I simply wouldn't buy them.

By what right can Congress force a company to work here or not work there? This is supposed to be a free country.

#4.4 Jack Walter on 2016-03-09 23:30 (Reply)

"What, exactly, is wrong with products that aren't made in America?"

Nothing at all. I buy lots of products made overseas. I simply want to end the subsidy to overseas products and the subsidy for companies to move overseas. I welcome the products made in China and Mexico and since I would put a 20% tariff on them to replace the corporate income tax I would want these products to keep coming here to fund the government. Viva free trade!

"By what right can Congress force a company to work here or not work there?"

Absolutely right! We agree completely. You can move to Ireland for 5% tax or China for slave labor. No one is stopping that. But if we put our corporate tax at 0% we will encourage companies to stay here and that is a good thing. If Apple wants to build all their electronics in China and sell them here for 500% profit good for them but with a tariff the federal government gets a cut and it allows the corporate tax to be reduced for companies who employee workers in the U.S.

#4.4.1 GoneWithTheWind on 2016-03-10 09:40 (Reply)

Proof by personal whimsy - and twice in one statement, no less - with the cherry on top being more proclamatory decree, the Framer's perfect ideal, I'm sure.

Is hubris too fine a point to put on that, Windy?

#4.4.1.1 Ten on 2016-03-10 10:12 (Reply)

The middle class is shrinking, jobs are going overseas, immigrants legal and illegal are taking most of the jobs that have been created in the last 8 years. Congress keeps approving trade deals that give more and more of the country away. Something needs to be done and it is unlikely our current crop of politicians will do anything that will actually help. Something needs to change, people need to speak up.

#4.4.1.1.1 GoneWithTheWind on 2016-03-10 22:10 (Reply)

That part about change creating positive feedback above, Windy, did that roll off your back? The question asking if you knew what that was did.

It's not my job to clarify options. It's the guy with the very important opinion and the very important vote's job to know why he thinks what he does.

#4.4.1.1.1.1 Ten on 2016-03-11 07:13 (Reply)

Whites are never poor.

This conversation is impossible to have. There is no clear definition that works, and the government redefines the definition from a monetary stand point, I believe annually.
See This: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/poor

I can assure every reader that under Miriam's definition, I am wealthy from a material stand point, but poor financially. (I am white) So am I poor or am I wealthy?
The best I can tell, the definition is relative. Relative to what will buy a voter.

#5 I......... on 2016-03-09 09:45 (Reply)

"Whites are never poor."

"Whites" (whatever this demographic is really supposed to mean anyway) apparently represent 72 percent of the US population. It is therefore entirely likely that poor whites vastly outnumber poor blacks.

For example, even if 50 percent of all blacks were considered "poor" and only 10 percent of all whites, that would still mean about 19 million poor blacks and 22 million poor whites.

#5.1 JJM on 2016-03-09 11:10 (Reply)

Trump is a 'fraud' and a 'phony'. Yah, but he's our fraud and phony.

#6 BillH on 2016-03-09 09:49 (Reply)

Hillary and Bernie are also frauds and phonies.

#6.1 mudbug on 2016-03-09 10:21 (Reply)

"Mongolia: Deadly Cold, Heavy Snow blamed on Global Warming..."

Climate change was only partially responsible.

Most of the blame can be placed squarely on Bush and Cheney of course.

If only they hadn't invaded Afghanistan and devastated the region!

#7 JJM on 2016-03-09 10:56 (Reply)

don't be a warmal colding Denier. because Science!

#7.1 Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz on 2016-03-09 11:30 (Reply)

"The Hidden Hunger Problem"

I am very unconvinced. I doubt you could find a single individual in this country who hasn't eaten in two days who is not an addict and/or gets food stamps but uses it to buy other things. There is no hunger in this country except that which is self inflicted. Our little town (50,000) feeds the hungry children lunch at school all summer long. I walk past these schools and see the mothers drive up in nice cars so that their children can get free lunches. Common sense and experience tells me that these same mothers get food stamps to feed their children. Correct me if I'm wrong but if the government pays you to feed your kids and you don't so it but do show up to a second venue where the government feeds your kids isn't this fraud?? Perhaps we middle class taxpayers deserve the high taxes and criminal government we get. We are quite possibly terminally stupid and will continue to elect politicians whose life long dream is to tax us into poverty and give our money to people who refuse to work.

#8 GoneWithTheWind on 2016-03-09 11:10 (Reply)

Re: Why the Nuclear Deal Hasn’t Softened Iran’s Hard-Line Policies

The question isn't why it hasn't softened Iran's hard-line policies but why would it have?

#9 mudbug on 2016-03-09 11:18 (Reply)

OK all you Republicans/Conservatives, etc.--you want to win this year and maintain some of Trump's strategies (promises)? Here is my suggestion: go out and find a REAL military leader. Someone from the Army, Marine Corp, or Navy. Don't bother with the air farce or coast guard. Go find a man who is well educated, thoughtful and has led troops in actual battle on the field. Find someone who is where he is in the upper or mid upper military echelons, someone who did not get there by but kissing the PC crowd. That man could win both sides of this mess and lead us out of the place to which we have sunken. If you can't find that person -- we are truly lost.
P.S. Colin Powell falls into the but kissing camp.

#10 Another One on 2016-03-09 13:22 (Reply)

Do you think von Hindenburg is still available?

FYI, its Marine Corps. With a REAL "s".

#10.1 Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz on 2016-03-09 13:26 (Reply)

I would recommend ret. Admiral Ace Lyons. There is a video piece of him speaking at CPAC that is posted at Gates of Vienna.

#10.2 indyjonesouthere on 2016-03-09 14:26 (Reply)

Do you mean another Eisenhower "Ike"?

#11 faculty wife on 2016-03-09 14:01 (Reply)

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Wednesday, March 9. 2016

Wednesday morning links