One more time...

June 24, 2008

One more time...

29 comments:

Anonymous said...: I love that picture; June 24, 2008 7:51 AM
Anonymous said...: On the left side they need one more bubble that says OIL or Hummer, F250, or some "Chicken Coop SUV"....; June 24, 2008 8:18 AM
Anonymous said...: Didn't the banksters do the things on the left and aren't they now rich (even the ex CEO of Citigroup - he may have been fired, but he is still rich) from doing these things. Are haven't the majority of the American middle class done the things on the right, and all they have to show for it are stagnant wages and high priced gas and oil and electricity and food.

Maybe the captions at the bottom of the pictures need to be reversed.; June 24, 2008 10:45 AM
Anonymous said...: The people on the right were not told that if they pursue riches that they will never live long enough to enjoy it because of the stress and associated health problems that a career tolls on the human body.

The people on the left investing in bubbles will probably still be around into their 90s, because evil people live a long time and seem to be here just to frustrate the people on the right.; June 24, 2008 10:59 AM
Anonymous said...: You do get rich by investing in bubbles. The key is to be first in and first out.

If you work hard you don't get rich. An asshole like Obama comes along and takes 60% of your income because you dare make money.; June 24, 2008 12:00 PM
Anonymous said...: You mean we need to make something other than websites, welfare cheats and phony priests?

Labor, REAL labor?

You're kidding, RIGHT?; June 24, 2008 2:09 PM
Anonymous said...: Yeah, that Obama is the problem...he is going to take 60% of your money. Of course the Bushies have already taken the next 10 years of your money and given it to the top .05%.

There still are people around that don't get it after the last 8 years???; June 24, 2008 3:50 PM
Anonymous said...: You do get rich by investing in bubbles. The key is to be first in and first out.
--------------------------------

they key is not to be the last man in and the last man out.

Kind of like you only need to be faster than the slowest guy if a bear is around.; June 24, 2008 4:09 PM
Anonymous said...: SPX 1304.42 Wow! That "non-zero chance of spiking down to the 1200's" came close!

Keeping one's own fruits of labor on the right got a lot harder when the speculators/gamblers of the left got the government in the game to bail out the gambers at the expense of the laborers on the right. Keith, that explains why the big bankers are leftists :-) LOL.; June 24, 2008 4:23 PM
Anonymous said...: The people on the right side of the picture worked hard and saved their money. Then a couple of ass-hole Republicans named Bush-Cheney came along and spent all the money in your pensions on no-bid contracts for their cronies.; June 24, 2008 4:48 PM
Devestment said...: In the interest of dumbing down America further I propose…

We eliminate the study of history from all schools.

Ban all historic artifacts from public view.(Such as your antique print)

Criminalize the discussion Nazis, Slavery, Native Cultures, economic cycles, historic natural disaster, and etcetera ad infinitum.( eBay has a good start on this with the ban of “objectionable objects”).

Mandatory viewing of Disney movies for every child. (Oh wait, that’s done)

Mandatory consumption of chemical based processed foods. (Darn it, that’s done too); June 24, 2008 5:21 PM
Anonymous said...: Yeah, that Obama is the problem...he is going to take 60% of your money. Of course the Bushies have already taken the next 10 years of your money and given it to the top .05%.

There still are people around that don't get it after the last 8 years???

June 24, 2008 3:50 PM

===============================

Ahh yes the demoRAT mindset. Anyone who makes over $50K a year is in the top .05%.

Moron, if you did about 2 minutes worth of research you would realize that the top 1% of people pays 35% of taxes. The top 10% pays 70% of taxes. The bottom 50% pays a whopping 3%. That's right 3%. And yet imbeciles like you complain that the rich don't pay their share.

All Obama will do is make the top 10% that pays 70% of taxes figure out new creative ways to avoid paying more taxes. You and your idiot socialist pals still think you can make poor people rich by making rich people poor. Good luck with that.; June 24, 2008 6:39 PM
Anonymous said...: The people who created those bubble are rich. The ones who chased them will mostly end up poor. The ones who work hard are screwed by everyone; June 24, 2008 7:23 PM
Anonymous said...: Anon 10:45, amen.

Left:

"Way for US to grow rich off YOU"

Right:

"Way for Chinese to get rich, but NOT YOU, suckers!"; June 24, 2008 7:31 PM
Anonymous said...: Moron, if you did about 2 minutes worth of research you would realize that the top 1% of people pays 35% of taxes. The top 10% pays 70% of taxes. The bottom 50% pays a whopping 3%. That's right 3%. And yet imbeciles like you complain that the rich don't pay their share

Moron*2, that's because GOP shill Morans conveniently ignore SS and Medicare taxes, sales taxes, state taxes and property taxes.

AND most importnatly, the fact the RICH pay more income taxes is that they are making enormously titanically more than the rest of the people. They are capturing 98% of all the productivity and GDP growth produced by everybody and keeping it for themselves. This is very, very different from the way it used to be, when in truth most people benefitted.

And then they have the gall to scream about class warfare when there is the slightest attempt to ameliorate this problem. GMAFB.

The hyperrich have been waging class warfare for 20 years and they are winning by five touchdowns.; June 24, 2008 7:35 PM
Frank R said...: AND most importnatly, the fact the RICH pay more income taxes is that they are making enormously titanically more than the rest of the people. They are capturing 98% of all the productivity and GDP growth produced by everybody and keeping it for themselves.

You need to do another two minutes of research and learn that most of the ultra-rich started out as dirt poor and WORKED THEIR ASSES OFF to become rich.

The only reason you want to punish them is because you know damn well you are too LAZY to ever achieve that for yourself and the only way you'll ever get a piece of the pie is for someone like Obama to come in and STEAL it from them to GIVE it to you.

Get a life, loser.; June 24, 2008 8:37 PM
Anonymous said...: Weird.

When I tried plowing behind a mule I never got rich.

I wonder what I did wrong?; June 24, 2008 8:40 PM
Anonymous said...: "They are capturing 98% of all the productivity and GDP growth produced by everybody and keeping it for themselves. This is very, very different from the way it used to be, when in truth most people benefitted. "

Why do you think that (or an approximation of it) came into being? In the old days, when a new way of doing things was invented, i.e. when productivity increased, the inventor/entreprenuer could go into the market place and find both customer and labor. For example, when Edison invented electric light bulb, he could bring his new utiltiy company into direct competition against the existing Gas light companies of Baltimore; when Henry Ford brought the production line method from meat packing into car making, all needed to do to find worker was tossing a silver quarter into the tavern, and find his winner of the ensuing fist fight. Nowadays, a modern Edison or Ford would be up shits creek against government granted monopolies, submarine patents granted by imbeciles, armies of lawyers and activists hired and subsidized on incumbents ready to throw the regulatory book at the inventor/entreprenuer. That's why incumbent big businesses can afford to have such a skewed pay scale: the would-be new comer competition are killed by the government red tapes. What's more, there's actually an incentive for shareholders to pay the big bucks to hire the well-connected ex government officials and lobbiests, because they will get the competition off your back: both through directly industry-specific regulations, general-purpose labor regulations that favor incumbents, and tilt the play-field by taxing successes to bailout incumbent failures. In this kind of tilted market, money goes to incumbents, hence bigger checks for "star managers" (read: often well connected managers) and less pay for workers.; June 24, 2008 9:02 PM
Anonymous said...: anoniSTUPID 7:35

You and bitter renter don't get it. You do not make poor people rich by making rich people poor.

Tax the rich and the rich simply go somewhere else. And then all you have left is the poor.

Think real hard about every job you've had. Was your employer ever a poor person? You know very well the answer is no. If you tax every additional dollar earned at 70 or 80 or 90% like you socialist pigs want, guess what happens? Those people stop making the marginal dollar. And they stop investing. Which means no more new jobs, no more growth and a return to the wonderful, fabulous days of the late 70s. A child can understand this simple concept. Yet demoRATS and their useful idiots such as yourself and bitter renter can't.

Please do the world a favor and castrate yourself ASAP. The world cannot afford your genes to pass on to any more generations.; June 24, 2008 10:27 PM
Anonymous said...: A story even bitter renter and his band of useful idiots can understand:

Ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. They pay their bill as follows:
The poorest 4 pay $0. One man pays $1. One man pays $3. One man pays $7. One pays $12. One pays $18 and one pays $59.

The next day they go out to dinner again. Exccept this time the owner of the restaurant cust the price by $20 to $80.

The bill is then split as follows: The first 4 still pay $0. The guy who paid $1 the night before now also pays $0. The guy who paid $3 the night before pays only $2. The guy who paid $7 last night now pays
$5. The guy who paid $12 now pays $9. The guy who paid $18 now pays $12. And finally the RICH GUY who paid $59, now pays $52.

All six are better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free.

But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. "I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man, but he, pointing to the RICH GUY got $7!" "Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man, "I only saved $1. It's unfair that he got seven times more than me!" That's true!" shouted the seventh man, why should he get $7 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!" Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison, "we didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The next night the RICH GUY didn't bother showing up for dinner. He decided to eat dinner in Dubai. And guess what, the other nine were $52 short and couldn't afford to eat.

And that is how income taxes work. Those that pay nothing in taxes get nothing in tax cuts. Those that pay the most in taxes will by definition get the most in tax cuts. And most importantly if you piss the rich off, they go away to countries where they are more welcomed to spend their money in peace.; June 24, 2008 10:40 PM
Anonymous said...: Eat the rich I say-- cut off their fat lazy butts, fry them in a pan and eat them. They do nothing but steal from the poor who do all the work and get crapped on. Except for the nice people. Of which there are a few. Eye of a needle?; June 24, 2008 11:20 PM
Anonymous said...: Oh the fact that super rich are making all sorts of money is entirely due to poor and middle class people, and nothing to the privilges which they can buy with that money?

And how did US power and wealth and standard of living grow so strongly during periods when both capital and labor made money?; June 24, 2008 11:26 PM
Anonymous said...: the thing I find so damn funny is that most people who defend low taxes will not directly benefit from them. poor, dumb, guns & religion types just tow the party line regardless of whether or not they are affected.

obama is a lock in 2008. his administration is going to raise the highest marginal tax rate 43% for those earning >$250,000. this extra revenue will be used to pay for getting rid of AMT, and hopefully pay down some of the deficit.

the average billionaire's wealth increased by ~35% in 2007. the average american's wealth decreased in 2007. something has to give.; June 25, 2008 12:47 AM
Anonymous said...: I'd like to know the stories behind some of thhose old-timey bubbles. What's the "policy" balloon mean? How about "Rino?" Were people feverishly hawking rhinoceroses to each other at one point in the 1800s?; June 25, 2008 1:51 AM
Anonymous said...: You can never improve the living standards of the poor and middle class by killing off the upper class. For the very simple reason that the upper class consists such a small number of people that their consumption is quite miniscule in absolute terms. Even a $10millino yacht or a $100k party consumes very little in terms of raw material; most of the high price tag is in labor, in other words employment oppourtunity for the craftsmen and caterers.

Killing off the existing upper class would only result in a new crop of dictatorial upper class placed in their place to manage the society (call them "comrade" or what have you, yes they are our equals, just more "equal" than you and me). They are guaranteed to be all the more corrupt due to further concentration of power. That's the lesson from French Revolution to Soviet Revolution, and all the copycats after them.

The way to improve the lot of the poor and middle class is by promoting competition among the upper class and reducing collusion. For example, when Edison invented electrical lights, his competive entry cut the profit margins of the existing gas light companies; that meant lower cost for consumers who want lights at night, and higher wages for workers because now there's a company able to pay more because its business methods were more efficient. When Henry Ford introduced production line to the auto industry. He put a lot of existing car businesses out of business, and created higher paying jobs for workers at the same time . . . because his new method was more efficient.

Competition is what brings the fruit of productivity gain to the masses. Just look at the computer industry. It's one of the least regulated industries in the last 30 years. Innovation and competition makes goods and services affordable to the public far more quickly than any government intervention while businesses are kept lean: IBM no longer makes PC's, Compaq is long gone, Dell did not even exist in the early years of PC, and Apple has almost died at least twice and recently coming back strong. In a competitive market place, Companies live and die by their ability to deliver products and services to the consumer. In contrast, government sanctioned utility monopolies in this country and labor unions in the auto industry have more or less frozen both their respective industries to their landscape from the early 1930's, with services and products that improve at much slower pace if at all in some cases. As heavily regulated entities, they are guaranteed money makers for the bankers and executives (cost-plus basis) while basket cases for taxpayers. Taxpayers were drafted to save Chrysler in the early 1980's, and might be drafted again for GM and Ford soon, can anyone even dream of taxpayer stumping up the money to save Dell or Apple? Of course not; it's not necessary in a competitive market place. In a competitive market place, the end users are the kings, and the service providers are the servants . . . whereas in a regulated non-competitive market, the service provider is the king, and the end users are peons.

BTW, for all the socialism lovers, the peons in Cuba are only allowed to have computer this year by their "people's government." I wonder how they trained people to keep medical records in the last four decades. I guess they didn't have to if the medical standards was frozen from pre-1965 too. LOL.; June 25, 2008 4:10 AM
Anonymous said...: "the thing I find so damn funny is that most people who defend low taxes will not directly benefit from them. poor, dumb, guns & religion types just tow the party line regardless of whether or not they are affected."

Of course they will benefit. A less intrusive government, for a start. The government can afford to stick its nose in everything only when there's so much funding and every department is trying to enlarge its fief.; June 25, 2008 2:52 PM
Anonymous said...: Anonymous said...

Eat the rich I say-- cut off their fat lazy butts, fry them in a pan and eat them. They do nothing but steal from the poor who do all the work and get crapped on.

Andrew Hac is catching on.; June 25, 2008 6:08 PM
Anonymous said...: Late to the thread, I know, but actually that cartoon is wrong.

People DO get rich investing in bubbles: I know people who WERE smart enough to gobble up multiple houses for flipping in 2002, but they were also smart enough to see the market was collapsing in 2006, and BAILED before it did, selling at the top.

Maybe the cartoon would be more accurate if it said most people DON'T get rich chasing wealth, as the general uneducated public are usually the LAST ONES to get into the act, as the 'bag-holders'.

Think of the last guy to buy Crocs stock at the peak, etc. Think of all those late-night "get rich in real estate" commercials we saw in 2003. Think of all the InvestTools computer trading infomercials of late.... By the time the trend hits late-night informercial status, you know the worm is about to turn....

The cartoon would be more accurate if it said you're not PRODUCING anything worthwhile by chasing bubbles, although even there, I'm not convinced that completely true, either. People with new-found wealth tend to spend like there's no tomorrow, and that helps the general economy to grow. Think of all the real estate brokers who bought the fancy cars, suits, trips to Vegas, etc.

The fact is, ALL markets go thru CYCLES of expansion AND contraction, and to deny this reality is to miss an important aspect of economic life.

Of course, no one wants a recession to happen on THEIR watch, so Bush et al have pretty much created this tide-wave by trying to PREVENT a collapse! All they've done is build up more repressed energy that will rock our markets in one fell swoop, more than if they hadn't intervened to "save" our economy. I'm thinking of all those interest rate cuts, the bailing out of failed businesses (Countrywide comes to mind!), etc.

Why am I reminded of a would-be rescuer who tries to help a drowning person, but instead gets dragged down to the bottom of the lake with the flailing, panicked swimmer?

No, it's about survival of the fittest, and natural selection. Your representatives have so gummed up the works, and we're so far removed from a 'free market', that it's no longer recognizable as such.; June 28, 2008 6:41 PM
Anonymous said...: For years, and continuing still, i find my best investment is in buying tools and materials for creating artworks, audio recording, fixing electronics, etc. As long there exist people who don't like blank walls, or need their music studios plugged together, i can do something useful and make $. Not being a money tree, it makes no sense for me to give $$$ to banks/brokers/mutual funds/401K/whatever where someone else gets to have all the fun and good karma of doing something useful.

Of course, i need someplace to park the money i earn and keep after paying the rent, bills and all, a place that keeps up with inflation at least. My wealth will grow, but mostly due to adding more to it frequently!

YMMV...; June 29, 2008 6:13 AM

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June 24, 2008

One more time...

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