Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Dr. Strangelove]

Ty Cobb tells ABC that's he's very confident no one on Mueller's team leaked the 49 interview questions. Says that leak only benefits someone who has an interest in sabotaging the possibility of an interview.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/exclusive-ty-cobb-special-counsel-interview-trump-off/story?id=54878028

[Kapture1]

Ty Cobb tells ABC that's he's very confident no one on Mueller's team leaked the 49 interview questions. Says that leak only benefits someone who has an interest in sabotaging the possibility of an interview.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/exclu...ry?id=54878028

he was also confident that a sitting president can not obstruct justice.



He forgot to add "by performing one of his constitutional powers"




Ty Cobb is to lawyers what this guy is to doctors

[SeattleLionsFan]

I thought he knew the best people?

[Kapture1]

The Koreas are about to make peace, your opinion of him is irrelevant.

[Kapture1]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5684105/North-Korea-starts-pulling-cables-tunnels-nuclear-test-site.html

[Da Geezer]

Got links to your evidence? Can you show me GDP measured in the terms you describe and where your data comes from? The Trump admin is measuring GDP in the same way that Obama was as far I as I can find. Does that mean the Trump GDP numbers are a sham too?

I'm not sure what you're indicating with the interest rates. The rates were obviously cut by central banks around the world to encourage borrowing and spending and avoid economic collapse. In some cases, it produced stagnation instead. You seem to regard savings as "production" but spending is not? But obviously, you can't make money if people aren't spending.

It is depressing to ask you statists to think and not simply regurgitate.

Put directly, yes, the Trump numbers are also a sham insofar as they represent money spent on those swamp items like bureaucrats, welfare, and entitlements. Federal and State employees make roughly twice what private sector workers earn for the same job. The Trump numbers also have increased GDP owing to more military spending and higher wages for soldiers. You may not agree with that policy, but it produces actual goods and services. All you need to view is the history of interest rates over the last several decades:

http://www.macrotrends.net/2015/fed-funds-rate-historical-chart

But where you totally lack understanding of macroeconomic matters is the statist belief that the government "sets" the interest rate. That is utterly untrue. Interest rates are set at auction where those with capital try to buy bonds at the lowest price they can get (highest rate) and sellers, like a government, try to get the highest price (lowest interest rate) possible. This price discovery has nothing to do with the Fed. The Fed does engage in "open market" activities in which Obama's Fed spent trillions on US bonds driving their price way above the equilibrium rate in order for their yields to be near zero. When you hear that the Fed is "unwinding their balance sheet" that is what is being discussed: how to liquidate the vast holdings of US bonds that the Obama Era Fed purchased at too high a price. And the reason that the equilibrium price of bonds was so low in the Obama years is that there was no almost zero economic activity, so no one thought they could make a profit even if they got the money for free. After the election, I posted an article that said that unemployment rates among white men age 18-54 was higher in the Obama Recession than during the worst parts of the Great Depression. That is why they voted as they did, it turns out.

So, again I say, why the negative interest rates for the first time in American history? It is a serious question and requires thinking and observation. Hamilton OH is offering to pay $ 5,000 toward school debt if you move there (because they can't find workers) and a town in IN is paying $ 5,000 toward the purchase of a house. These are actual, real-life indications that the labor market is tightening, and that wages are going up. I might add that in 1930-31 standard economic theory was that when a recession hit, you should call in all your loans, and pay your debts and wait until the "Panic" was over. We learned that was wrongheaded.

So give the HuffPo, Buzzfeed, or The Economist a good going over and see what they think caused the negative interest rates particularly in Europe and Japan.

Alternatively, suppose Bernie gets his plan adopted and all those who are unemployed are given a government job including welfare benefits. 39% of working-age adults in the US are choosing not to work, but now they will have a "job" and their "wages" will count toward GDP. I think you could see a 15-20% increase in GDP, even if these deadbeats stay home like they are doing now. Rassmussen reported today that 46% of the population favors this plan. Is this really what the left has come to in as their "growth agenda"?

[Ghengis Jon]

RE: North Korea's peace offensive

Its showmanship for the gullible.

"I'll stop testing missiles". (He hasn't tested any in months and there are no preparations in process. US intelligence agencies state it takes NoKo 6 weeks to prep.)

"I'll stop testing nukes." (See above)

"I'll dismantle the test facility." (The facility was rendered unusable by an earthquake caused by the testing. Scrounge and scavenge operation going on now.)

NoKo hasn't done anything substantive. Just part of the propaganda blitz. Let's see what is put to ink and then watch what NoKo does. What's going on publicly now is simply 'sales puffery' for the weak of mind.

The proof will be in the pudding. We should know in a month or so.

[Ghengis Jon]

This is about 10 years too late.

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2018/05/02/US-bans-Huawei-ZTE-smartphones-from-military-bases-worldwide/2011525281485/?utm_source=sec&utm_campaign=sl&utm_medium=4

[Kapture1]

N Korea releases their American detainees at Trumps request lmao

Per Dennis Rodman Kim had a change of heart when reading The Art of the Deal that Rodman brought him as a gift in July of last year

If i didnt know better, i would swear someone is timetraveling and fucking with this timeline.

[Da Geezer]

Some demands from a BLM Activist from August: https://www.leoweekly.com/2017/08/white-people/

Can't believe I missed this gem.

Ha! Frightening that Obama had more than 40 White House meetings with the leaders of BLM. If you listened to Rev. Wright (Obama's "spiritual mentor") in the 2008 election, you had heard it all before. Black folks have no chance against white privilege except in football, ...basketball, ....entertainment, .....politics.... government....

[Dr. Strangelove]

Geezer- Can you point me in the direction of authors who agree with your position on interest rates, economic growth, etc?

[Dr. Strangelove]

[ame]https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/991817440857346048[/ame]

[Jeff Buchanan]

It is depressing to ask you statists to think and not simply regurgitate......... where you totally lack understanding of macroeconomic matters is the statist belief that the government "sets" the interest rate. That is utterly untrue........

Well, not really "totally" ......... your description of how interest rates are set not by central banks but rather by the open market is fundamentally correct but your underplaying the role of central banks to influence interest rates and it is, in fact, the primary role of central banks in shrinking or increasing the money supply. This, in turn, affects the activity in the open market and hence interest rates.

It would be technically incorrect to state that the Federal Reserve sets the interest rate. The Federal Reserve actually has only limited control over long-term real interest rates. It does influence the nominal rate of interest for loanable funds by affecting the money supply.

Suppose that the nominal interest rate for short-term debt is at 4%. The Federal Reserve can engage in open market operations by purchasing additional government bonds or other assets. Since the Fed creates new money to make these purchases, the total supply of money in the economy increases. If the Fed targets a 3% interest rate, it can continue to purchase assets and create new money until it sees interest rates drop to 3%.

https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/032715/how-were-nominal-interest-rates-economy-set-federal-reserve.asp

I'm not sure why you keep asking about negative interest rates and insist these are an indication of a lack of economic growth during the BO administration and as it especially applies to the ARRA.

Negative interest rates are not necessarily a bad thing and viewed independently as you seem to be asking us to do, misses half of the equation in relationship to the question: are negative interest rates an indicator of of economic growth or lack thereof?

They are but they are also a signal to central banks to adopt accomodative monetary policy. That is what the BO administration did and by most measures (of course, you have your measures and I have mine and, frankly, there is no consensus among economists on how this is actually measured), employment and economic output as measured by GDP did improve.

Look, I'm not a statist. I don't think Entropy or DSL are either. This is just dumb name calling and hampers productive discourse on complex questions involving complex analysis about which administration, BO or DJT, is going to have the better record with regard to employment and the economy.

There are a huge number of factors that ultimately determine reasonable analysis of this question. If I could reduce the question whose answer is determined by just a few important factors these would be the globalist approach BO took v. the protectionist/nationalist approach of DJT.

TBF, I don't think we yet know about the impact on employment and economic activity that DJT policies will have. By measures that I accept, BO's policies supported recovery and the economic growth experienced after ARRA and that which continues today.

Some things DJT has done (e.g., lowering corporate taxes - not withstanding the recent Rubio remarks) are clearly supportive of the growth of the US economy. However, there are other DJT administration policy matters that I view as counter-productive and/or policies where the jury is still out.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Trump's been denying for a month or more that he knew anything about Cohen paying off Stormy Daniels. Giuliani just admitted on Hannity's show that Trump repaid Cohen for the hush money.

[CGVT]

Because that keeps if from being an illegal campaign contribution.