Fuck its silent in here.......

[morpheus]

Also, who says I wouldn't have hired you to dig that ditch?

Everyone.  You aren't in the ditch digging business.  That's why we have division of labor as explained by comparative advantage.

Why does Obama get to decide that ditch digging is the best use of Chuck's time from an economic productivity standpoint?

He doesn't.  I don't have to take the jorb.  I could pass on the job and relax and watch 80's TV shows and movies.

I might have hired Chuck to dig a hole instead of a ditch and paid less, on net, than the combined cost of Chuck, Obama, the Treasury, and the tax collector, so were there jobs created or not?  I'd say we don't know - the job might just have been simply transferred from one economic activity to another.  The Obama Every Presidential Administration would say yes.

Politician'd.

My point is that the Administration (and you're right to point out that it's not just Obama) is reallocating resources as it sees fit, whether it's cross-sectionally in the current period, or intertemporally.  That transfer is not cost-free, because government workers and debtholders need to get paid, not to mention there's a possible probable loss of efficiency.  You can't just look at the job that the government took my money to pay for; you have to at least think about what I would have done with that money had the government not taken it from me.

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

You can't just look at the job that the government took my money to pay for; you have to at least think about what I would have done with that money had the government not taken it from me.

In the recession, a lot of that money is effectively just being sat on, no?

Hence the demand gap Slak's dying to fill.

[Quality Start Machine]

I thought this was interesting...



Not only is Gubment spending at an all-time high (no surprise), but the rise & fall over the past 50 years doesn't fit the Administrations as I would have thought.

[Chuck to Chuck]

the rise & fall over the past 50 years doesn't fit the Administrations as I would have thought you've been indoctrinated to believe.

Hannity'd Olbermann'd

[Quality Start Machine]

the rise & fall over the past 50 years doesn't fit the Administrations as I would have thought you've been indoctrinated to believe.

Hannity'd Olbermann'd

Olbermann can eat the nuggets out of my shit.

[morpheus]

I thought this was interesting...



Not only is Gubment spending at an all-time high (no surprise), but the rise & fall over the past 50 years doesn't fit the Administrations as I would have thought.

Does it fit Congressional control as you might think?  Congress, after all, sets the budget.

[Chuck to Chuck]

I thought this was interesting...



Not only is Gubment spending at an all-time high (no surprise), but the rise & fall over the past 50 years doesn't fit the Administrations as I would have thought.

Does it fit Congressional control as you might think?  Congress, after all, sets the budget.

Dems had control from 76 to 80.  Decline. 

GOPs had control from 80 to 86 of the senate.  Increase.

Mixed control pretty much thereafter.

The Veto pen also is a pretty good check on spending.  Last fucker with it refused to use it for any spending bill.  Where were the tea baggers on that nimrod?

[morpheus]

I thought this was interesting...



Not only is Gubment spending at an all-time high (no surprise), but the rise & fall over the past 50 years doesn't fit the Administrations as I would have thought.

Does it fit Congressional control as you might think?  Congress, after all, sets the budget.

Dems had control from 76 to 80.  Decline. 

GOPs had control from 80 to 86 of the senate.  Increase.

Mixed control pretty much thereafter.

The Veto pen also is a pretty good check on spending.  Last fucker with it refused to use it for any spending bill.  Where were the tea baggers on that nimrod?

Bush was never a conservative on spending, among other things.  We all know that.

Now, I've recreated this chart myself, and it looks different, so I'm a bit confused).  I used the data easily pulled from the Bureau of Economic Analysis website, http://www.bea.gov ; I used nominal GDP and the "total expenditures" line from "Government Current Receipts and Expenditures". 

At the end of 1976, I get 28.13%; at the end of 1980 it's 28.96%.
1984: 28.54%
1988: 29.68%
1992: 29.34%
1996: 30.66%
2000: 31.84%
2004: 27.77%
2008: 28.33%

Chart:



I'm not sure where usgovernmentspending.com is getting its figures from.  They say "US Budget Data" but I don't know what that means.

[Wheezer]

So, where does the hydraulic theory of wealth diverge from the usual notion of energy, which is conserved? I did read Adam Smith, but it's mostly lost to me.

[Waco Kid]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/19/stephen-baldwin-on-obama_n_468692.html

"I'm gonna be real straight with you," Baldwin told ABC's Jonathan Karl. "I am not happy about the way things are. I pray for President Obama every single day. But tell you what. Homey made this bed, now he has got to lay in it."

"'Homey' being President Obama?" Karl asked.

"That is correct," Baldwin said.

[Oleg]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/19/stephen-baldwin-on-obama_n_468692.html

"I'm gonna be real straight with you," Baldwin told ABC's Jonathan Karl. "I am not happy about the way things are. I pray for President Obama every single day. But tell you what. Homey made this bed, now he has got to lay in it."

"'Homey' being President Obama?" Karl asked.

"That is correct," Baldwin said.

[Slaky]

Too funny not to steal - Coup succeeds in detaining Niger president, exciting teabaggers who misread the headline

[ChuckD]

Too funny not to steal - Coup succeeds in detaining Niger president, exciting teabaggers who misread the headline

Even better: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2454302/posts?page=16#16

[Oleg]

Too funny not to steal - Coup succeeds in detaining Niger president, exciting teabaggers who misread the headline

Even better: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2454302/posts?page=16#16

Holy shit.

To: Ben Mugged
Why can't they write "President of Niger" just to avoid confusion?

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

Too funny not to steal - Coup succeeds in detaining Niger president, exciting teabaggers who misread the headline

Even better: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2454302/posts?page=16#16

Holy shit.

To: Ben Mugged
Why can't they write "President of Niger" just to avoid confusion?

The whole internet is watching.