Saturday, January 24, 2015

Classless or Clueless?

Auschwitz missed.

Not my President, not my country.  But I'm still disgusted that the supposed leader of the "free" world behaves in such a callous manner.

How, in all the history of the last 100 years, can he NOT BE THERE?

I am truly sad.  Sad that a modern President raised in the USA has no knowledge of the evil that men do. 

26 comments:

  1. I was going to say "it boggles the mind" but then I realized that I am not surprised. I'm not surprised by anything he does or doesn't do anymore. There is no decorum in this White House, let alone gravitas. There is no truth, there is no leadership. It's all just an Alinsky-inspired, endless campaign.

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  2. Honestly Fay, I don't know if it's that a) he doesn't care or b) he doesn't want to offend his Muslim brothers.

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  3. I, too am unsurprised, not only at this, but at any/every indecorous act by this "president". In the final two years, my only concern is how much more damage he will do, and whether the US will ever be able to recover

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  4. Where are Obama's advisors? His PR people? After all, he seems to worry about his PR and his reputation more than anything else. His reputation in diplomacy and foreign policy is in the gutter. He must surely know this. So he could rescue it by symbolic acts like joining in the Charlie Hebdo march, the Auschwitz commemoration, even meeting Bibi. But he's declined every one. It's almost incomprehensible.

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    1. Something weird is going down. I can feel it.

      I hate to think or say shit like that because you can really start to lose your grip when you do.

      But seriously... garden variety cynicism doesn't explain all the dots. I'm really avoiding making connections because I don't want to invite in the cray cray and have it stay for tea.

      But isn't the world vibe just a little creepy right now? Almost hoping it's just me...

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    2. Just one or two concrete "dots" that I'm talking about...

      - the move in CHF. (Wazzat? Confoederatio Helvetica Franc... no, it's not a type font designer with a Latin fetish from the Old South... it's otherwise known as the Swiss Franc - their currency). The Swiss National Bank - their central bank - unpegged from the Euro in a surprise move. It was intended to cause maximum disruption in the market - not the way these guys usually play. Somebody who is somebody is wicked pissed off... who, and why?

      - Europe generally. Bond yields are going negative out to significant durations. As Chris Rock would say, that ain't right. The ECB has now effectively mounted a coup on the sovereign european states; the Empire of Greater Europe is born. (An entity that can print money is sovereign; the ECB has crossed that Rubicon now.)

      - oil is dropping well below whatever equilibrium price would hold. There is some global game of chicken going on and nobody's swerving.

      All this points to some massive global tension that exists just behind the scenes; sick and twisted as entities like ISIS are, I can't help but wonder if they're a side show.

      Change happens slowly, then all at once...

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    3. Lewy, I think you might be interested in these columns by the Jerusalem Post finance columnist Pinchas Landau. I can't find his columns on the JPost website but they're also on his own blog. He is always a fascinating read, with interesting insights.

      Here's his article on the CHF unpegging: "Stunning" he calls it.

      His conclusion is not so far from your own:

      In other words, yesterday witnessed a central bank fold its hand and quit the game. The implication of this development is even more dramatic than the market’s gyrations: central banks are not all-powerful after all and if you rely on them you might end up betrayed and bankrupt. The Swiss chose to sow the wind and now they — and everyone — will reap the whirlwind.

      But this week he had a much more mild-mannered article on the ECB's bond-buying spree, or QE. He calls it "no shock, little awe"

      His ocnclusion:
      In fact, despite the trillions pumped into the global financial system, the developed world is now sinking into deflation, while growth – as the IMF confirmed again this week when it cut its forecast for 2015 – is low-to-non-existent.

      Last Thursday, the SNB threw in the towel. This Thursday, the ECB picked up the gauntlet. The metaphors may be mixed, but the outcome will be clear-cut – and not long in coming.


      Florrie and comrades, you might like Landau's article's too. He manages to make finance and economics entertaining as well - no mean feat.

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  5. Well, Obama threatened Netanyahu that there would be a "price to pay" for accepting Congress's invitation to speak. Perhaps - in his twisted mind - this is it.

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    1. Obama not going is his own garden-variety mendacity.

      Sending Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is just... strange...

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    2. Strange indeed. He is such a petulant man, it's beyond embarrassing.

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    3. flo, it's the "strange" aspect of this (and other things) which prompted me to take the thread "off topic" into financial stuff... what I was getting at (wild hand waving) is that I get the same "strange" vibe from Obama's actions lately as I do from the financial market actions.

      This is different from my usual reaction to Obama which ranges from "meh" to "ugh". This is more "whoa... whaa!?"

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    4. lewy, your comments kind of scared me. I know next to nothing about the financial market and its impact. Makes me think I need to stock up more on essentials...

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    5. flo, I wouldn't be frightened, but I would be prepared.

      It's one of those "ten times more likely" is still a low risk kinda situations.

      On any given week, the risk of a financial meltdown is tiny - say one in ten thousand.

      Next week the risk of a financial meltdown will increase - say it will be 10x normal.

      Still, only a one in a thousand risk. Get it?

      The recent ECB decisions and Greek elections will impact the financial system in Europe. Nobody knows how it will play out or how much the European banks are really going to be hurt.

      Good news is that our US banks are in really good shape. Bad news is that it was our taxpayer funded bailouts and guarantees that bailed them out.

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    6. Thanks for the explanation, lewy, I do feel better about it now.

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    7. Lewy and florrie, see my comment upthread about Lewy's (and our) concerns.

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    8. Thank you for that, annie. I will check out his blog.

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    9. Could it be, Lewy, that Obama is sending Jack Lew because Jack Lew is Jewish? That he thinks such affairs are beneath him, so send a Jew?

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    10. Ari I honestly don't think Obama knows himself.

      Meaning, the real reason that he sent Lew, and the reason that he tells himself, are different.

      Clueless men believe the lies they tell themselves.

      Of course young men have a hard time seeing through their own bullshit. This is particularly true of bright young men, full of ideas and idealism.

      By the time they reach Obama's age - which is about my age - they ought to have the capacity to see through their own bullshit. Or at least made some substantial progress in that direction. I don't get that sense from Obama.

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  6. I think Mr. Pacifici described it perfectly when he said it was "madness" and "shameful". I understand the authorities would want to find out just what happened but to question them for nearly 4 HOURS?

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  7. I think there is more than one agenda being played out here. There is no doubt in my mind that Obama is a radical Muslim. His comments about the Christian Crusades, attempting to equate the cultural practices of the Middle Ages with modern Islamic savagery is jaw-dropping and indicative of his mindset (and his religious views). He publicly shows contempt for Netanyahu, and Israel in general. A team of wild horses couldn't drag him to Auschwitz.

    The financial stuff has been wacky for quite some time, to me at least. Super powerful people behind the curtain have taken all the rhyme and reason out of the markets. I gave up trying to figure out what's going on there...I'm glad we have lewy to untangle it for us. The days of watching the Reuters teletype to buy/sell are long gone.

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  8. I think there is more than one agenda being played out here. There is no doubt in my mind that Obama is a radical Muslim. His comments about the Christian Crusades, attempting to equate the cultural practices of the Middle Ages with modern Islamic savagery is jaw-dropping and indicative of his mindset (and his religious views). He publicly shows contempt for Netanyahu, and Israel in general. A team of wild horses couldn't drag him to Auschwitz.

    The financial stuff has been wacky for quite some time, to me at least. Super powerful people behind the curtain have taken all the rhyme and reason out of the markets. I gave up trying to figure out what's going on there...I'm glad we have lewy to untangle it for us. The days of watching the Reuters teletype to buy/sell are long gone.

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  9. Yay, lady red is back. Missed you sooooo much {{{{{lady red}}}}}
    :) :) :)

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  10. What Fay said!

    img:"http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y117/floranista/emoticons/hugright.png" img:"http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y117/floranista/emoticons/tinyheart.gif"

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  11. Replies
    1. We were going to send the cyber hounds after you... glad you found your way back!

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