Stimulus Money

Re: The Economy (stupid)

Do you really believe the US will benefit economically from aiding Iraq? They have one resource: oil. In the future, we will not need oil. They are not heavily industrialized, so it is unlikely they will do a very large amount of trade with us, and it isn't really a tourist generation-how can we receive income from them?
 
Re: The Economy (stupid)

kennedy said:
In the future, we will not need oil.
Click to expand...

When I was sixteen, someone offered me a Porsche 356 for a couple of hundred bucks. Yeah, the floor was a little Fred Flintstone, but nothing some pop rivets, a little sheet metal and seam sealer wouldn't cure. It ran real good.

But the "progressive" experts said we won't be driving cars much longer. Oil is running out, gas is 50 cents a gallon, there will be monorails, solar electric mass transit, nuclear powered everything. Cars are obsolete!

Credulous me. I took a pass. A couple of years later I was driving around some crappy old Country Squire wagon with faded applique wood paneling and frog green vinyl seats that would stick to your girlfriend's bare ass on a hot summer night.

Uncool.

Well, that was 35 years ago. My current non-nuclear powered "daily driver" will do 180 mph and sucks down gas like, well, me drinking on a Friday night.

Don't make your choices based on "expert" opinion. *#@% the experts.
 
Re: The Economy (stupid)

...you forgot the part about how the environment won't matter, we'll be living in cities built under glass bubbles.

I'm saying that we will, in my lifetime, have a new source of energy that is not a fossil fuel, and does not pollute the atmosphere. Until then, I'm going to go ahead and use the 3rd generation Ford Taurus I got from my uncle sparingly.
 
Re: The Economy (stupid)

kennedy said:
I'm going to go ahead and use the 3rd generation Ford Taurus I got from my uncle sparingly.
Click to expand...

Wise fashion choice. (I got my Country Squire from my uncle too.)
 
Re: The Economy (stupid)

...and his parents before him.
 
Re: The Economy (stupid)

I know this is off the subject of "the economy" and it revives a dead thread - BUT - this is in reference to the previously mentioned subject of names vs. brand names

Caroline Schlossberg has died.

Well, her name did, she has re-branded herself "Caroline Kennedy" part of her positioning campaign as she assumes the throne rightfully bestowed upon her at birth.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/co...her_name_smell_as_sweet_/srvc=home&position=3
 
Re: The Economy (stupid)

that's right, kennedys rule the world.
 
Re: The Economy (stupid)

The Onion - December 17, 2008
Barack Obama Defeats Barack Hussein Obama

December 17, 2008 | Issue 44?51

WASHINGTON?In one of the most hotly contested and pivotal races in U.S. history, Democratic candidate Barack Obama emerged victorious on Nov. 4, beating out the one man who could have taken the presidency away from him, Barack Hussein Obama.

According to sources, the socialist Muslim radical, who had close ties to known terrorists, smoked crack cocaine in the back of a limousine, and was by all accounts the Antichrist himself, emerged out of nowhere in late 2007 to challenge the progressive junior Senator from Illinois. Though few had heard of the freedom-hating extremist before, Barack Hussein Obama quickly garnered attention in several key regions of the country, and saw his popularity buoyed by conservative talk-radio hosts, mass e-mail forwards, and thousands of Americans riding on the backs of flatbed trucks.

With a final push in the weeks leading up to the election, and fervent endorsements from Sen. John McCain, Gov. Sarah Palin, and Sean Hannity, many reportedly feared that Barack Hussein Obama would somehow manage to inch out Barack Obama on Election Day.

"It was a hard-fought campaign, and [Barack Hussein Obama] definitely gave it his all, but in the end he just didn't have enough credibility with the American people," said political analyst and NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams. "Still, he's probably the best candidate the Republican party has put out in decades."

Though Barack Obama emerged victorious with 53 percent of the vote, he was unable to defeat the shadowy figure of dubious ethnic origin in a number of conservative states, including West Virginia, Alabama, and North Dakota. His opponent's strong showing in those states has led many to speculate that the controversial figure is poised for a return to the political stage.

"I don't think we've heard the last of Barack Hussein Obama," noted political strategist Karl Rove said. "I have a feeling he'll be back in 2012."
Click to expand...
 
With President Obama surely going to spend billions on infrastructure and public projects, Massachusetts is sure to see a piece of it. On yahoo they had a top 10 list of cities that are asking for billions and their likely job creation numbers. They titled it, stimulus boomtowns. Massachusetts was not in their top 10, Miami actually sat at number 1.

In any event, does anyone know how much money Massachusetts is seeking?

What big projects do you see getting money. It was mentioned that San Francisco was going to use the money to get some big projects going. Could some of the money Mass gets be used to help kick start stalled projects?
 
i'd prefer very little money go to massachusetts/boston. it would likely get lost in corruption a la the big dig
 
I'd like enough to ensure the Green Line extension happens as scheduled.

(Also, "engineering cost overruns" are a bad thing, but they are not the same thing as "corruption".)
 
I was thinking they could use the idle Chrysler, GM and Ford plants to build windmills. It's a lot easier and cheaper than converting to electric cars using taxpayer money. Then fund new companies that aren't entirely corrupt yet to build the electric cars and trains of the future.
 
Union work rules would never allow auto plants to switch over to producing windmills. I doubt the labor costs would ever permit their manufacture in any of the Big 3's factories to ever come close to breaking even, much less earn profit.

Given the fiasco of the Big Dig and the tendency of Obama to belittle Deval, I doubt Massachusetts is going to receive much of a stimulus. Ted Kennedy might be able to wrangle money, but he is too busy expending political capital to buy senate senates for the family dynasty. If the governor had any brains he wouldn't be counting on the feds and would be spending every possible second to find a way for the state to find solvency on its own.
 
"I'd like enough to ensure the Green Line extension happens as scheduled."

I'm crossing my fingers.

"Also, "engineering cost overruns" are a bad thing, but they are not the same thing as "corruption"."

From wikipedia:

Adjusted for inflation, the project was estimated at US$6.0 billion in 1985.
Boston Globe, July 17, 2008 "the total...will be a staggering $22 billion.

Are there really $16billion that can be attributed to engineering cost overruns?
 
I wouldn't call it corruption, I'd call in incompetent management.
 
The Globe has a link to a pdf file for the Commonwealth's $4.7 billion request. The projects have to be underway in 180 days or the money is taken back, so the projects tend to be those for which engineering and design work is done, or nearly so. For example, I looked for the Longfellow Bridge on the list, but I guess that is not ready to go.
 
Last edited:
Forbes released a list of the ten cities with the highest requests, oddly enough, Miami was at the top with something like $3.7b - I guess good ol' Boston is in a class of it's own. I'll try to find the link.
 
Lurker, as an aside, I used to bring American novels to my interpreters and minders in Moscow and elsewhere in the CCCP so they could improve their colloquial English. I must say your command of idiomatic English is remarkable.

(I used to sometimes deal with Gosplan, Gosstandart, Gosstroy, and VNIIVO.)
 
Well thank you stellarfun, I had to learn languages in the service, and my fluency greatly improved over the years of living here. It is quite interesting that you were permitted to gift novels to soviet citizens, especially in the presence of party minders. I also suppose your interaction with the planning and construction bureaucracy has given you insight into current economic and political mess behind the Big 3 or perhaps Massachusetts' plight. I must also congratulate you for obtaining a Doctorate in patience.

Currently I see stupidity, maybe corruption as well, at level of CCCP XP. With the passage of further bailout legislation there will a 'glorious step forward' to CCCP Vista. Soon comrades we'll be expending twice as many resources only to end up with the same inferior performance!

Hasn't anyone bothered to notice that Japan had the same economic problems in the early 90s, tried the same public sector spending, and government life support of effectively dead companies? The zombie corporations created as a result, proceeded to literally eat the brains out of the economy for years afterward! It didn't work then, and it won't work now. Why anyone is even considering a new stimulus now, effectively throwing more money into a fire-pit, instead of actually figuring out a strategy avoiding all known and proven mistakes, is beyond me. Do economists not study economic history or something like that?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top