Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Da Geezer]

AP is reporting that Christie is out.

[Hannibal]

But what the heck happens if he actually wins? That's a Pandora's Box I am frightfully afraid of peering into. If he actually is what he is here, it's going to be four years of tantrums and insults. If we think we've got enemies now...

TRUMP: "YES IT'S GOING TO BE FOUR YEARS OF TANTRUMS AND INSULTS. DON'T YOU WANT SOMEBODY WHO WILL THROW A TANTRUM AND BOMB THE SHIT OUT OF ISIS?"

[Hannibal]

Too bad.

I would have loved to see Fiorina debate Hillary. Just for entertainment.

Fast forward to 12:16

[youtube]qsOtSUkFkuE[/youtube]

[Da Geezer]

Hack said:

I think you best write off any serious structural change on Bernie's watch, and consider what can be done without getting Congress involved, and who he can turn into young stars in the party ready to carry on the plan. He's gotta know it's a long game.

There are a lot of people in the middle part of the country, not in the I-95 corridor, who believe that Congress needs to be "involved". I understand that Obama doesn't believe that, but some do. Bernie is to find persons, uninvolved with Congress, "who he can turn into young stars in the party". Can't these persons turn themselves into stars?

Hack, just listen to yourself. You are basically saying that Bernie would, without electoral input, institute those parts of his platform which can be done by presidential decree. He would further promote his ideas by raising up persons who he can turn into stars in the party. Is that Party, singular? This is statist talk, and it comes to most of us so naturally.

Anyway, the 1/6 figure I used comes from the WSJ, which is only slightly more reliable than Judge Posner (the most overturned Judge in the entire Federal Circuit Court bench). I suppose I should have said, "relies on compensation from the government". We do know that there are 48,000,000 people on food stamps. I'm not trying to argue about the underlying facts of my proposition. I'm simply saying that all those who are compensated by government do not contribute to GNP. This is a GNP argument. Put more bluntly, how can we have 4.9% unemployment and GNP growth when it "feels" like a recession? Millenials that I know like Bernie mainly because they cannot find a job.

And to Cody's point, government employees make substantially more than private sector employees doing the same or a similar job (in most cases double if you include pension benefits). Six of the 10 richest counties in the US are around DC, and this was not always the case. And my question is whether GNP or GDP is artificially overstated because there are government employees who contribute nothing or less than nothing to the product of the nation. When you have interest rates at zero, and Bush prints $650 B in new money, followed by Obama with $ 800 B in more new money, why is there not inflation? Janet Yellen said today that she would consider below zero interest rates for the US. Why is zero as the cost of money not low enough?

[Mike]

And to Cody's point, government employees make substantially more than private sector employees doing the same or a similar job (in most cases double if you include pension benefits).

100% Weapons grade bullshit. Have anything factual to add or are you too busy destroying public education and bulldozing landscapes? Pensions for state of Michigan employees phased out in the early 90s. Federal employees pensions for new workers probably won't equal their social security payments (if it's still around). Everything has been switched to savings plans. There is nothing wrong with that but let's speak factually.

[Wild Hoss]

I don't have a source to back it up, but is it actually true that government (public) agencies are more inefficient than private? Any thoughts on that.

I would certainly hope so, although any organization of substantial size suffers in terms of efficiency. (Try weaving your way through US Banks' directory sometime)

That said, its also something of a misnomer, as government's purpose in an endeavor is often to ensure fairness in lieu of efficiency. We could certainly make the justice system all kinds of efficient in comparison to its current form for instance, with just a few tweaks of due process, conviction and incarceration.

[entropy]

hoss... it's inefficient. every time we drink you tell me a new story.

I also agree with your size comment. Bigger the company the more complex to navigate.

[entropy]

Anybody following this case? Could be very interesting... so many story lines.... What is free speech? And could this open a can of worms? Can Twitter be forced to name one of its users?

[entropy]

http://westsidetoday.com/2016/02/03/james-woods-denies-cocaine-use-sex-offender-label-in-twitter-defamation-trial/

some details from a few days ago..

[Cody_Russell]

I did an interview at DFAS for an accounting (auditing) internship a few years ago.
One of the things they stressed was "ONLY 40 hours a week" (if you become full time one day).

It's like they focused on all the entitlements of working for the government than the actual work.

[Mike]

Correct. Since they can't pay you more and salaries are frozen, the trade-off is that you have a great work-life balance.

[Da Geezer]

Getting back to this subject of Trump's electability...

I think that you are vastly underestimating how effectively he will campaign.

Hanni:

I too had to think through your reasoning about Trump's electability. I pretty much agree with what you said. I too think he would be a formidable general election candidate.

First, he is on a steep learning curve. His presentation during the debates has improved dramatically; no more stupid faces, no more talking down to and insulting people.

Second, I think one of the keys to Trump is what he said in The Art of the Deal. He says that a person had to ask for much more than they expect, and then negotiate back. That's what he did when he said that all Muslim immigration should be stopped and then he walked it back to a temporary ban. Americans would not stand for some form of Gestapo taking away all illegals in the dead of night. We all have illegals as friends and neighbors.

Third, Trump's electability is a function of who he is matched against. Sanders will never be the Dem nominee. Hillary came out of NH with more delegates pledged to her than did Sanders. The Democrat Superdelegates will nominate whomever they choose, but not Bernie. Trump v. Hillary is Trump's best case, given the fact that he has established that he will attack Hillary where she is most vulnerable, her complete lack of anything approaching a moral center.

Fourth, I don't think the media understands how much most Americans, particularly men, hate political correctness.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Facebook's Andreeson's landed himself in a lot of hot water when he said India's anti-colonialism has been a "disaster" for them - an angry response to India banning Free Basics initiative because it violates their net neutrality law.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/11/technology/facebook-rejects-marc-andreessen-comments-on-india-and-he-apologizes.html?_r=0

[Da Geezer]

Correct. Since they can't pay you more and salaries are frozen, the trade-off is that you have a great work-life balance.

C'mon Mike. Salaries are never frozen when you work for the government. But this is the big lie that teachers in particular tell. Government employees get a (1)step raise, and (2) educational level raise, and (3) a cost-of-living raise. So a teacher going from their fifth year to their sixth year gets a step raise of about 2% for seniority, If they have gotten closer to their Master's degree in the preceding year, they get an educational level raise of 2%, and their COL raise is another 2%. My local school district has 44 separate and distinct pay categories.

Cody needs to believe his own eyes and ears. The emphasis for those who work for the government is often on doing the least work legally allowable. No teacher will ever acknowledge what we all know to be true: teachers only work part of the year, roughly 1,200 hours contained in 184 days.

My best friend retired from teaching at age 53. At that time, we calculated his pension was worth $ 3.0 Million at a 5% discount rate. In Michigan, that pension is also protected by the Consitiution. It is no wonder that all these pension funds are "underfunded". They are so lucrative that ordinary taxpayers cannot even comprehend what is going on. Most teachers don't know the extent of their benefits.

[Mike]

C'mon Mike. Salaries are never frozen when you work for the government. But this is the big lie that teachers in particular tell. Government employees get a (1)step raise, and (2) educational level raise, and (3) a cost-of-living raise. So a teacher going from their fifth year to their sixth year gets a step raise of about 2% for seniority, If they have gotten closer to their Master's degree in the preceding year, they get an educational level raise of 2%, and their COL raise is another 2%. My local school district has 44 separate and distinct pay categories.

Cody needs to believe his own eyes and ears. The emphasis for those who work for the government is often on doing the least work legally allowable. No teacher will ever acknowledge what we all know to be true: teachers only work part of the year, roughly 1,200 hours contained in 184 days.

My best friend retired from teaching at age 53. At that time, we calculated his pension was worth $ 3.0 Million at a 5% discount rate. In Michigan, that pension is also protected by the Consitiution. It is no wonder that all these pension funds are "underfunded". They are so lucrative that ordinary taxpayers cannot even comprehend what is going on. Most teachers don't know the extent of their benefits.

Pure fantasy.