U.S. Politics

[Doodoo]

America's homeless population rises for the first time since the Great Recession
Exclusive: a new government study finds 553,742 people were homeless on a single night this year, as advocates lament a crisis that shows no sign of abating

Oooooppps

[papafarang]

20190115-125930.jpg


STEADY WINNING.

vacancies , you can create as many vacancies as you like ...no people to fill them makes them pointless

[Doodoo]

Papafarang
And with no one to fill the jobs this is a Prime Indicator of a RECESSION to start if it already hasn't
This was an indicator is our last Recession


Another Loss

[tamada]

Excellent article by Conrad Black.

A lot of predictable CB hyperbole in there but I lost interest very early in the puff piece when he claimed,

Every U.S. president starting with Dwight Eisenhower has bewailed American dependence on foreign oil. Foreigners then supplied 10 per cent of America’s oil, a figure that rose to 60 per cent under president Obama, and no one has done anything about it, until the past two years, when oil production has been sharply increased and reliance on oil imports has been sharply cut, on its inexorable way to zero.

America's shale rock revolution started well before DJT and even before he announced any interest in becoming the chief bus driver in charge.

"... what enabled the (US) oil and gas industry to extract oil from shale rock over the past 7 years was higher prices. If it weren’t for higher oil prices, the capital investment needed in the oil and gas sector, wouldn’t have occurred, and US oil production would have continued to decline."

Oil price 2000 - 2015

US Production 1986 - 2014

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/T ... cking.html

[jackspratt]

A lot of predictable CB hyperbole in there but I lost interest very early in the puff piece when he claimed,

Given that USA oil production increased 74% during Obama's tenure, during which time the US also became to world's largest energy (crude oil + natural gas) producer, I think you can take Baron Black of Crossharbour's views as the bullshiggatory (is that the current term du jour) that it is.

Seems that some people on here are happy to claim the views of "the elites" when it fits their narrow political narrative.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

For those people who actually believe that the Chinese economy will overtake the United States by 2025, you might want to think again,

https://business.financialpost.com/opin ... nas-losing

[Lone Star]

America's homeless population rises for the first time since the Great Recession
Exclusive: a new government study finds 553,742 people were homeless on a single night this year, as advocates lament a crisis that shows no sign of abating

Oooooppps

The same ones who snicker at thousands of jobs added every month and touting ridiculous excuses for the millions of jobs added in the last two years, preach doom over the homelessness of 0.17% (not even a quarter of 1%) of the population.

1. Statistical drivers of the US economy are not influenced by homelessness.

2. Every year, if there are better jobs available, people leave less-rewarding jobs for those better jobs. In Chattanooga, some guy leaving welding school while stocking shelves in the local supermarket, will get a better job at Volkswagen.

3. Every year, there are new citizens entering the workforce. Those new additions to the labor market fill those abandoned jobs and many others. Some guy in Chattanooga, who graduates from high school, will take that job stocking shelves in the supermarket that was abandoned by the guy who left for Volkswagen.

4. The same free enterprise system where millionaires come and go on an annual basis also reflects a similar dynamic of people rotating through, who are down on their luck. Some become homeless. Homelessness, like possessing great wealth, is not a permanent status.

5. Those people who experience never-ending homelessness usually remain in that status as a result of several personal factors that may or may not be of their making -- repeated poor choices, failure to take advantage of opportunities that would help lift them out of their situation, or they suffer some mental/physical handicap that keeps them in the cycle. Many of these people don't have the mobility or skills or awareness to be able to take a job anywhere. That's not BECAUSE TRUMP.

So take your silly 0.17% homeless stat and your never-ending GET TRUMP derangement syndrome and try to get a grip on the fact that LIFE AIN'T FAIR.

Some people will not achieve no matter what opportunities exist and no matter what is handed to them in charity. All anyone has to do is look at students in a university paying the same tuition for the same class in the same classroom and the same professor -- with different results.

Damn. You're grown men. Most of you have lived 50 years or more. You've seen it and experienced it. And yet, you come in here as if you have no knowledge, experiences or common sense about anything -- and whine about 0.17% homelessness being a sign of THE END.

That never-ending hope for failure.

Get outta here.

[tamada]

America's homeless population rises for the first time since the Great Recession
Exclusive: a new government study finds 553,742 people were homeless on a single night this year, as advocates lament a crisis that shows no sign of abating

Oooooppps

The same ones who snicker at thousands of jobs added every month and touting ridiculous excuses for the millions of jobs added in the last two years, preach doom over the homelessness of 0.17% (not even a quarter of 1%) of the population.

1. Statistical drivers of the US economy are not influenced by homelessness.

2. Every year, if there are better jobs available, people leave less-rewarding jobs for those better jobs. In Chattanooga, some guy leaving welding school while stocking shelves in the local supermarket, will get a better job at Volkswagen.

3. Every year, there are new citizens entering the workforce. Those new additions to the labor market fill those abandoned jobs and many others. Some guy in Chattanooga, who graduates from high school, will take that job stocking shelves in the supermarket that was abandoned by the guy who left for Volkswagen.

4. The same free enterprise system where millionaires come and go on an annual basis also reflects a similar dynamic of people rotating through, who are down on their luck. Some become homeless. Homelessness, like possessing great wealth, is not a permanent status.

5. Those people who experience never-ending homelessness usually remain in that status as a result of several personal factors that may or may not be of their making -- repeated poor choices, failure to take advantage of opportunities that would help lift them out of their situation, or they suffer some mental/physical handicap that keeps them in the cycle. Many of these people don't have the mobility or skills or awareness to be able to take a job anywhere. That's not BECAUSE TRUMP.

So take your silly 0.17% homeless stat and your never-ending GET TRUMP derangement syndrome and try to get a grip on the fact that LIFE AIN'T FAIR.

Some people will not achieve no matter what opportunities exist and no matter what is handed to them in charity. All anyone has to do is look at students in a university paying the same tuition for the same class in the same classroom and the same professor -- with different results.

Damn. You're grown men. Most of you have lived 50 years or more. You've seen it and experienced it. And yet, you come in here as if you have no knowledge, experiences or common sense about anything -- and whine about 0.17% homelessness being a sign of THE END.

That never-ending hope for failure.

Get outta here.

Oh my, that was refreshingly different wasn't it?

But getting back to that last bit. Despite the jury being still out on Giggle yes, we're all grown men and yes, we've seen it and experienced it.

Much like they've never had much interest in doing the equivalent of the paper rounds or the selling lemonade of their forbears, the current, overwhelmingly dumbed-down, self-entitled generation of high school graduates don't really want to take over stacking the shelves while your welder goes on to (rather bizarrely) make Volkswagens. They want that equally dumbed-down degree now and get a big SUV (not a Volkswagen) and a nine-to-five with top wages but low responsibility that gives them plenty time to party. Hell!... they might aspire for public office! But, just like their forbears who cut lawns, picked fruit or worked construction, there's at least two whole caravans full of immigrants who are appreciative of the social and fiscal leg-up that a low-paying, menial job in the good ol' US of A will afford them. Some of them will go on to become US citizens and bloody good ones too because they weren't born with the metaphorical, God-given, silver spoon of being lucky to be born American in their mouth.

Then the amazing segue to millionaires and how they simply come and go like some ephemeral spirit of free enterprise... while the homeless and impoverished abide. Then the suggestion that it's probably, mostly their fault anyway, especially if they're cripples. Yeah... "not even a quarter of 1%" so keep snickering.

This never-ending clamor for recognition of achievements that DJT and his acolytes perpetually and mostly laughably claim as being solely due to his deep, profound and undeniably superior knowledge of all things. A veritable pan-galactic, all-encompassing, one-man internet of things.

It's not a never-ending hope for failure. That flies in the face of basic human nature. It's simply a crystal-clear, sharp realization that "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em." Then there's the hurricane of hubris, DJT.

[Udon Map]

"... what enabled the (US) oil and gas industry to extract oil from shale rock over the past 7 years was higher prices. If it weren’t for higher oil prices, the capital investment needed in the oil and gas sector, wouldn’t have occurred, and US oil production would have continued to decline."

Look at your graphs again. They disprove what you're saying.

U.S. crude production declined between 2000 and 2008 while prices rose from $25 to about $150. Isn't that exactly the opposite of what you're saying?

Then production started ramping up steeply starting around 2012 and continuing through the end of the graph at 2015. During this time, however, the price oscillated in a band between $80 and $120. There was no uptrend in the price during this time.

[Lone Star]

4. The same free enterprise system where millionaires come and go on an annual basis also reflects a similar dynamic of people rotating through, who are down on their luck. Some become homeless. Homelessness, like possessing great wealth, is not a permanent status.

5. Those people who experience never-ending homelessness usually remain in that status as a result of several personal factors that may or may not be of their making -- repeated poor choices, failure to take advantage of opportunities that would help lift them out of their situation, or they suffer some mental/physical handicap that keeps them in the cycle. Many of these people don't have the mobility or skills or awareness to be able to take a job anywhere. That's not BECAUSE TRUMP.

You quoted me, and still had the nerve to mischaractize what I posted.

Then the amazing segue to millionaires and how they simply come and go like some ephemeral spirit of free enterprise... while the homeless and impoverished abide. Then the suggestion that it's probably, mostly their fault anyway, especially if they're cripples. Yeah... "not even a quarter of 1%" so keep snickering.

As for the rest of your thoughts, you're always entitled to your opinion.

[Doodoo]

Homeless are Homeless
Accept the data and hopefully people will deal with it

Move on
USA aint he great place many want to say it is They have their faults but continue to hide behind
THE GREATNESS

[Giggle]

Why do Brits always try to measure up? They're forever tying to discount the attributes of other nations in an attempt to make them feel better about their own irrecoverable catastrophe.

I have to laugh.

[Lone Star]

Homeless are Homeless
Accept the data and hopefully people will deal with it

Move on
USA aint he great place many want to say it is They have their faults but continue to hide behind
THE GREATNESS

I accept the stat. I even embrace it. I also explained how and why it exists and why it is persistent. Homelessness is everywhere, but most importantly, it is not a sign that THE END is near. That is just your pure emotional investment in GET TRUMP talking.

[Udon Map]

Is he really going to let his stubbornness undo the good he's done for the economy and derail the economic expansion and strength he's provided? Even his own Council of Economic Advisors is worried about this. Taking the source of income away from millions of people isn't going to help his reelection chances.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/15/us/p ... f=headline

[tamada]

"... what enabled the (US) oil and gas industry to extract oil from shale rock over the past 7 years was higher prices. If it weren’t for higher oil prices, the capital investment needed in the oil and gas sector, wouldn’t have occurred, and US oil production would have continued to decline."

Look at your graphs again. They disprove what you're saying.

U.S. crude production declined between 2000 and 2008 while prices rose from $25 to about $150. Isn't that exactly the opposite of what you're saying?

Then production started ramping up steeply starting around 2012 and continuing through the end of the graph at 2015. During this time, however, the price oscillated in a band between $80 and $120. There was no uptrend in the price during this time.

Your observations are correct but the graphs that are not mine, don't lie and don't disprove anything that is being claimed in the article I linked. We are not discussing the prices between 2000 and 2008 before the global financial crash that reset everything. Before the crash, the US wasn't making any concerted effort to reduce foreign oil dependence regardless of past president's mentioning it in keynote speeches and demanding action. OPEC, geopolitical and military-industrial alliances held the floor and for the greater part, still do. I underlined the key part that increasing oil prices from 2009 onwards, over the past 7 years was what initiated investments in the shale industry. US oil production flat-lined, ie. stopped falling between 2005 and 2009, started increasing as oil prices hardened post-crash and then took off like a bottle rocket in 2012. Despite the oscillations you mention, if you contend that a market price of ~$35 in 2009 versus a price of ~$90 in 2017 is not an uptrend, then we're done here. Since 2015 until early 2018, there's still been an up trend.

Crude oil price 2014 - 2018

But it wasn't just the strengthening oil prices alone. Wall Street, flush with post-crash, low-interest capital was a very significant player and the "fracking boom has been fueled mostly by overheated investment capital, not by cash flow." Here's an interesting read on "How America's 'most reckless' billionaire created the fracking boom".

PS. It wasn't DJT.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/a ... fell-apart

But getting back to the claim that DJT is somehow the savior of the US oil and gas industry, I think one should definitely be wearing a MAGA cap before reading the following, rather dystopian 'view' of the same era.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonlack/ ... dbf5317554

[tamada]

Why do Brits always try to measure up? They're forever tying to discount the attributes of other nations in an attempt to make them feel better about their own irrecoverable catastrophe.

I have to laugh.

"...forever tying to discount the attributes of other nations in an attempt to make them feel better..."

You mean like...

Why do Brits always try to measure up? They're forever tying to discount the attributes of other nations in an attempt to make them feel better about their own irrecoverable catastrophe.

[glalt]

I have a friend who worked for a foreign owned Thai company. He is VERY good at what he does and this company piled more and more on him while they went golfing. He finally had enough and told them that he quit. Of course they didn't want this to happen so the boss called him in and gave him a very generous bonus and told him to to take his family on a nice vacation for a couple weeks to think about it. My friend did that. When he got back the boss asked him what he decided. He said "I quit". Reminds me about the Brexit debacle.

[tamada]

I have a friend who worked for a foreign owned Thai company. He is VERY good at what he does and this company piled more and more on him while they went golfing. He finally had enough and told them that he quit. Of course they didn't want this to happen so the boss called him in and gave him a very generous bonus and told him to to take his family on a nice vacation for a couple weeks to think about it. My friend did that. When he got back the boss asked him what he decided. He said "I quit". Reminds me about the Brexit debacle.

I remember the sweet moment I was flying back from the middle-east with my overbearing and micro-managing boss and already in possession of another job offer, roiled with indecision over the best way to tender my resignation and not burn bridges. The airline had given me a class upgrade so sufficiently emboldened by the extras afforded the front-of-the-bus traveler, I reckoned I would invite him up for a cocktail and pull the pin. Sort of bugger the bridges and 'Howd'ya like them apples?' before sending him back down to his 31" of legroom and crying infants.

However, unknown to me, he had already gotten wind of my intent through a bizarre set of circumstances. It totally let the wind out my sails when he popped through the curtain, escorted by the Chief Purser and after thanking her, accepting his drink and looking around, he said. "I guess this isn't too bad a way to end your last ever assignment with us... cheers!"

[Giggle]

And this has what to do with Trump -- who doesn't have to constantly put on airs about first class this, and upgrade that, like the obsessive Brittles. With every Brittle blagging-on about the pointy-end seats and executive lounges, and fine chiner an crystal decanters, I'm surprised there are any economy seats on BA. They're all high-flyers, at least in their minds. The threadbare and incredible phantasm has snowballed to work its way into the tales of every ballon-chasing geriatric and grafitti-painting scouser from John's Goats to Soufamptun. It never seems to get old to the story-tellers, but is as cliched and hackneyed as "well and truly" and "done and dusted." FFS come up with some new schtick.

Again, what does your fiction have to do with Trump?

[Doodoo]

LS

That is just your pure emotional investment in GET TRUMP talking.

BUT I hope he doesn't read my entries as I DONT WANT TO HEAR HIM TALKING