Demsey

ineresting, i probably with the red but to busy.

I WS EVEN THINKING LIKE A UELLOW WOOD, CREA A VOG CONTRAST.

I CAN do wood and acrlic, but i'm still learning h

You are 'redbigjoe69' and I collect my $5.

He just lost his ear. The rest of us will be King Hussein's and Queen Pelosa's butt buddies.

I'm a card carrying hetero, but I'd rather be in the Obama line on that one thank-you-very-much. Giving it of course. I mean, hell I've been taking it in the backside all year. Turn around is fair play.

Here's the analogy;

The 'man' is any US citizen, the 'blue truck' is the US economy, the 'red train' is the 'governmental policy with regard to the current crisis'. Are we sitting comfortably? Good. Let's watch, shall we?

I resemble that remark - could've been my Blog post

Oh, are you 'bigblackPAM69' on that 'other' board?

Realism.

lol this is a post from a blog I subscribe to. I would link the site, but it would probably result in a 'ban' from RWG

I have to admit it, my liberal friends were right!

They told me if I voted for McCain, the nation's Hope would deteriorate, and sure enough there has been a 20 point drop in the Consumer Confidence Index since the election, reaching a lower point than any time during the Bush administration.

They told me if I voted for McCain, the US would become more deeply embroiled in the Middle East, and sure enough tens of thousands of additional troops are scheduled to be deployed into Afghanistan.

They told me if I voted for McCain, that the economy would get worse and sure enough unemployment is approaching 8.8% and the new stimulus packages implemented recently have sent the stock market lower than at any time since 9-11.

They told me if I voted for McCain, we would see more "crooks" in high ranking positions in Federal Government and sure enough, several recent cabinet nominees and Senate appointments revealed resumes of bribery and tax fraud.

Well I ignored my Democrat friends in November and voted for McCain, and they were right - all of their predictions have come true!

Everyone loves irony, but no one wants to pay for it.

Another great post.

The silver lining...once things get bad enough I really do hope we see the welcomed collapse back into our communities and families to help cope with the economic stresses we will face. Whether it be farming co-ops, neighborhoods combining resources to become more efficient, etc. I think we will see a new generation of parents and children living together for the long term, not just the post college, pre death stopovers we see now. You never know...

Sounds like the post WWII daydream my Dad talks about. And talked about. When we were kids. Sounds nice. He always reminisces about the 50's. Feeling bad that we would never know a decade like that. Joining the Air Force. Living on cash, always having enough, even though they were paid meagerly. A 'new' car was an 'used' car, and they were so excited. The week-end was a beer in a lawn chair and a baseball game on a transistor radio. A trip to Europe was a 'once in a lifetime' event. My wife and kids go to Britain every Summer. Phooey!.

You know, I'm going to love this. All those' "Oh honey, could we?, Dad can I?, Would it be possible to?, The Anderson's are, are we?, I saw the new one, it's bigger! These are shabby, I saw a catalogue do you think.........? For Spring Break I was thinking....................

NO! WE'RE ALL PAINTING THE HOUSE THIS SPRING! IT'LL BE GREAT! WE'LL SET UP THE GARDEN SPRINKLER AND GRILL HOT DOGS!

"Economic Depression", a married man's little gift from the politically irresponsible.

Anyhoo, I just have to say; it's starting. The constituency is grumbling. The President is going to be thrown under the bus. Sigh. They all go:

"Hey, I was all into "Change", but wow, I never voted for all this Socialist cr*p!"

Some jack*ss on talk radio started a new slogan as a stab at the Bush era detractors; "Obama lied, the Economy died".

WHAT!?

The man is doing precisely what he said he would do what and campaigned for! To the LETTER!

That clown 'Cramer' on CNBC called McCain out on the campaign trail as an economic despoiler that would put the economy exactly where it is today, and now he's chumming up to Rush Limbaugh because the two of them are on the "White House Hit List" (WTF that is) for down playing the adminstration's policies? Ho! Ho! At least that's Limbaugh's job descritption. He called all this last Summer. Cramer, the Liberal Democrat, couldn't wait for O. Now he stands all up in arms that Obama is more 'Left' than 'Center'? Jesus! Obama was painted in no uncertain terms as the most Liberal Senator by voting record that ever drew a breath! Were they all that hypnotized?

"Yes We Can" and he DID! LMAO

The two basic human tragedies in this world; "Not getting what you ask for, and then, getting what you ask for."

That was good. Gotta love the 'ole shep.

I'll take SoS for the Arts! Free LPs and Strats for all!

Brilliant! Who would have time for warring whilst working on 'riffs' ? Kept me out of trouble week-ends that's for d*mn sure!

He's a dead duck with dead duck policies. All quack and no egg. What we are all missing quite badly is the existance of true political and financial visionaries. I can't believe that, with the right people in place a few years ago, we couldn't have headed some of this trouble off at the pass.

Hmmmm, didn't know Brown was already wallowing. Agree with the last sentence here, the frustrating thing is there were some loud bell ringers that were wholly ignored here, especially with regard to policing our own market economy (Wall Street) outside the incompetent Securities and Exchange Commission. 'Bernie Madoff' was outed in 1999 as a crook. He was given a pass. The man will soon be jailed. Good. Those responsible for giving him free reign should be mopped up too.

On Barrack Obama, I think the Brits are generally delighted at America's choice this time, however as anyone will know, using thespian parlance, a few missed cues and fluffed lines and today's Gielgud can very quickly become tomorrow's Lundgren.

What was it Lennon wrote about Paul? Oh yes;

"A pretty face may last a year or two, but pretty soon they'll know what you can do.................."

I'm at a loss now, but like the rest of the apolitical clay I just know what BS they feed me. Obama may be a 'saviour', I just haven't seen the light yet...........................lol, coincidentally my dear Mother-in-Law in Surrey sent me this FW: email yesterday;

Official Notice

Due to recent budget cuts, bailouts, stimulus spending, and the rising cost

of electricity, gas, and oil, The Light at the End of the Tunnel has been

turned off.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Yes you have to hand it to the Dutch. Visionaries. I think they repealed the marijuana laws that same afternoon in 1670. Talk about evening up the social disparity; doesn't matter how rich or how poor; 'Stoned is Stoned'.

Agree with your synopsis, but, all we have is our 'vote' and the Bill of Rights to turn things around. If we cannot turn this around with those, then what? Pitch forks and another American Revolution?

Radical. Let's hope it falls short of that.

What the average person usually doesn't understand (and they should seeing that they are so looking out for the "me" lately) is that the best and easiest way to get rich yourself is to figure out a way to make rich people MORE money than they already have, not less. The less money the rich have in this country, given the way the free market system works, the worse off poor people are going to be. And that my friends is the true paradox of it all.

This is the essence of 'Trickle Down' and there are, obviously, those who declare; "It does not work." But, it was in place since the '87, through the '01-'02 recessions and rode the indices up to the historical highs of the past year. If there is theory as to how 'Trickle Down' caused this current economic slide ( to the contrary I would go as far as to say 'Trickle Up' in it's 1979 impetus of the Community Reinvestment Act is to blame through the resultant mortgage/lending/housing debacle), or if anyone can point to a single piece of economic legislation that was penned from the President's desk these past eight years, I would sure enjoy reading that post. I guess I could learn something there.

'Trickle Down' has brought resentment from certain social strata. I would say that were misplaced frustration; "The rich get richer?! My A**!!" But the backlash from that resentment was rehtorical in nature, perhaps philosophical, and just served as political fodder; talking points for a Liberal agenda catering to the votes of 'those left behind'. It served well. Darn well. Now however, the shoe is on the other foot; 'Trickle Up' is the order of the day. This too will breed resentment, it is already, but from the other, diametrically opposed, social strata; the wealthy. The lower 95 percentile have the numbers, but the upper 5 have all the guns. The backlash will not be 'rehtorical' it will be 'actual' and just as political.

There is such a misplaced putsch of "Yeah! See how you like them apples! Yeah! You like havin' nothin' now!", but to make things worse on the 'powerful' will only grind the disenfranchised deeper under foot. They will have lost all empathy from the wealthy and will truely be 'disenfranchised', where they merely thought there were previously. There was always 'possibility'. The 'haves' and the 'have nots' will now be more defined than in recent history. The merely 'wealthy' of today are being dragged down to a lower income/wealth equilibrium to stagnate, the lower income strata will be artificially lifted by governement to the same level, to languor as well, into one homogenized 'working class'. It will appear as 'progess' but the high will soon subside for those given a leg up, and bitterness to those kicked down. There will be little opportunity to claw up out of it. That will please the current administration; it will be 'more fair'. The overclass, the extremely wealthy, will adapt and succeed to a 'closed door club' of such unimaginable wealth and power they will have government all sewn up. The words 'benefactor', 'philanthropist' and 'patron' will be out of their vocabulary for perceived ingratitude of being 'industrial'. This is going to be The Great Gatsby.

But then again, there are those mid term elections. Hmmmm. It just now occurs; no wonder the stimulus bill is set to overdrive; once a government policy is in place it's terribly hard to recall. God Bless America.

I'm speechless about this stuff lately.............................

.....................- Huh, what do you mean that would be socialism? I have no idea what you are talking about. Now shut up and figure out a way for me to get my money back...

Rinse, repeat.

No doubt. Wait until the ' I ' guy needs an elective surgery on his knee so he can at least play on the public course................

Well at least I don't have to pay for it. It's free now. Wait, what do you mean I am on a waiting list? I don't need a kidney, I just want to golf in the Spring. THIS Spring!

"Not going to happen. There's always Mexico Surgical. Adios!"

<edit> Those italic tags must have driven you nutz!

By and large, liberal elitists such as many of those now occupying the highest positions in our Federal government, believe that paying taxes is only for the little people.

lol, I remember when Leona Helsmley said that. Then she did nineteen months in prison, two under house arrest, of a 16 year sentence for tax evasion. Her only real crime? She wasn't attached to a major political party's upper echelon. Oh, and she was a Martha Stewart type beatch.

Considering this and Geithner though, I wonder why they ultimately gave Daschle a pass? It certainly wasn't because he was a tax dodger. Hmmmm. Probably had his own agenda outside the President's [sic] men. That won't do.

I am going to post a conversation topic I had the other day with some friends. My old man has degrees in political science and economics and taught for a while. We were discussing the horrors of being an economics teacher right now, anywhere from high school on up. How on earth could you teach about a capitalist society and how the best businesses survive and the others go out of business in today's business environment? AIG is turning Uncle Sam into an ATM machine and GM is on the way there as well. How do you tell a student about the principles of scarce resources and how they apply to running a successful business vs a failing business and the minute your student walks out the door and gets on CNN.com or turns on the tube they see the Gov't bailing out bankers making millions?

I was going to post "You hand the student a copy of the Communist Manifesto, but it's too much a stretch. Is there a Socialist Manifetso though?

It is my firm belief that we could take a random sample of any 500 members of this board, replace the entire USA Congress, and the nation would have better leadership and planning ability.

Except for Miss Understood.

I was thinking the exact same thing today. But, I took it a step further. I'm sure I could assemble an entire pluralist Cabinet that would rock the entire planet. Shoot, Thomas has more executive experience than O. We could make him CIC. The guy could use the rest.

As a matter of fact, I know a guy here, in this thread by coincidence, who would make a kick-ass Secretary of the Interior who is not shy of leadership skilz. (We need an Eagle Scoutmaster emoticon. Could we get one of those? 'offshore' found a Martini one, I think we should have an Eagle Scoutmaster one).

Tomorrow, maybe, I'm going to start a poll with regard. It might start good political discussion and debate. Then, RWG may finally have a true 'political thread'. You know what separates a true political discussion from partisan reparations and contradiction? The mention of any person who does now, or ever did hold public office. All posts would start with; "This is what I would do.................." Then you'd have a true political discussion.

Well h*ll.

After today I've resigned myself to the fact; The 'entreprenurial' and cousined 'investor class' are on their own. Barack Obama doesn't have it in for the free-market, he just doesn't consider it. At all. He cares, but not enough to care enough to act. No real shocker. The 'free-market' is literally part of the 'Republican' referendum as it's dictionary definition. These 'new jobs' are largely going to be 'government jobs'. Uh duh. And oh well. Kind of a backdoor way to raise unemployment figures tho'. Man, those on union pensions, others looking to retire on 401k's this decade are lost. They'll never recover this now. Folk of this generation are going to work until they die. I always did admire the Russians for that. It's noble. It is going to suck too.

So, waiting on the Hill to 'play nice' to even throw a bone to a Bear Market rally isn't going to happen. lol 'frinstance on one hand Geithner and Bernanke propose the toxic assets of banks will be absorbed by a 'partnership' between federal funds and the private sector? Great! Then starting October 1st of THIS year, hedge fund and equity managers, those who would take up the 'private' side are going to be subjected to a 38% capital gains tax? Yeah, great. There's some incentive. Work 2X and get 1X. Brilliant. I'm sure they'll all just decide to work harder instead of leaving the US to work in an emerging market. Shoot, I hear Argentina is nice.

Wall Street needs to stop looking to Washington now and forward. It 'aint coming. It needs to do what it always has; invest in 'American Industry' and the American 'Industrial' and weather the political storm. This market is just so undersold it has to move on sheer frustration and boredom with 'politics'. If the adminstration wants to go the laissez-faire with regard, fine. That's what built the Clinton years' bubbles. BAC has announced no less than three times in as many weeks, it's sorry it took a dime of TARP. There were some great rallies right in the middle of the Great Depression. Time to move on. The 'Obama Plan' has nothing in it for me. I'm too 'up and running' I suppose. That's cool, I don't need any help. All for the 'welfare state' then? God Bless.

You know who I'd be afraid to be? A Democrat in the House. Come '10. It won't be a Conservative coup either, it will a revolt from the base that got them there. No magic wand, no 'mortgage paid', 'gas tanks filled up', 'little pink houses for you and me', but $14 in your paycheck? The politically uninformed, who voted in a 'slogan' and an unrealistic ideal are going to be p*ssed! Hope they just heap it on themselves and not the President. He's just doing what he said he would do. Nothing wrong with that. At all.

Hmmmm, What was W.'s approval rating after 9/11? When he spelled out "What it was he was going to do?" 80%. And the crowd went nuts. Then he did it, and the people kicked him in the nuts for it in the end? Oh O.. Oh O.

I really enjoy the "inherited" part, because they also inherited the ability to write a stimulus package and spend large sums of money due to Bush. When you have a "conservative" creating the first stimulus package and spending like a madman, the liberals got all wide eyed and foamed at the mouth.

Excellent point.

This entire adminstration is 'teflon'. There is no way on Earth the first Black President of the United States is going to 'fail'. No matter what. I actually have some faith in Geithner. To do his job, which does not include tax advise But his skill level is below the tools he's been given to work with thus far to make great art, so.....................

The best line to come out of this afternoon's testimony; When Congressman Devin Nunes of Cali tried to corner him with the end of the '09 fiscal year national Debt of 6+ Trillion, then heaping on that the 3.75 Trillion 'Stimulus' a.k.a 'Spending' Bill, while talking about a responsible Budget? Hmmmm.

Anyhoo, Geithner took the cue from his boss;

"You have to take into account the 'inherited' financial disaster coming out of the last eight years at the hands of the last administration"

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Nunes; "No, you have to take into account the last 233 years"

Brilliant.

Yeah, let's spend and tax our way out of this. The "European" model is fab.

Speaking of which, PM Gordon Brown is due @ 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. today. Brits, what's the take on your PM? Any good? I could Google him myself, but not being British my take would be sh*te surely.

At a press conference in UK this morning on Bloomberg television a British journalist asked Brown;

"Prime Minister, are you going to tell the Americans what you've been telling us for the past eighteen months with regard to the European Economy? That, it is, as you say, 'All their fault' ?

lmao

Unfortunately, when PM Brown gets here he won't find things any brighter for President Obama's briefing and won't have W. or PM Blair nearby to kick. He's between the proverbial "........rock and the hard place". I mean, the British, you all approve of Obama right? How is he going to 'pass the pound', as it were, now?

Politicians. Where's Winston when you need him? Not to govern, just to comment. This arena in rife for a few Churchillisms. Oh the realism he could bring.

i'm sure you'll save many an A7750 watch with this!!

I'm sure it will too! As many a 'wannabe' watchsmith will opt to seek professional help...........

Congratulations on your study and skills Francisco. Thank you for the great effort!

"nobody knows anything"

I'm thinking about getting this made up in a vinyl bumper sticker and selling them on the 'Bay. With my luck it would probably launch me into the 35% tax bracket. And break even for my trouble. I could however, consider a good 1000 ft. of the 'new' Interstate 4 passing lane as 'mine' and reel on my patriotism.

"The government is putting band-aids all over a cancer patient"

Yes. That does fit the bill. Or how about;

"What doesn't kill you will only make you stronger.............................unless, of course, it does kill you".

I'm with everyone's opine thusfar, by default, as I am on the 'fence' with regard to the President's direction here.

I really, really, am trying to suss it out, get behind the policy making but something is amiss. I cannot for the life of me see the 'stimulus' occurring with the plan that is laid out. The core of it, I thought, that I presumed and took stock in despite my vote to the opposition; termed: Shovel Ready infrastructure projects seem to only be a small portion of a disguised 'spending bill'. To say that I am let down thus far with the particulars of the Stimulus Plan and Budget would be a gross understatement. My biggest complaint of the past administration was gross government spending and increase of the deficit, even outside the war chest. I do not see any 'Change' here. In this area, this is indeed the McSame.

It is not a case of; "President Obama has only been in power a month", nor one of "Give the plans time to work" as the general consensus that Barack Obama's imminent election and 'direction' for the country was known last Summer when Lehman Brothers took the fateful dive and the polls swung wildly on issue of "It's the Economy stupid". Since the writing was on the wall then, the market indicators have steadily declined, the DOW falling 2000 points since his inaugeration alone hanging on in quiet desperation for particulars but poorly receiving his intentions with current legislation. So far he has kept his campaign promises and is initiating the plan. The Economy be damned. There is absolutely zero confidence here from corporate America. The free market has fallen in step, proportionally, with the ramping up of the new adminstration's agenda. I have no faith in a Budget pan 'working over time' if I cannot get behind the mechanics of the thing in the first place.

The detractors are now rallying behind a new propaganda slogan, that was first noted here by our own 'robertk'; "We hope the President fails!", which sounds seditious enough and on the face of it, it is, but the putsch behind the reality is that the opposing pundits hope these 'plans' and 'policies' fail. They hope the 'President' succeeds, but in some opinions that will hinge on his abandoning some of his philosophical positioning on the 'social landscape'. In a phrase; "Change for America is good, changing America will not do." And I have to agree; I do not want universal health coverage, I do not want fuel and commodity excise and income tax unbridled, governemental growth into education, retirement, households, blossoming deficit spending, failing corporate control of capitalism and the loss of the entrepreneurial momentum. If that is the plan, I may as well leave back for the 'Old Country' before I get too far removed from my roots and more aliented from kin through any more generations. If this is to be "Europe" I may as well be in "Europe". They have nicer architecture there and it is the place to be if you see no other place that is 'different' nor 'better'. I don't think my Grandfather would have dragged my Dad and Grandmother across an ocean for that "America".

So, what don't we know? Because as citizens, we don't know a lot of what the President does. Or do we know? It's only open to 'speculation' then, so every opinion is valid. Here.

I know this pub, the landlord is Mssr. Bodge.

True story this.

Wow, opening up the RWG1 Ark of the Covenant. Neat.

I hate to discourage you, as you seem to have everything together and ready to go - But that donor watch is just too nice to pull apart, IMO. I think you should keep shopping for a loose movement, or at least an uglier donor.

Haha! I always think that from these projects.................the DW's are great, but when guys source the V72 donor watch gens like those sweet Gallets I drool over them!