Can I Get an Amen?

[Upchurch]

Econ 101.

That's not a citation. Please be more specific.


Or is this your way of trying not to get caught in the "common sense" trap?

 

[tyr_13]

I didn't bring it up to derail the thread. The relevance as I see it is that Obama is selling to these young people that he can help them with their personal debt if reelected, while at the same time the federal government is saddling them with an even larger debt. It would require a massive suspension of disbelief to cheer him on while he's making these empty promises.

As for the "amen" part, it's a cultural reference and I really can't see the problem with that word.

I didn't mean to accuse you of trying to derail the thread. I was just bringing up the reasoning behind some of the knee-jerk defensive actions whenever the debt is mentioned.

 

[ravdin]

I didn't mean to accuse you of trying to derail the thread. I was just bringing up the reasoning behind some of the knee-jerk defensive actions whenever the debt is mentioned.

Yeah, I figured. Some posters (and you are not one of them) often jump to hasty conclusions about comments being motivated by partisanship. So I've been accused here of being a shill for the Democrats, a shill for the Republicans, and on one memorable occasion, an "Obamaniac".

The truth is that I dislike both major parties equally, so if I choose to respond to the tu quoque "Did you complain when Bush did that?" arguments then the answer will probably be yes.

 

[applecorped]

Hallelujah!

 

[DavidJames]

Yeah, I figured. Some posters (and you are not one of them) often jump to hasty conclusions about comments being motivated by partisanship. So I've been accused here of being a shill for the Democrats, a shill for the Republicans, and on one memorable occasion, an "Obamaniac".

The truth is that I dislike both major parties equally, so if I choose to respond to the tu quoque "Did you complain when Bush did that?" arguments then the answer will probably be yes.

I beg forgiveness. It's just that I've never met a person who used the phrase "peoples republic of (insert American city here)" who was rational. I guess I'm not to old to learn....

 

[mhaze]

Well, thank god for that.

I agree. Maybe it was always a religious phrase only heard at religious dinner tables or in churches and stuff like that but now that Baaaaaaaamster has said it it's just another dictionary word and has nothing to do with religion, being totally secular from now forward. All the history and dictionary books have been rewritten to reflect this with record speed.

 

[ravdin]

I beg forgiveness. It's just that I've never met a person who used the phrase "peoples republic of (insert American city here)" who was rational. I guess I'm not to old to learn....

OK, I forgive you.

At the risk of further derail....

Have you been to Berkeley? Che T-shirts are everywhere. I've even seen people waving North Korean flags. If you ever visit Berkeley, you can buy a t-shirt on Telegraph Avenue with the phrase and a hammer and sickle. Berkeley lefties tend to take pride in the nickname, and don't view it as an insult.

Here's something else I just found out: if you start to google "people's republic of..." the autocomplete will suggest "Berkeley" second, right after China. The city council would be proud.

 

[Upchurch]

I agree. Maybe it was always a religious phrase only heard at religious dinner tables or in churches and stuff like that but now that Baaaaaaaamster has said it it's just another dictionary word and has nothing to do with religion, being totally secular from now forward. All the history and dictionary books have been rewritten to reflect this with record speed.

I take it my point (and joke) was too subtle? Should I have added a smiley?

 

[DavidJames]

OK, I forgive you.

At the risk of further derail....

Have you been to Berkeley? Che T-shirts are everywhere. I've even seen people waving North Korean flags. If you ever visit Berkeley, you can buy a t-shirt on Telegraph Avenue with the phrase and a hammer and sickle. Berkeley lefties tend to take pride in the nickname, and don't view it as an insult.

Here's something else I just found out: if you start to google "people's republic of..." the autocomplete will suggest "Berkeley" second, right after China. The city council would be proud.

Yes I have. Used to live in Pleasanton. My most vivid memory was how scared my then 8 year old daughter was when we went there.

It's a college town. The counter culture is large, but the analogy is still serious hyperbole.

I now live near the Peoples Republic of Boulder .

 

[mhaze]

I take it my point (and joke) was too subtle? Should I have added a smiley?

When a joke is responded to with a joke, and the former jokester gets it not, but, uncomprehending, further suggests the latter's density, the world is a sorry place indeed, but let me recoup the disaster building through a third try, which will define the situation well, and show to some who has it and who doesn't. Did you hear the joke about the airplane?

No?

I guess it flew right over your head.

 

[Upchurch]

I guess it flew right over your head.

"No, you're the stupid-head!"

You're adorable.

Tell me, then. What was the point of my joke?

 

[mhaze]

"No, you're the stupid-head!"

You're adorable.

Tell me, then. What was the point of my joke?

OKAY, but err...ahh...

You're A Double Stupid Head.

So there!

(by design I refer you to the black letter law of the jokes above; if the getting is implicit in the response, then it was gotten, and regarding the continued inquiry you puzzle over...

"Brevity is the soul of wit"

To wit, on a ponderous forum of studious skepticers, asking for evidence in the mundane particular, I must refer you to Sigmund Freud, Humor (1927) or his earlier work in profoundity of absurdity (1905).

 

[Upchurch]

That's what I thought. Come back when you've had more time to mull it over. If you need me to explain it later, I will.

 

[mhaze]

That's what I thought. Come back when you've had more time to mull it over. If you need me to explain it later, I will.

What? You once thought a thought? Or did you only think you thought a thought?

 

[Robert Prey]

That's not a citation. Please be more specific.


Or is this your way of trying not to get caught in the "common sense" trap?

Common sense is your quicksand -- as is basic economics. When you throw money at something, the price is bid up. I could suggest any number of sources. One of the best is 'Economics in One Lesson" by Henry Hazlett. Not that I really expect you to read it.

 

[mhaze]

Since Obama took office, the federal government has added another $5 trillion to our debt (which is now $15.6 trillion). We're adding another $4 billion today. Each American's share of the national debt is $50,000.

Can I get an amen?

The danger lies in the additional printing of currency and secondly in whatever political parties or segments of them support it, which at this time is the Democrats, and in particular the Obama-led subset which is currently in control of POTUS and Senate. Period.

The result of starting 2008 with 10T in debt and jacking that to 16T would be at equilibrium a dollar worth 10/16 of it's initial value. One might assume 1-2 year lag before equilibrium conditions occurred, under certain conditions, longer.

The result of starting with 10T and jacking that to 20T by printing money would be to half the value of the currency, jacking it to 30T would be to reduce it to one third, and so forth. Commensurate with these facts are increases in interest rates and the nation's credit worthiness.

There's no need for apologetics whatsoever as at this time, the Democratic party is simply the party aiming to spend the most, and hence deserves criticism by fiscal conservatives for being such. Historical antecedents and rationalizations are not relevant in the least to charting a rational fiscal policy moving forward.

 

[mhaze]

That's what I thought. Come back when you've had more time to mull it over. If you need me to explain it later, I will.

But, Sir, if we accept that "brevity is the soul of wit", then you, Sir, are quite dangerous, charting a path which by design of a minion of the soulless, would rob me of wit.

 

[AlBell]

Since Obama took office, the federal government has added another $5 trillion to our debt (which is now $15.6 trillion). We're adding another $4 billion today. Each American's share of the national debt is $50,000.

Can I get an amen?

No, and the share now is closer to $70,000.

How about an inshallah?

 

[DavidJames]

One can't be robbed of something one does not possess.

 

[Trakar]

Except when they aren't.

Amen

Also, Amen


Aside from the more common usage of the term itself (which can have a secular meaning), what is particularly religious about what he was saying?

The use of any word used in any translation of the bible or uttered in any church meeting is de facto "religious," so the vast majority of documents and statements are interjections of religion! What other reasoning supports that we are a Christian Nation!?

...[/tongue-cheek]