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That’s a bit much I think.

All,

Not sure if it was discussed yesterday but I know that this is the place to ask for prayers. My classsmate MAJ Doug Zembiec was killed in Iraq yesterday. He has a wife and a baby girl.

http://www.blackfive.net/main/2007/05/a_lion_falls_go.html

He was quickly becoming a legend in the Marine Corps and was a WARRIOR. He and his men were featured in the LA Times during the battle for Fallujah. A quote from that time:

That sense of duty, Skiles said, starts at the top with the company commander, Capt. Douglas A. Zembiec. Zembiec was wounded in his left leg by an enemy grenade in a three-hour firefight. He never left his company.
“The enemy we’ve encountered is an undisciplined one,” said Zembiec, of Albuquerque, N.M. “My Marines have fought like lions and will continue to do so. Ten million insurgents won’t even begin to fill the boots of one of my men.”

Men like Doug and his Marines deserve better than what the political hacks in Washington are giving them.

"Sen John Kerry refused to reply to the family either through the phone or mail system."

REMEMBER THIS. When these Marines are acquitted, the Swift Vets will have nothing on this family if Kerry runs in 08.

John Kerry never saw a soldier he wouldn't sell out for politics.

Wow.

Morning all.

Every citizen of mainland Europe should take 30 seconds today to marvel at what a nation an ocean away was willing to sacrifice for them.

Not that anyone here needs any reminder of the greatness of our military, but I felt the need to post for the first time in a while today.

I once heard a D-Day vet being asked in an interview what made him get off the boat into that hail of fire and his response was very simple. The man next to him was hitting the beach and was counting on him, he had to go.

You're right. The markets started sliding south in March of 2000...leading indicator and all that.

W talked about the economy slowing down during the run up to the election and was criticized by the MSM and the Democrats for "talking down the economy" for political gain. Conveniently forgotten once he took office when it all suddenly became his fault.

The unemployment numbers between the two are usually pretty close, especially after they are revised.

My point is that the 60K sample size of the household survey doesn't invalidate it as an unemployment measure, which was your contention.

"what alot of americans see in their own economic lives"

Much like your criticism of the household survey, this is hardly a verifiable sample, kind of like John Kerry citing the many foreign leaders that wanted him to win the election.

"- private sector wages have been going nowhere. note - private sector middle class wages, exclude government employees and the executive class compensation. employee contributions for medical - goes up and up every year."


The preliminary Wage Trend Indicator™ (WTI) for the fourth quarter continues to forecast a moderate acceleration in the rate of private-sector wage growth in the coming months, according to figures released today by BNA, a Washington, D.C.-based news publisher.

The November WTI reading of 99.97 for the fourth quarter is an increase from the final index for the third quarter of 99.75 (second quarter 1976 = 100). The WTI has now risen for six consecutive quarters, the first time that has happened since 1997-1998.

Despite the steady rise in the WTI, the pace of U.S. wage increases in 2005 has slowed from last year, suggesting that increased global competition and sourcing may be fundamentally changing U.S. labor markets, said economist Joel Popkin, who developed the index for BNA

*Note that I included the portion about the slowing rate of growth due to global competition. Worth considering.

"- people ask themselves "if I lost my current job, could I get another at the same salary level?". for alot of americans, the answer is no (I am one of them)."

Which people and how many is a lot? I think that is a pretty common deal though and always has been. That's why teacher unions fought so hard for tenure. Some of it has to do with outsourcing, some of it has to do with simple economics. Airline pilots that are laid off all get jobs with lower pay but there is an argument that their wages were artificially and unsustainably high.

"- gas prices, housing prices, eating into disposable income."

Always have. Gas is expensive, no doubt. Housing prices are certainly based on location. Part of the dynamic of the boom in real estate is a boom in new building, which in my city has meant a lot of new condos that are reasonably priced in relation to single family houses. Texas hasn't seen nearly the boom as other places and I'm sure there are other areas as well. Often ill-advised loans (and historically low interest rates) have let a ton of people buy houses regardless of where they are, which is why home ownership is at an all time high. In any case the housing market shows many signs of cooling, so part of that concern might be alleviated soon.

"- parents see their kids living in their basements into their 30s, and beyond, because they can't get jobs with salaries that allow them to enter the housing market. I see more and more family structures that involves more than 2 wage earners. an adult child, an elderly parent, a sister/brother/aunt/uncle - are now part of the family unit, giving 3 or 4 wage earners per household."

Which ones? I don't know a single person with a 30 year old in his basement but I won't argue that it doesn't happen. Perhaps more of a parenting than an economic issue. In any case, what we've seen is that the rental market has been slightly depressed as more people have been buying due to low interest rates. So if they are one of the people that still can't afford to buy, they should be able to rent fairly reasonably.

"- private sector companies are relentlessly eroding pension and retiree benefits over time."

Virtually no one has started a new DB pension plan in over ten years. Economic forces at work...they are a bad business decision. Underfunding of existing plans is another story and should be addressed by the Fed Gov. Companies should be held accountable for fulling funding the plans...bankruptcy reform as well.

"- despite posts to the contrary, offshoring is still going on - focused in tech and tech support services."

Not a single company is doing that because it is bad for their business. In order to continue to employ ANYONE or keep up with their pension obligations, the companies must remain competitive. If an engineer or a software specialist who is highly trained and qualified but happens to live in India can do the job, it's like trying to stop the tide to keep that job here. As the economy evolves, people must evolve with it. New technology inevitably creates new opportunities here as well. I don't mean to dismiss this because it is doubtless very painful to people whose job has been outsourced but it follows the laws of economics.

"rather than go off on me with your usual diatribe, comment on some of the observations above. tell me which ones are false."

Did my best. I don't know if any of them are false but I think there is more to the story if you have a different point of view. No surprises there.

"because its those things I list above, that are causing the current ratings Bush gets on the economy."

Were none of the things you listed true during the Clinton administration? Or were the unemployment numbers then pure beyond any question? I think that the poor numbers have much more to do with PR, MSM, and the pain of losing money in the market outweighing the joy of making it...people have a hard time letting go of the bear market despite 3 straight positive market years since then.

The payroll survery has a sample size of 400K businesses...over 1/3 of total non farm payroll. Certainly a big enough sample size and they know exactly who they are polling.

You certainly see some differences in the two measures and payroll usually shows higher unemployment but not by much. These numbers are real.

Oh. I figured someone had wiped out...must have been the "I can't believe I won" fall.

Cute cute stuff with the little girl.

Hate to jump in at the end of this but I scanned the posts and didn't see anything about it.

At the end of the broadcast, when NBC was doing the photo montage, they showed a skier who had fallen and a little girl that ran out onto the course to hug her...anyone know the story there? Pretty darn tearjerking...

LOL!

Just hate to see a great moment like this turn into mud slinging...perhaps some history there I don't know about.

For the record, the kid looked cute as heck to me.

Since this thread just started, it might make things a little easier if you could just go ahead and post a list of items that it is unacceptable to disagree with you on and also one of fairly innocuous comments that will cause you to fly off the handle and start repeatedly calling names in response to.

Heaven forbid that someone be able to express his opinion on a thread that is covering the glorious exercise of freedom.

Not at all...well OK maybe instead of I!

Loved the Zahn books (my favorites of the extended universe) and thought the stories were a heck of a lot better than trade federation blah blah and any scene with Jake Reed and Hayden Christensen in them.

Especially since if they'd done them a few years ago, they could have rolled with the original castmembers for the first of the series anyway.

Different beverage, but sometimes I wake up having dreamt about Orkney Ale, that I once had on a trip to Kinloss.

No CO2, manual pump out of an actual wooden keg...glorious beer.

Oh yeah and to stay on topic, Harry Reid is a jackass.

To quote the worst line in all six movies, when Annakin is told he killed Padme: "Nooooooooooooo!".

I thought I was watching a spoof for a split second.

IMHO The Zahn books should have been put on film...

Text of letter to Bill Nelson:

I am fully expecting Senator Nelson to make a statement this week asking Senator Reid to put aside his temper tantrum for the time being and help get a budget passed.

Specifically, Guardsmen and Reservists are waiting to find out if their Senators and Representatives care enough about their service to provide assistance with health care.

I am self employed and find it very difficult to keep up with the crushing cost of health care and at the same time devote time to the Navy Reserves at the expense of my civilian employment.

I find it particularly insulting that Senator Reid invoked the familiar canard of "for the troops" when he held up Senate business that would clearly benefit them.

The point has been made and has been well covered in the press...NOW GET BACK TO WORK, sir.

Hell, he promised a middle class tax cut too. If you're going to lie, might as well make them big ones.

That's exactly what I thought leading up to Friday. Reading the indictment looks a lot like Libby might have had a poor recollection but then when given a chance to correct himself stuck with the initial story. Seems odd to me, especially knowing about the notes from the meeting with VP where they discussed Plame.

Doesn't change how I feel about this whole sham of a case to begin with (Honestly, is is too much to ask for the CIA to make a definitive statement about her status...and couldn't that have been done two years ago?) and what a jackass and obvious lying hack Wilson is, but I think Libby is screwed.

I'm SURE that we can't trust the reporters! LOL!

Seems like a stretch that all three of them would have one story and Libby another though.

I am a bit of a suscriber to the theory though that something else must be going on because Libby couldn't possibly be stupid enough to think he could get away with being so blatant. Time will tell I guess.