Posts Made By: jeff glancy

An interesting link. I think what is missing is what these ten and fifteen cent on the dollar mortgages represent. I would be willing to wager that for the most part they consist of the absolute worst (or close to ) that you can find in your town. They're hopeless pieces of property that were probably sold and bought under somewhat fraudulent circumstances. Remember, a big part of the problem is that the folks who were supposed to assess the properties never saw them, or worse, inflated their values. The banks have become, to a degree, slum lords.
As a taxpayer, I would be a lot more comfortable of providing liquidity to the banks by relieving them of their sixty and seventy cent on the dollar properties and letting them keep the rest.

Promises, promises.

Well one thing is certain - we're broke.
There's something like $11 Trillion that we're in hock for that virtually everyone admits to. Then there the estimated liabilities of government and military pensions, medicare and ss costs, etc. and a number in excess of $50 Trillion pops up.
I don't think we ever had an true empire to speak of but I do believe that we had the influence of an empire. Kind of a virtual empire.
The wealth of the nation was its foundation. That wealth is now gone and I believe there is a reasonable possibility that we will never get it back. And sadly all empires, real and virtual, take money to run.
So yeah, whatever empire we had is gone. Too bad. At our best it was rather sublime, and at our worst we still demonstrated twinges of conscience.
Best damn empire the world has ever seen.

Jim:
First of all I agree with you on the need for expanded use of nuclear power. However it can be only one of several approaches that we will have to take in solving our energy problems.

I think it's important to point out that nuclear does very little to ease the burden for fuels used for transportation (save the occasional submarine or aircraft carrier). So it isn't going to help us displace gasoline. An electric car is more the answer to that issue and then nuclear could possibly kick in to generate the electricity. But even before that can happen, battery technology has to increase exponentially.

As an aside, if electricity from nukes could completely displace petroleum used for transportation and heating, the nation would require 2000 times the number of nuclear plants presently operating. That's 2,000 times, not 2000%. Depending on the degree to which you embrace nuclear, waste disposal is either a somewhat moderate issue or a very big issue indeed.

I don't know what the issues are surrounding Yucca Mountain but I believe they may be more focused at the state or local level then the federal. The same goes for the the disposal facility being built and operated by a company (Valhi Corp.) in my home state of Texas. This site may be even more geologically stable than Yucca mountain. I believe all issues at the federal level are resolved, but local issues and interest groups have delayed it - and Texas is very business friendly. But there is another issue: even if totally approved at the federal level I do not have any idea how transportation of nuclear waste material across various state lines would be resolved.

Like yourself, I find myself asking what is safe(?), knowing full well that nothing is or can be 100%. it may be that the volumes of nuclear waste that are amassing locally all over the country will be enough to eventually force the issue.

In light of the fact that even Nancy Pelosi has softened her stand on nukes considerably, there may be hope for Obama. As far as he goes I believe that, should he be elected, the economy will dictate what he can do rather than him simply having the luxury of choosing what he would like to do. If at the end of the day he is half so thoughtful, analytical, practical and intelligent as he appears to be, nuclear will have its place. If he isn't then he will end in a worse position then Mr. Bush, who could always fall back on what appears to be the fact that he simply couldn't grasp the problem to begin with.

You missed a classic.

Rod:
She's shot her load. Even my wife (who is very much pro active everything re. women) has come to the conclusion she is all sizzle and no steak. That last characterization is mine, not hers but pretty much sums up a long conversation. I'm pretty surprised because she was very enthusiastic about McCain selecting a woman.

From what Saxby Chammbliss wrote you re. H1B's and my real world experience in dealing with them, I would offer that the Senator does not know his ass from third base as to how H1B's work in the real world or their effect on American workers.

Welcome back Jimmy. What took you so long??

Some people will make a lot out of "That one."
Personally I don't think it was a big deal and if the debate had been more interesting, it would've been forgotten the moment after it was spoken.
FWIW, I like Biden better then all of them.

Jim,
"It's the economy, stupid."

You and your Republican party pals just don't get it.