One Crazy Summer: Predictions for 2012

[Phatscotty]

Do yall feel somethin in the air? Does it seem like people are more on edge now than usual? That there is a lot of hate going around....unchecked? Is the pot about to boil over? Is all hell about to break loose? Or will it be a lazy summer? Not much gonna happen?

Concerning the election, the economy, the wars, Israel and the Middle East, occupy wall street, planned days of rage, attempts to shut cities down, the stock market, class warfare, gender warfare, race warfare, terrorism, union and general strikes and protests and marches, violence and mass crime in the streets, droughts, shortages, gas and energy and food spikes, monetary policy, corporate bankruptcies, bailouts, real estate, unemployment, consequences of Mayan calendar end of the worlders, riots, disease and outbreaks, destructive storms and weather, global warming floods, Justin Bieber....etc etc etc

Go ahead and make some predictions, serious or silly!

I think whatever is going to happen, it starts today, May 1st 2012.

[BigBallinStalin]

Oh, is the world suppose to end soon or something ?

[Phatscotty]

Oh, is the world suppose to end soon or something ?

Ever wonder about what the potential impact could be with a significant number of people who believe the world will end soon? To them, there wouldn't be any consequences or fear of repercussion.

Even if the world does not end, there will still be skidmarks just based on the amount of people who thought it would.

[whitestazn88]

My prediction, the first day of summer will fall on June 21st, 2012.

2nd prediction, it will be hot in the northern hemisphere, because the tilt of the earth's axis will cause it to be closer to the sun. The opposite will occur in the southern hemisphere, because of the same reason.

3rd prediction. Someone will die for some reason because they were outside. Maybe they will be killed by a police officer, or the heat, or another plain old citizen. It may be political, or gang, or environmentally related.

4th prediction. I will shave my balls and get my asshole waxed. This is due to the excessive heat of the northern hemisphere's "summer".

5th prediction. The Washington Nationals will enter the MLB All-Star break with the 2nd best record in their division, the NL East, as their offensive shortcomings will not be able to keep pace with what will possibly be a record setting year for their starting rotation. Stephen Strasburg will get the start in the mid-summer classic for the NL, but will decline in order to keep his arm under control and make sure he can stay in the season as long as possible. This is a result of a ~160 Innings Pitched limit that the organization has placed upon his recently surgically repaired elbow.

6th prediction. This thread will be no more than 15 pages by midnight, May 2nd, 2012, EST. You have 23 hours. GO!

[Nobunaga]

... Mormonism is going to come under attack, though it may be subtle.

[Pedronicus]

Greece will exit the Euro and Spain might be declared bankrupt.

[KoolBak]

Yo Phat....remember when 2000 rolled around? THAT was a clusterfook regarding nay-sayers and end-of-dayers....and nothing happened.....lol.

I am going to have an awesome summer with my kids

[thegreekdog]

- The New York Rangers will beat the Los Angeles Kings in the NHL finals.
- Albert Pujols will reveal he's injured after not hitting a home run in over 100 at bats.
- The US economy will rebound insubstantially and home prices in the United States will slowly rise.
- The debt ceiling will get raised again.
- The US will attack Iran via air strikes on the order of the president after intelligence reveals some plan of attack on the United States by Iran.
- There will be very few presidential debates as the candidates snipe at each other. The president will directly attack Romney's wealth and status. Romney will attack the president's failed economic policies. The president's supporters will attack Romney's religion indirectly. Romney's supporters will attack the president's race indirectly.
- There will be a horrible hurricane in the Caribbean.

[pimpdave]

Obama's economic policies aren't failures though, so, you meant to say that Romney supporters, being complete idiots incapable of cogent thought, will claim that Obama's economic policies failed.

[thegreekdog]

Obama's economic policies aren't failures though, so, you meant to say that Romney supporters, being complete idiots incapable of cogent thought, will claim that Obama's economic policies failed.

They aren't? You really are slurping on President Obama. I'm kind of surprised.

[pimpdave]

The Republican part of the stimulus, the one that gave a ton of money to the wealthy for it to just sit there, instead of going to public works (where the money would actually enter the economy and circulate), was a complete failure, but the public works money was well spent. There should be more of it. We need more improvement of the national infrastructure, something Republicans shouldn't be opposed to, but inexplicably (probably because they hate America) refuse to fund.

[thegreekdog]

The Republican part of the stimulus, the one that gave a ton of money to the wealthy for it to just sit there, instead of going to public works (where the money would actually enter the economy and circulate), was a complete failure, but the public works money was well spent. There should be more of it. We need more improvement of the national infrastructure, something Republicans shouldn't be opposed to, but inexplicably (probably because they hate America) refuse to fund.

What's the name of the Republican stimulus?

How much did it cost?

What did it do?

What's the name of the Democrat stimulus?

How much did it cost?

What did it do?

[patches70]

What's the name of the Republican stimulus?

TARP, at least that is what I think PD is referring to.

How much did it cost?

Oh, at least $840 billion...

What did it do?

Not a thing. Most of it was shipped overseas. The person who was in charge of overseeing the TARP fund (Elizabeth Warren, I think) declared she had no idea what happened to the money.

The 2008 crash would have turned out to be a great thing, a form of debt relief, had the market been allowed to liquidate all the bad debt. That didn't happen and as a result the economy still lags.

What's the name of the Democrat stimulus?

Economic recovery plan or something like that.

How much did it cost?

Trillions.

What did it do?

Nothing.

I find it funny that PD complains that all that money for the wealthy is just sitting there. It's true, there is trillions locked away by the banks. PD would have rather it all be spent on public works, have those trillions injected into the system.

I'm not sure he understands why that would have been a bad thing. Krugman in his debate vs Paul reveals the thinking. Start injecting money into the system, raise inflation and get those pesky savers scared enough to start spending before the value of their money decreases.

Isn't that what PD is saying? So much money just sitting and doing nothing? The banks holding large amounts of that cash are under the thumb of The Fed who is trying to control inflation, has targets to meet. They won't allow the money to be fuel injected too quickly.
The corporations who are also sitting on trillions, I think are nervous about the future and see it as prudence to have some reserves. Money for a rainy day so to speak. You know, dirty rotten savers.

The point is, we are all supposed to be good little consumers and go into debt. That's how the economy works. People going into debt to buy junk they don't need.

Let the whole system burn to the ground I say, we'll be better for it in the long run.

[thegreekdog]

I understand pimpdave's position with respect to the economy. I like public works bills. I don't understand why he loves Obama's policies since they are in direct contradiction to pimpdave's on thoughts. I thought he was more intelligent than to blindly follow a particular person or party. Perhaps not.

I thought the Bush stimulus was the tax rebates to individuals (or at least that's what I thought pimpdave was referring to).

[patches70]

I thought the Bush stimulus was the tax rebates to individuals (or at least that's what I thought pimpdave was referring to).

You might be right about that, maybe that's what he was talking about. I figured he was talking about TARP because he said-
" the one that gave a ton of money to the wealthy for it to just sit there" doesn't really jive with the tax rebates. Poor people got a few hundred bucks that they certainly went out and bought plastic junk with.

TARP on the other hand, was given to banks and brokers posing as banks. The rich people who were "too big to fail". The government investing in failed businesses. Not a bright idea IMO.....

[thegreekdog]

I thought the Bush stimulus was the tax rebates to individuals (or at least that's what I thought pimpdave was referring to).

You might be right about that, maybe that's what he was talking about. I figured he was talking about TARP because he said-
" the one that gave a ton of money to the wealthy for it to just sit there" doesn't really jive with the tax rebates. Poor people got a few hundred bucks that they certainly went out and bought plastic junk with.

TARP on the other hand, was given to banks and brokers posing as banks. The rich people who were "too big to fail". The government investing in failed businesses. Not a bright idea IMO.....

To be fair, I didn't support any of the stimulus packages. Also, to be fair, most, if not all Democrats, including the president, supported TARP.

[patches70]

I thought the Bush stimulus was the tax rebates to individuals (or at least that's what I thought pimpdave was referring to).

You might be right about that, maybe that's what he was talking about. I figured he was talking about TARP because he said-
" the one that gave a ton of money to the wealthy for it to just sit there" doesn't really jive with the tax rebates. Poor people got a few hundred bucks that they certainly went out and bought plastic junk with.

TARP on the other hand, was given to banks and brokers posing as banks. The rich people who were "too big to fail". The government investing in failed businesses. Not a bright idea IMO.....

To be fair, I didn't support any of the stimulus packages. Also, to be fair, most, if not all Democrats, including the president, supported TARP.

Oh, yes yes, I understand, sir. TARP was BS, supported by everyone in Congress, republican and democrat. The people, on the other hand, not so much....

[pimpdave]

Only problem with TARP was the lack of strings attached. Without TARP, we would have been plunged into a worldwide depression worse than the one in the 30s. Seriously.

[thegreekdog]

Only problem with TARP was the lack of strings attached. Without TARP, we would have been plunged into a worldwide depression worse than the one in the 30s. Seriously.

I'm so confused now. I thought you said TARP was bad?

See, this is why I asked you those questions.

[patches70]

Only problem with TARP was the lack of strings attached. Without TARP, we would have been plunged into a worldwide depression worse than the one in the 30s. Seriously.

Where all the bad debt would have been liquidated and by now our economy would be roaring.

It would have been a bitter pill that would have actually rooted out the disease. TARP was just an aspirin and never addressed the actual problems.

I know it's a long time ago, but remember Paulson said TARP was to buy up all the so called "toxic assets" or the world was going to end. TARP was passed and then Paulson announced that those toxic assets weren't going to be purchased with TARP funds.

You are right though, there were no strings attached to the TARP. That's how all the money got shipped right over to Europe and China, to pay for the CDS's that firms like AIG were on the hook for.

[patches70]

PD should ask himself a question.

The Savings & Loan crisis back in the 80's, after which there were hundreds of prosecutions. People went to jail for their role in the crisis. Fast forward to 2009 crisis. TARP passed, buckets of money wasted, not a single prosecution. Not one.

Can't lay the blame at Bush for that either, he was gone. Obama and his Justice department were in charge, yet they didn't bring charges against a single person. Why?

Goes to show how bad it's gotten.

[BigBallinStalin]

The Republican part of the stimulus, the one that gave a ton of money to the wealthy for it to just sit there, instead of going to public works (where the money would actually enter the economy and circulate), was a complete failure, but the public works money was well spent. There should be more of it. We need more improvement of the national infrastructure, something Republicans shouldn't be opposed to, but inexplicably (probably because they hate America) refuse to fund.

How do you know?

[BigBallinStalin]

Only problem with TARP was the lack of strings attached. Without TARP, we would have been plunged into a worldwide depression worse than the one in the 30s. Seriously.

How do you know?

And, it seems that past monetary and fiscal policies have been building up for a greater and greater bust.

[pimpdave]

Only because of the lack of strings and not breaking up TBTF.

[patches70]

Only problem with TARP was the lack of strings attached. Without TARP, we would have been plunged into a worldwide depression worse than the one in the 30s. Seriously.

How do you know?

And, it seems that past monetary and fiscal policies have been building up for a greater and greater bust.

Yep.

I think that's why it would have been better to let it blow, goes it's course and then get to work picking up the pieces. We'd be well by now, though it would have sucked bad at the time.

But that's neither here nor there. TARP was passed, the bubble was reinflated and we yet again stare into an even bigger bust.