It’s been something so unusual that it’s almost unheard of here… a thoroughly routine day. Other than doing my research, the most exciting thing I’ve done is order my groceries from Store to Door. On the other hand, we received some very sad news. Prayers for Nameless and his family, please.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:32 (average 6:51). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Donald Trump: Dems Not Praising State Of The Union Are Treasonous
Barf Bag Alert!!
To a large extent, I disagree. What we have here is a clear-cut case of projection. The traitor just accused the patriots of treason. RESIST!!
From Washington Post: President Trump and congressional Republicans have spent much of the past year trying to connect a giddy stock market rally with their economic agenda, but stocks’ precipitous plunge in the past five days has delivered a sobering reality: What goes up can come back down — quickly and with little warning.
With Monday’s steep fall, Trump has presided over the biggest stock market drop in U.S. history, when measured by points in the Dow Jones industrial average. The free fall began in earnest Jan. 30 and snowballed Friday and Monday, for a combined loss of almost 2,100 points, or 8 percent of the Dow’s value.
It is also unclear if the past week will amount to a small correction or the beginning of a painful slide that many investors said was overdue.
I suspect it’s a correction. Because the tax cuts for billionaires are raising the debt, the US now needs to borrow more at a higher interest rate. Higher interest rates increase bond returns. That makes bonds a more attractive investment. When investors move to bonds, they pull money from the stock market, dropping stock prices. RESIST!!
From The New Yorker: After watching it suffer its worst losses since he became President, Donald Trump is “seriously considering” firing the Dow Jones Industrial Average, aides have confirmed.
According to the aides, Trump is “furious” at the D.J.I.A. for going down so precipitously and believes that it has treated him “very unfairly.”
“Increasingly, the President has become convinced that the Dow Jones Industrial Average is not on his team,” one aide said. “Seeing the negative Dow numbers in the corner of the TV screen has been wrecking eleven hours of every day for him.”
Reportedly, Trump is mulling replacing the Dow with a new system, in which Sarah Huckabee Sanders would appear every day at 4 p.m. to announce how high stocks had skyrocketed.
Dang, Andy! I thought he would just blame Little Adam for the drop!! RESIST!!
Cartoon:
6 Responses to “Open Thread – 2/6/2018”
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5:48 Don’t break a tooth on the gravel.
I do feel so deeply for Nameless. i’m grateful and maybe even a little proud that he has shared so much with us, knowing that we are here for him.
MSNBC – Silence from the Democrats is not even treason against Trump personally, since no Democrat EVER pledged to support him. And it is certainly not treason against the nation. It could only be treason if he were the KING as in “L’Etat, c’est moi.” I suppose that is what he believes. Further, as Brian pointed out, not even disrespectful It’s commonplace for opposing party members to sit stone faced during any political speech. No. What IS disrespectful is loudly shouting, “You lie!”
WaPo – It could be a correction and also be, or turn into, a slide. We shall see.
TNY – It’s a good thing that Andy publishes in The New Yorker, that “elite east coast rag.” If any word of this gets to Trumps base, they will believe it is gospel truth.
Cartoon – Yup. And they haven’t picked a replacement yet.
MSNBC: Even saying or scoffing in the manner he said it, is dangerous. Look how they acted with Mr. Obama and his speeches. Now, I’m supposing that when Dems come up with a speech, the Repugs will heartily applause for them? Nope, not gonna happen, it’s commonplace.
WP: Time will tell.
NYer: Surely, Mr. Dumpty will find someone to blame, and it won’t be him, for sure!! He’s flawless in every way, don’tchaknow??
It’s been a rainy, cold day here. We’ve been in a ‘burn ban’ here for a few weeks, so I’ll take it. Enjoy your evening, take care, and Thanks, Tom.
*Nameless: May the comfort that comes from the memory of your loved one, give you peace and solace in the days ahead. My prayers to you, and to your family.
Stocks plummeting soon after the 1% ogres get their totally unnecessary tax break. Coincidence? Could be – but I think not. I am no expert on economics, but I see a connection. So much for the Orange Ogre “making America great again.”
The storm is about to break.
Cartoon is all too true. Would be truer if the Democrat donkey was added. Both of our major political parties are farces, and the alternatives are all flakes.
Nameless: Sorry for your loss, glad that you had her for so long.
MSNBC: Not going to watch POS-TUS, it’s not good for my b/p! He is accusing Dems of treason? HE, is accusing Dems of treason? THIS s**thole?
WP: They ought to hire Andy!!
Andy: Yes, dump does really think this is all a TV show!
Nameless: My condolences to you and your family on the passing of your mother. My thoughts are with you.
MSNBC: Eugene Robertson was spot on with “why are we sitting here [] talking about this utterly false, ridiculous thing [Drumpf] said? Because it has that impact,” which referred to his abundant use of certain words, such as “collusion” or now “treasonous” to normalize them. Yes, it is also the old Republican projection trick to which they always default whenever they are accused of something, but it also takes the sting out of these words, in fact takes their very meaning away, by repeating them over and over again in a completely false and ridiculous context.
WP: Paul Krugman yesterday stated in the New York Times: “When talking about stock markets, there are three rules you have to remember. First, the stock market is not the economy. Second, the stock market is not the economy. Third, the stock market is not the economy.”
Other presidents (or their advisors) knew that and never bragged about how well something as volatile as the stock market was doing as if it was their doing. They all knew that what goes up today for no reason may come down again tomorrow for no reason, except for Drumpf and Mnuchin of course. Drumpf was stupid enough to tie his “achievements” to an index, one that makes a lot of his friends rich (on paper) but nobody else, but now hasn’t got the guts to come back on that. The timing of this stock-market fall, which had been predicted in coming by many economists, couldn’t be more unfortunate for Drumpf, but he’s lucky that only a few are talking about bond values dropping because of the enormous deficit increase he/Republicans are forging with their Tax Cuts. As Kugman sees it:
TNY: So it’s even worse than I noted above, and Andy is on to something: Drumpf is now blaming the index itself for being an index. Yup, in Drumpf’s alter reality that would make a lot of sense.
Cartoon: Don’t wait for the GOP to go extinct, give it a generous helping hand in November!
Thanks all. Hugs!