Tag: news

 ‘If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free.’

       –  P.J. O’Rourke

If CNN was doing its best this morning to prove that the second coming of healthcare.gov is fixed, it… failed.

Transcript:

GEORGE HOWELL, HOST: We know the first thing you have to do when you go to this website you have to select your state. Is that working?

 

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And what’s funny is I was talking with Matt, and, yeah, that seemed to work, right, when you logged on. But then came the road blocks. So tell me about what happened, because we’re getting another error message here, and it’s supposed to be running smoothly. We’re just not seeing that.

 

MATT SLOANE, CNN MEDICAL PRODUCER: Yeah, so, you know, we’ve been trying to get into the site since October 1 on and off again. I have to say it did work a lot more smoothly this morning. I got through. I picked my state. I put in all of my information and I got through the whole process in eight minutes. And then it said my status was in progress. So I went to refresh it and I got the error message.

But fear not. According to David Plouffe, 2008 campaign manager for Barack Obama, Obamacare “will work reall well”… by 2017. To wit:

This program was designed to be implemented by the states. And in most of the states it is going quite well. You talked about Medicaid expansion. I think it’s just a fact, and it may take until 2017 when this president leaves office, you’re going to see almost every state in this country running their own exchanges eventually and expanding Medicaid. And I think it’ll work really well, then.

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/vig5SkL432c/story01.htm Tyler Durden

As Mike Maloney forecast in the mid-2000s, the roller-coaster ride continues in world markets and economies. His – so far – spot on projection that “first the threat of deflation (1), followed by a helicopter drop (2), followed by big reflation (3), followed by a real deflation (4), and then followed by hyperinflation (5),” appears to be rotating from stage 3 to stage 4 (as we noted here). However, as Maloney explains in this brief clip, while we have seen great deflations before, in the ’30s one-third of the monetary base was backed by gold, now we virtually nothing as “people do not understand the scale of the emergency that’s going on right now.”

 

Five brief minutes on a Sunday… watch!

 

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/bQLOKX6WWPk/story01.htm Tyler Durden

As Mike Maloney forecast in the mid-2000s, the roller-coaster ride continues in world markets and economies. His – so far – spot on projection that “first the threat of deflation (1), followed by a helicopter drop (2), followed by big reflation (3), followed by a real deflation (4), and then followed by hyperinflation (5),” appears to be rotating from stage 3 to stage 4 (as we noted here). However, as Maloney explains in this brief clip, while we have seen great deflations before, in the ’30s one-third of the monetary base was backed by gold, now we virtually nothing as “people do not understand the scale of the emergency that’s going on right now.”

 

Five brief minutes on a Sunday… watch!

 

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/bQLOKX6WWPk/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Only one-third of Americans say their fellow countrymen can be trusted according to a recent AP-GfK poll, down from over half 40 years ago. Americans are suspicious of each other in everyday encounters and who can blame them with the government appearing to bless any and all surveillance and intervention in the interests of the status quo. “I’m leery of everybody,” warns one respondent, and as AP reports, this is a potential problem for economic growth as “social trust” brings good things. A society where it’s easier to compromise or make a deal; where people are willing to work with those who are different from them for the common good, appears to promote economic growth. Distrust, on the other hand, seems to encourage corruption and there’s no easy fix.

 

Via AP,

You can take our word for it. Americans don’t trust each other anymore.

 

We’re not talking about the loss of faith in big institutions such as the government, the church or Wall Street, which fluctuates with events. For four decades, a gut-level ingredient of democracy – trust in the other fellow – has been quietly draining away.

 

These days, only one-third of Americans say most people can be trusted. Half felt that way in 1972, when the General Social Survey first asked the question.

 

Forty years later, a record high of nearly two-thirds say “you can’t be too careful” in dealing with people.

 

…

 

Does it matter that Americans are suspicious of one another? Yes, say worried political and social scientists.

 

What’s known as “social trust” brings good things.

 

A society where it’s easier to compromise or make a deal. Where people are willing to work with those who are different from them for the common good. Where trust appears to promote economic growth.

 

Distrust, on the other hand, seems to encourage corruption.

 

Even the rancor and gridlock in politics might stem from the effects of an increasingly distrustful citizenry

 

…

 

“It’s like the rules of the game,” Clark said. “When trust is low, the way we react and behave with each other becomes less civil.”

 

There’s no easy fix.

 

…

 

Trust has declined as the gap between the nation’s rich and poor gapes ever wider, Uslaner says, and more and more Americans feel shut out. They’ve lost their sense of a shared fate. Tellingly, trust rises with wealth.

 

“People who believe the world is a good place and it’s going to get better and you can help make it better, they will be trusting,” Uslaner said. “If you believe it’s dark and driven by outside forces you can’t control, you will be a mistruster.”

 

African-Americans consistently have expressed far less faith in “most people” than the white majority does. Racism, discrimination and a high rate of poverty destroy trust.

 

Nearly 8 in 10 African-Americans, in the 2012 survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago with principal funding from the National Science Foundation, felt that “you can’t be too careful.”

 

…

 

Can anything bring trust back?

 

Uslaner and Clark don’t see much hope anytime soon.

 

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/0cPOjHVW7mo/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Only one-third of Americans say their fellow countrymen can be trusted according to a recent AP-GfK poll, down from over half 40 years ago. Americans are suspicious of each other in everyday encounters and who can blame them with the government appearing to bless any and all surveillance and intervention in the interests of the status quo. “I’m leery of everybody,” warns one respondent, and as AP reports, this is a potential problem for economic growth as “social trust” brings good things. A society where it’s easier to compromise or make a deal; where people are willing to work with those who are different from them for the common good, appears to promote economic growth. Distrust, on the other hand, seems to encourage corruption and there’s no easy fix.

 

Via AP,

You can take our word for it. Americans don’t trust each other anymore.

 

We’re not talking about the loss of faith in big institutions such as the government, the church or Wall Street, which fluctuates with events. For four decades, a gut-level ingredient of democracy – trust in the other fellow – has been quietly draining away.

 

These days, only one-third of Americans say most people can be trusted. Half felt that way in 1972, when the General Social Survey first asked the question.

 

Forty years later, a record high of nearly two-thirds say “you can’t be too careful” in dealing with people.

 

…

 

Does it matter that Americans are suspicious of one another? Yes, say worried political and social scientists.

 

What’s known as “social trust” brings good things.

 

A society where it’s easier to compromise or make a deal. Where people are willing to work with those who are different from them for the common good. Where trust appears to promote economic growth.

 

Distrust, on the other hand, seems to encourage corruption.

 

Even the rancor and gridlock in politics might stem from the effects of an increasingly distrustful citizenry

 

…

 

“It’s like the rules of the game,” Clark said. “When trust is low, the way we react and behave with each other becomes less civil.”

 

There’s no easy fix.

 

…

 

Trust has declined as the gap between the nation’s rich and poor gapes ever wider, Uslaner says, and more and more Americans feel shut out. They’ve lost their sense of a shared fate. Tellingly, trust rises with wealth.

 

“People who believe the world is a good place and it’s going to get better and you can help make it better, they will be trusting,” Uslaner said. “If you believe it’s dark and driven by outside forces you can’t control, you will be a mistruster.”

 

African-Americans consistently have expressed far less faith in “most people” than the white majority does. Racism, discrimination and a high rate of poverty destroy trust.

 

Nearly 8 in 10 African-Americans, in the 2012 survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago with principal funding from the National Science Foundation, felt that “you can’t be too careful.”

 

…

 

Can anything bring trust back?

 

Uslaner and Clark don’t see much hope anytime soon.

 

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/0cPOjHVW7mo/story01.htm Tyler Durden

From it's gold-matching highs at $1242 on Thursday night, the price of Bitcoin has collapsed 31% to $868 on heavy volume. Of course, this is only a one-week low for the exuberant digital currency but still a significant plunge (as its smaller brethren Litecoin has collapsed 51% from its highs). Interestingly, this drops the price of Bitcoin in USD below the 'arb'-based price of Bitcoin in China ($965). It seems, all coincidence aside, that the BIS infamous plunge-protection-team has been re-trained…

 

 

and as BTC collapsed, Gold rallied…

 

 

Chart: Bitcoinwisdom

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/JGFt2SCVR70/story01.htm Tyler Durden

That greatest of all American traditions – the Black Friday Thursday stampede, this year accompanied with a stabbing and a shooting, is back. A quick review of all readers may have missed by not lining up in droves outside of stores that were selling products at just above cost instead of the usual massive pre-Thanksgiving markup, via the Mail:

• The rush for Black Friday bargains has resulted in outbreaks of violence as shoppers clash over reduced price goods
• Police in Virginia have reporting a stabbing incident after two men got into a fight in the car park over a space
• Shoppers cutting in line sparked a Black Friday Brawl at another Walmart
• Some retailers opened their doors as early as 6am on Thanksgiving Day

Some details before we get into the documentary evidence:

A man has been stabbed in Virginia, a shoplifter has been shot by cops in Chicago and brawls have broken out across the nation as shoppers clash in a scramble for the best Black Friday bargains.

 

Chaotic scenes at several Walmart stores have already been filmed and posted to YouTube, revealing the madness that has become a tradition the day after Thanksgiving.

 

In one of the most violent incidents, a police officer responded to the scene of a shoplifting at a Kohl’s store in Romeoville, Illinois just after 10pm on Thursday to see the alleged thief dragging another officer along with his car. The responding officer shot the driver to stop him.

 

Police Chief Mark Turvey said at a news conference that the injured officer had headed into the store when a man ran out, and the officer chased him to his car. ‘The officer was struggling with the subject as he got into the car and then the car started to move as the officer was partially inside the car. The officer was dragged quite some distance. He couldn’t get out,’ Turvey said.

 

The driver and the officer were both taken for hospital treatment of non-life-threatening shoulder injuries, and three people were arrested, Turvey said.

 

Police in Virginia also reported a stabbing after two men got into a fight in the car park over a space around 6.30pm on Thursday at a Walmart store in Tazewell County. Sheriff Brian Hieatt told WVVA that the incident occurred in the parking lot. Two men, 61-year-old Ronnie Sharp of Russell County and 35-year-old Christopher Jackson of Jewell Ridge in Tazewell County, were arguing over a parking space.

 

This escalated into a threat with a firearm, and then Hieatt says Sharp used a knife to cut Jackson in the arm, slicing down to the bone. Sharp is charged with malicious wounding and brandishing a firearm. Police seized a rifle from him. He is Southwest Regional Jail in Tazewell and is out on $5000 bond.

… at which point he proceeded to return to his favorite zoo store and buy “stuff” at 90% off.

So what did it all look like? The answer: like this…

Wal-Mart Fight, Brawl, Madness compilation

Wal-Mart Black Friday fight for TV 2013

Black Friday Walmart Stampede in Puerto Rico 2013

More people going crazy in Walmart

Walmart black Friday 2013 – Pushing, shoving Black Friday madness in Covington

People fighting at a Wal-mart in Fort Worth, Texas on Thanksgiving night.

Man attacks girl at Walmart

And the winner is… Video of women fighting for Rachael Ray cookware at Wal Mart Turkey Creek in Knoxville, TN

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/g9Nv9tCKJtc/story01.htm Tyler Durden

The concept of the business cycle and its un-natural intervention-inspired boom-bust process is at the core of the following three minutes of dueling quotes from two of the most infamous public proponents of change (Ron Paul) and the status quo (Paul Krugman).

• “Cut interest rates a couple of percentage points, provide plenty of liquidity, and call me in the morning.” – Krugman
• “Printing money is not an answer… Like all artificially-created bubbles, the boom… cannot last forever.” – Paul

You decide who “was” right, and who “will be” right again…

 

(h/t Jim Quinn’s Burning Platform)

 

Of course, we’ve seen them head-to-head before…

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/ZtAtCHgFgDI/story01.htm Tyler Durden

The concept of the business cycle and its un-natural intervention-inspired boom-bust process is at the core of the following three minutes of dueling quotes from two of the most infamous public proponents of change (Ron Paul) and the status quo (Paul Krugman).

• “Cut interest rates a couple of percentage points, provide plenty of liquidity, and call me in the morning.” – Krugman
• “Printing money is not an answer… Like all artificially-created bubbles, the boom… cannot last forever.” – Paul

You decide who “was” right, and who “will be” right again…

 

(h/t Jim Quinn’s Burning Platform)

 

Of course, we’ve seen them head-to-head before…

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/ZtAtCHgFgDI/story01.htm Tyler Durden