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Do imports subtract from GDP? It would seem to be a domestic job killer just as are the people we are letting across our borders. Not much makes sense to me. It’s either way over my head or something deeper in the works. Do you think a lot of our economic policies are now driven by AI algos?
My econ profs used to tell me that our accumulated federal deficit didn’t matter, since we largely owed it to ourselves. They also said that what really mattered was the trade deficit, since it meant that we were exporting both wealth and jobs.
Maybe true back in 1981, but not as true now. Foreigners own a little more than $7 trillion of our debt now, which means we send out $140 – $150 billion of our treasure each year. The trade deficit passed $600 billion a few years ago. Add in transfer payments from foreign nationals to their home countries (about $65 billion), and what our military spends in foreign countries and we’re getting pretty close to sending $1 trillion annually outside of the United States.
We’re about $21 trillion in GDP, so we’re all sending about 5% of everything overseas right now.
https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/USA/united-states/trade-balance-deficit
https://www.statista.com/statistics/188105/annual-gdp-of-the-united-states-since-1990/
I think it was a combination of first game/road game/very very early game effects.
I thought McKee looked good enough with some serious upside potential. Receivers much better than I thought they’d be, just like the defense. Once the defense — particularly the DBs — got into correct body clock time (2nd half), they were pretty strong and showed some real promise. Was a little underimpressed with Jones and separately the OL, but hopefully that will work out in Pac-12 play.
Stanford’s football players, by definition, are much smarter than their opponent. They should be extremely well prepared and able to both digest and work within very sophisticated schemes, and in their better years that’s the case. With respect, I don’t think the current coaching staff is taking advantage of this presumed intellectual advantage. That needs to happen.
I still think Stanford will take a massive leap before the USC game. Call it 21-17, Stanford.
I think that at some point we’re in for a bout of inflation that will dwarf any inflation rate we’ve experienced to date. I think we’re looking at uncharted territory. I’d get out of bonds, I’m not wild about stocks. I’d consider commodities, probably metals, maybe certain kinds of collectibles.
A jury of seven men and five women have been empaneled, with five alternates, after a two hour voir dire.
Opening statements on Wednesday.
Most signficant question for me is whether Holmes will take the stand in her own defense. Good sense would say no, but she’s a consummate con artist, and she doesn’t need to con many people.
You must have a photo ID if you are 25 or under and wish to purchase alcohol or cigarettes. Store signs say so. Want to open a bank account? Photo ID required. Here are the rest of the categories: applying for welfare, Medicaid and Social Security (presumably poor people take advantage of one or more of these programs); unemployment benefits (ditto); rent/buy a house, or apply for a mortgage; drive/buy/rent a car; get on an airplane; get married; buy a gun; adopt a pet; rent a hotel room; apply for a hunting or fishing license; buy a cellphone; visit a casino; pick up a prescription (or buy restricted over-the-counter medications); donate blood; apply for a license to hold a demonstration; buy an “M”-rated video game; purchase nail polish at CVS.
Just not for voting.
Oh.
Any time I read a democratic publication’s explanation/analysis/rationalization of the shortcomings of a Democratic politician — particularly a senior one — they list and gloss over some of the major shortcomings, and completely ignore other shortcomings. Not mentioned or downplayed in the article are:
- Newsom’s overuse of executive orders. Ignored.
- On-Going Shutdowns, Loss of Small Businesses, Loss of Jobs
- Unemployment to those who lost jobs due to Covid on HOLD – Inefficient System
- Unemployment Checks to Prisoners/Felons in the amount of $500 Million
- $2 BILLION in Unemployment Fraud – overall
- The whack-job bullet train between nowhere and who cares?
- Granting Clemency for Felons: Those who Raped and Murdered, Even Committed Heinous Crimes Against Children
- AB 5 – Affecting Truckers & Independent Contractors
- Highest Homeless Rate in our Nation (yeah, he budgeted $12 billion, a drop in the bucket for California’s homeless). CA has 154k homeless, next most is NY with 91k, then falls to 27k for Florida and Texas, according to Usich. That is a disaster that the New Yorker doesn’t mention.
- Sanctuary State for Illegals and Criminals
- Highest Vehicle Registration Costs in our Nation
- Vaccination Requirements for Children or be Fined
- Water Tax – diverted for Newsom’s “pet” projects
- Children’s Medical Records Automatically Entered into Database
- Mandatory Health Insurance or be Fined to Pay for Illegals Health Insurance
- Constricting Ability for Law Enforcement to do their Jobs
- No Longer Illegal NOT to Help an Officer in Need
- Highest Gas Tax in our Nation BEFORE the Corona Virus
- Teachers No Longer can Discipline Disruptive Students
- Illegals are Given: Income Tax Refunds, Welfare, Medical Insurance, Housing, Education, Food Stamps, Cell Phones… FREE!
- Government Overreach – Example: Overruling Vote of the People to Reinstate the Death Penalty, and the list goes on!
- Redirecting the Gas Tax – Not being used for Improving our Infrastructure: roads, dams, bridges
- Funds for the Bullet Train to Nowhere – funds being diverted from other areas of need
- Refusing to set up Water Claim System with Taxes Collected to do just that!
- PG&E Power Outages & Threatening to Take Over PG&E
- $20,000,000 of Your Tax Dollars Directed to Study Vaping
- Funding Illegal Alien owned businesses in the amount of $50 Million because CA received federal funding for the Covid-19/Corona Virus
- Mandate to wear Masks
- Mask Squads to Enforce Unlawful Mandate, and Fines for Not Wearing Masks
- $1 Billion Purchase of Faulty Masks from China, instead of American Made
- $315 Million Taxpayer Dollars on Second Order of Masks from Same China Company
- $1.3 Trillion State Debt
- Fighting to Stop our Central Valley Farmers from Getting the Water They Need
- Failure to Pay His Own Property Taxes
- 4% Salary Increase for Newsom and State Lawmakers in 2019; 10% Pay Cut to all State Employees in 2020. Newsom and State Lawmakers still making 6% more
- Retroactive Tax Planned on Folks Making $1 Million or more
- Fines for Hiring Tutors or Teachers to Help Children with Distance Learning
- Puts Teacher’s Union Interests Over Those of Children and Families
- $12 Million Wasted on Sleep Train Arena to Take Care of COVID Patients – Only 9 People Were Treated
- Failure to Protect Californians in Nursing Homes from Covid-19
- Covid-19 Counts Distorted, 541,339 CONFIRMED CASES TOTAL; 10,021 Dead = .0185 of Those Who Test Positive Die; This is .0002 of the Entire State’s Population .02% 8/7/20
- Fraud in Reporting Covid-19 Numbers
- Federal Covid-19 Funds Sent to California Being Used for Homeless instead of Education, Medical, Safety and Security
- Executive Order to Phase Out Gasoline-Powered Cars by 2035
- Infringements on our 1st Amendment Rights to Protest and Worship
- Forces Lockdowns Preventing the Right to worship, even singing
- Dismantled Death Chamber and Redistributed Death Row Inmates through the System
- Release of Violent Criminals, 8,000 is Now on Track to Hit 18,000
- Millions are Still Waiting to Receive Unemployment Checks from EDD
- Approved Statewide Rent Control When it was Voted Down
- Public Safety Is Being Deliberately Ignored
- Ability to Raise the Gas Tax at Any Time Without Voter Approval
- Seeking Billions of Dollars in Collateralized Loans from China
- Zero Accountability and Transparency on Spending
- Attempt to restructure Proposition 13.
I’m voting to recall him, and I don’t know anyone who isn’t. Nonetheless, I’m expecting him to survive for the prosaic reason that there is no really credible candidate to replace him, of the type of Schwarzenegger back in 2006.
I thought the Dems’ strategy of refusing to back a candidate in the event of a recall was not particularly well thought out.
I don’t believe an actual Theranos product got out the door, but if memory serves, Theranos re-packaged existing test kits fraudulently under their own brand name. Does that count as a Theranos product?
Given what’s been written about Balwani, I can understand why she is framing him as an abuser. He’s also 20 years older than her. I would have expected this defense from her, so she’ll need to present herself as a victim. I’m guessing that she will lose her deep voice and embrace a higher-pitched voice with tremulous shakiness once she gets on the stand. Not that I’m cynical about that or anything.
If I were her, I’d spend the money on a mock trial jury. I think that approach will backfire. Balwani put up his own money to support Theranos, and can credibly argue the opposite, that she owned him, so to speak. There’s plenty of video out there that puts her in command. On the other hand, they only need to find a few gullible jurors. And she’s engaged Kevin Downey of Williams & Connolly, one of the best white collar defense attorneys around (Chambers Band-2 rated nationally, if that matters)
Like Legend, I wonder if she’s clinically evil. She’s definitely an intelligent con artist. I applied the Hare Psychopathy Checklist (20 questions on a 0-2 scale, a score of 30 indicates a psychopath). She scored out at a 29 for me, so maybe borderline?
Methinks that the Dems like having Joe Biden in office. He’s easily confused and easily controlled. He’s definitely sad to watch. You can’t even tell if he’s had a stroke. He’s dirty as hell, Progressive as hell, and will do absolutely NOTHING about the great problems facing this country. Harris, as a fallback option, would be an even greater disaster.
I had a back-and-forth with a Snopes editor over a minor, Obama-related Progressive meme (issue unimportant, not “birth”, PM me if you want details), a complete historical falsehood that the editor rated “Mostly true.” I researched the issue from neutral sources, cited legislation and actual real live history, and the knucklehead was adamant, standing behind the falsehood rather than actual history. Haven’t gone on the snopes site since, save for the linked apology from the plagiarizing founder.
And if you can believe it, the political hack Biden put in charge of DHS, Mayorkas releases a statement that it’s all Trump’s fault. For four years he didn’t give enough money away to countries supplying us with illegals.
Mayorkas ensured green cards reached rich Chinese.
https://www.cruz.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=5575
Even ABC reported it:
Vox’s take.
“A lot of people are saying it’s more than stress (it may be stress-induced, but it’s more than just feeling stressed). They’re saying Biles experienced aerial disorientation, which would explain her landing and bailing out on the skill on the vault. Basically, if you can’t orient yourself in the air, you can’t do a bunch of stuff in gymnastics (high bar, uneven bars). She might be okay on floor exercise, but even those flips would be risky if she’s lost her ability to orient to the ground.”
It’s actually not uncommon. There’s even a slang term for it, they call aerial disorientation the “twisties.”
I don’t know who said it first, but it appeared 10 years ago:
My own take is that committed members of one specific area of the political spectrum come unglued the most — near totally — when the President of the other party is successful. That was true with the Democrats when Reagan was elected, it was true with Republicans when Clinton was elected, it was true with the Democrats (and many Republicans) when Trump was elected.
Trump had the additional burden of being a stone A**hole. He was committed to not making any friends. In other words, he used methods absolutely guaranteed to reduce his popularity in the middle of a popularity contest.
For the absolute reverse of that mentality, see Biden, Joe and his comments that he sought unity, that he wanted to unify the country — and then supported policies that had Progressives gasping in disbelief that he gave them what they wanted — and left people on the right in the cold, of course.
And by the way…Biden is remaking the Federal judiciary. He is appointing judges at a rate twice as fast as Trump did.
https://www.axios.com/biden-judicial-federal-court-ffac832c-131d-4285-bc1a-3c1de9709463.html
My own take is that committed members of one specific area of the political spectrum come unglued the most — near totally — when the President of the other party is successful. That was true with the Democrats when Reagan was elected, it was true with Republicans when Clinton was elected, it was true with the Democrats (and many Republicans) when Trump was elected.
Trump had the additional burden of being a stone A**hole. He was committed to not making any friends. In other words, he used methods absolutely guaranteed to reduce his popularity in the middle of a popularity contest.
For the absolute reverse of that mentality, see Biden, Joe and his comments that he sought unity, that he wanted to unify the country — and then supported policies that had Progressives gasping in disbelief that he gave them what they wanted — and left people on the right in the cold, of course.
