[Rhodes22-list] Politics: Upping the Ante

[Brad Haslett]

Bill,

First, some personal notes:  dragging ass after a grueling early
morning six hour drive, the last hour into Memphis was extremely heavy
rain - time for a nap.  Gulfport is not short of bars and I made the
rounds to catch-up on old friends.  The bar business is down.  The
working men aren't working but the usual suspects were there - retired
military, retired municipal workers, folks drawing disability (lots of
them around), and just plain retired.  Nothing against those people
(except the "disabled" who ask me for part time work) but you're not
going build a vibrant work force and an economy with that crowd. Our
client "found" some more money after I explained to him that I
understood his cash flow issues, I just needed to stop by the
courthouse on the way out of town and file a lien, nothing personal,
just business.  Everyone is trying to "lean-on-the-trade".  I learned
that game 30 years ago with New York based clothing manufacturers with
plants located in Arkansas before everything was shipped to China.
Homie don't play!

Obama's alligator mouth promised more than his sparrow ass can
deliver.  Bush 43 was a profligate spender and Obama's plan to
double-down on spending won't work.  The Chinese aren't interested in
loaning more money.  The best we can hope for is that they don't call
in their markers.  He may  very well crank-up the printing presses and
we know where that leads.  The basic problem here is that real estate
went through a government sponsored bubble and until the excess is
sucked-up, few markets will recover.  Asian investors are buying, cash
laden investors are buying, lots of energy in the real estate
marketplace is sucking-up the excess inventory but Congress feels they
need to bailout "the little guy speculator".  People are starting to
fall behind in payments just so they'll qualify for 'gubment' dictated
re-financing. The building we tore down this week should have come
down three years ago but the owners (pretty wealthy) didn't want to be
the dumb asses that missed out on some 'gubment' program.  Markets
work but they take time.  The One knows nothing about markets, he's
never participated in one himself.  What he has done is steer tens of
millions of dollars to friends in housing projects that were
eventually condemned or taken over by the 'gubment'.

I don't see anyway around a major government crisis.  Fitz has the
goods on The One.  Maybe if they just say "forgetaboutit" with Blago
they can spare The One but their crimes are the same.  The NYT's will
either save themselves by putting down the crack pipe and the Kool-Aid
and acting like a newspaper or they'll go bankrupt - which is my bet.

Back to personal stuff: my retirement is waaaay off in the future and
off schedule.  My boys both have strong backs and good work ethic -
they'll need both.  This ain't gonna be our father's economy.

Brad



On Wed, Dec 24, 2008 at 8:22 AM, Bill Effros <bill at effros.com> wrote:
> Brad,
>
> Did you see Buchanan's line:
>Oear old hangs on to believing in Santa Claus because the
>> alternative is just too painful.  Most of the MSM is near bankruptcy,
>> and soon enough they'll realize that short of a bailout, actually
>> printing news and doing investigation sells. I'm trying to find the
>> happy ending to this scenario but don't see it quite yet.  Barry is
>> already severely crippled and folks are waking-up.  I'm betting this
>> drags on until 2010 and so does the lackluster economy.  How's that
>> for Christmas cheer?
>>
>> Brad
>>
>> On Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 9:23 AM, Bill Effros <bill at effros.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Brad-Iloveit!Weshouldsendallmessagesthisway--it'slikeusingthesecretdecoderringallthetime--onlyMJMwillbeabletounderstandwhatwehavetosay,andmaybeRummy.MerryChristmas.BillEffross/vLittleQueenie
>>>
>>> Brad Haslett wrote:
>>>
>>>> Bill,stuckatcorporateheadquarterswithabadspacekeyonthekeyboard-maybespilledbeer-willgetnewkeyboardandrespondlater-blagotookplay-to-paytothenextlevel-thegreatOcan'thidepastdeeds-nowinsituationforeveryone-wegetBiden-countrycontinuestolisteconomically-gottogocollectsomemony-timesarehardandmoneytight-somyclientstellme-homeydon'tplaythatgame-customerwaiteduntilwemobilizedtotellushiscashflowproblems-itmaybeChristmasbutI'mnotinChristmasmood-lateifIdon'tgetshot!
>>>>
>>>> Brad
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 7:59 AM, Bill Effros <bill at effros.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Brad,
>>>>>
>>>>> It just got a little tougher for Obama to fire Fitz.
>>>>>
>>>>> Fitz let Obama know who "in the administration" he taped, but he didn't
>>>>> let Obama know what they said.
>>>>>
>>>>> So the whole country will learn some of the people Fitz is investigating
>>>>> are part of "Team Obama".
>>>>>
>>>>> There is an obvious conflict of interest if you try to fire someone who
>>>>> is investigating you.  Ask Nixon.
>>>>>
>>>>> Please note, Blagojevich was part of "Team Obama" until just a few weeks
>>>>> ago.
>>>>>
>>>>> Let me ask the question again..."Why did Obama resign his Senate seat
>>>>> early?"
>>>>>
>>>>> (Background: this is not "traditional" -- Hillary did not resign her
>>>>> seat; Biden did not resign his seat; Rahm Emanuel did not resign his
>>>>> seat; etc.  Their votes were needed for the "lame duck" session--in
>>>>> fact, the automaker "bail out bill" might have passed if Obama hadn't
>>>>> thrown away his vote.  The ONLY beneficiary of an early resignation was
>>>>> Governor Rod Blogojevich, who could no longer barter the seat according
>>>>> to Illinois law after 1/1/09.  So Obama threw him a bone.)
>>>>>
>>>>> Bill Effros
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
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