Usa Thread

[robaus]

Facts speak louder than words! The chart of the Dow Jones Industrial average speaks for itself! Punters who put their money where their mouth is don't lie.

 

As a result of Bushit's completely disastrous mismanagement of the economy with his "the market will take care of itself" attitude with derivatives totally unregulated..which Romney wants to return to!!!!...the Dow Jones Index plummeted in January 2009 wiping $$trillions off ordinary folks’ lifesavings ...just before Obama took office. It recovered once the world had a steadier hand on the helm. And you want to return to that free for all...nuts! Only the tax-relieved rich will get richer shorting the market at the ordinary Joe Blow's expense.

 

http://au.finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=%5EDJI#symbol=^dji;range=5y;compare=;indicator=volume;charttype=area;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=undefined;

 

 

 

 

Very hard finding a link to a stand alone 5 year DJI chart. Here's one that might work..otherwisae click 5 years in the link above. It's pretty obvious on which President real punters with real money place their bets.

 

maybe this one will work..

 

http://www.mudraa.com/trading/131896/0/dow-jones-5-year-chart.html

 

Republicans would have had...err will have... big automobile companies and banks go bust..no problem when they have their savings off shore!

 

Stock market back where it was 5 years ago..nah don't want it

Housing just recovering...nah don't want it

Unemployment decreasing...nah don't want it

Free healthcare....nah don't want it

 

Scrap programs that benefit the majority and veterans so that the rich can enjoy tax cuts...yes please!

Chance of another foreign war on the credit card in the Middle east...yes please!

 

Weird!

 

[kamui]

The US economy has been down the tubes for quite a number of years. Upward mobility has decreased for everyone. Most people are treading water.

What is the essence of upward mobility (hard work aside and a relatively stable environment aside?

Excellent education for the lower and middle class!

But as I understand US public schools are terrible, especially in poor areas - black or not. US kids are falling way behind to the leading industrial nations.

The GOP has promised to make it worse locally and nationally (free market for education).

[Flashermac]

Schools are very different from when I was young. Instead of grades, some schools have gone to pass-fail. Why bother to study very hard, if all you are going to get is a "pass"? There are plenty of stories about teachers teaching solely for the tests, not for the students to actually learn something. I see university graduates applying for jobs here whose writing is terrible. They probably could not have graduated 30 years ago.

 

Nevertheless look at the university ratings worldwide in this study:

 

My link

 

 

 

 

 

[zzzz]

 

Stock market back where it was 5 years ago..nah don't want it

Housing just recovering...nah don't want it

Unemployment decreasing...nah don't want it

Free healthcare....nah don't want it

 

Scrap programs that benefit the majority and veterans so that the rich can enjoy tax cuts...yes please!

Chance of another foreign war on the credit card in the Middle east...yes please!

 

 

As you state, the Republicans are for the rich. What amazes me is how thay are able to win any elections at all when the rich is only a small fraction of the population. They have somehow convinced a lot of low and middle income folks to vote against their interests.

 

Are people dumb? ...sometimes

Are people fooled? ...sometimes

 

I think the Republican strategy is to confuse the low and middle class and fool them into voting Republican.

[TheCorinthian]

Schools are very different from when I was young. Instead of grades, some schools have gone to pass-fail. Why bother to study very hard, if all you are going to get is a "pass"? There are plenty of stories about teachers teaching solely for the tests, not for the students to actually learn something. I see university graduates applying for jobs here whose writing is terrible. They probably could not have graduated 30 years ago.

 

Nevertheless look at the university ratings worldwide in this study:

 

My link

 

 

 

 

What is more funny is that 6 out of the top 20 are some of the cheapest (cost wise) to attend in the USA.

[Bangkoktraveler]

Felix made it!

 

I guess he got up to Mach 1.2!

[unit731]

Felix made it!

 

I guess he got up to Mach 1.2!

 

 

A successful jump.

 

And he landed on his feet upright.

 

I climbed a 40 foot ladder once and got completely scared/nervous/distressed. Never did that again.

[Flashermac]

Amazing that it took him over 2 hours to reach his altitude but not very long to float down to earth in the New Mexico desert. I stayed up into the wee hours to watch it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TheCorinthian]

Amazing that it took him over 2 hours to reach his altitude but not very long to float down to earth in the New Mexico desert. I stayed up into the wee hours to watch it.

 

 

I wonder what his life insurance must cost?

[Flashermac]

British firm secured Benghazi consulate contract with little experience

 

 

A small British firm based in south Wales had secured a contract to provide security for American diplomatic facilities in Benghazi despite having only a few months experience in the country.

 

Sources have told the Daily Telegraph that just five unarmed locally hired Libyans were placed on duty at the compound on eight-hour shifts under a deal that fell outside the State Department's global security contracting system.

 

Blue Mountain, the Camarthen firm that won a $387,000 (£241,000) one year contract from the US State Department to protect the compound in May, sent just one British employee, recruited from the celebrity bodyguard circuit, to oversee the work.

 

The compound was overrun by a mob of Islamic extremists on the morning of September 12 in an apparent planned attack that resulted in the death by asphyxiation of the ambassador, Chris Stevens.

 

Blue Mountain, which is run by a former member of the SAS, received paper work to operate in Libya last year following the collapse of Col Muammar Gaddafi's regime. It worked on short term contacts to guard an expatriate housing compound and a five-star hotel in Tripoli before landing the prestigious US deal.

 

Other firms in the security industry expressed surprise that Blue Mountain had won a large, high profile contract from the US government. One industry executive said the level of service Blue Mountain provided did not appear adequate to the risks presented by a lawless city.

 

"We have visited the consulate in Benghazi a number of times and have an excellent relationship with the Americans. Our assessment was the unarmed Libyan guards were extremely poor calibre," said one security source. "The Libyan Ministry of Interior are generally not happy with Blue Mountain and had them on their close observation/target list."

 

The New York Times last week reported that major security firms with a track record of guarding US premises elsewhere had made approaches to undertake work in Libya but were rebuffed.

 

"We went in to make a pitch, and nothing happened," a security firm official told the newspaper.

 

A five man security team from the US diplomatic protection service and three members of a local revolutionary brigade were also on duty on the night of the attacks.

 

But Blue Mountain's local woes appears to have hampered a coordinated response by the compound's defenders when the late assault kicked off.

 

Darryl Davies, the manager of the Benghazi contract for Blue Mountain, flew out of the city hours before the attack was launched. The Daily Telegraph has learned that relations between the firm and its Libyan partner had broken down, leading to the withdrawal of Mr Davies.

 

Abdulaziz Majbiri, a Blue Mountain guard at the compound, told the Daily Telegraph that they were effectively abandoned and incapable of defending themselves on the night of the attack.

 

"We were in uniform, unarmed except for taser guns and handcuffs, and had been told in the case of attack to muster by the swimming pool," he said. "I was separated from the others and couldn't get anywhere near the swimming pool before I was shot."

 

US congressional investigators have told the Daily Telegraph that consular staff had reported Blue Mountain guards to the Libyan police on one occasion last year. The diplomats believed that two disgruntled Blue Mountain employees were behind a minor pipe bomb attack on the facility.

 

However after questioning no action was taken by the police or company over the incident.

 

Nigel Thomas, the Blue Mountain director, refused to answer any questions about the companies activities in Libya, citing official US inquiries into the incident. He said: "The US State Department investigation is still ongoing at this time. Blue Mountain have no comment to make and all questions should be directed to the US mission."

 

Lowest bidder?