Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
CricketOnTheHearth
ParticipantIt’s not unreasonable to raise the possibility that someone will try, but I do think it’s over the line to bet on it.
And key word is “try”… I am sure the MIB (Secret Service) have had their eye on this possibility all along, and have only kicked into high gear since some of the recent hijinks of McCain’s less sane supporters.
Looking at pics of Obama’s campaign stops, there are always 4 or 5 MIB close to hand, watching the crowd. Having been personally at events with MIB “protectees” (what they call Senators, the President, etc) I can vouch that in such circumstances the MIB are everywhere– on the rooftops even. At one event I was at, there were MIB stationed alongside the escalators and they visually scanned the faces of everyone going up them (including me)… apparently they have leads on certain people and they watch for them to show up.
I think it’s pretty likely, alas, that some nutjob will try (may already have)… but they have a stiff, stiff row to hoe before they can actually get *to* Obama. I think many lessons have been learned since Dallas.
ParticipantIt’s not unreasonable to raise the possibility that someone will try, but I do think it’s over the line to bet on it.
And key word is “try”… I am sure the MIB (Secret Service) have had their eye on this possibility all along, and have only kicked into high gear since some of the recent hijinks of McCain’s less sane supporters.
Looking at pics of Obama’s campaign stops, there are always 4 or 5 MIB close to hand, watching the crowd. Having been personally at events with MIB “protectees” (what they call Senators, the President, etc) I can vouch that in such circumstances the MIB are everywhere– on the rooftops even. At one event I was at, there were MIB stationed alongside the escalators and they visually scanned the faces of everyone going up them (including me)… apparently they have leads on certain people and they watch for them to show up.
I think it’s pretty likely, alas, that some nutjob will try (may already have)… but they have a stiff, stiff row to hoe before they can actually get *to* Obama. I think many lessons have been learned since Dallas.
ParticipantIt’s not unreasonable to raise the possibility that someone will try, but I do think it’s over the line to bet on it.
And key word is “try”… I am sure the MIB (Secret Service) have had their eye on this possibility all along, and have only kicked into high gear since some of the recent hijinks of McCain’s less sane supporters.
Looking at pics of Obama’s campaign stops, there are always 4 or 5 MIB close to hand, watching the crowd. Having been personally at events with MIB “protectees” (what they call Senators, the President, etc) I can vouch that in such circumstances the MIB are everywhere– on the rooftops even. At one event I was at, there were MIB stationed alongside the escalators and they visually scanned the faces of everyone going up them (including me)… apparently they have leads on certain people and they watch for them to show up.
I think it’s pretty likely, alas, that some nutjob will try (may already have)… but they have a stiff, stiff row to hoe before they can actually get *to* Obama. I think many lessons have been learned since Dallas.
ParticipantGrapes vs Grape-pickers
In this world there are two main types of people: the grapes and the grape-pickers. Grapes are people who work for their living. They may work 2 or 3 minimum-wage jobs just to make ends meet, they may have worked their way through college like your brother, or they may be a doctor working of $100,000+ in med school loans. The vast majority of grapes earn under $250,000 a year. CEOs of large corporations, and there are about 500 or so of them, are the exception to this.
Then there are the grape-pickers. These are the guys who make their living off “investments”, from dividends that roll in. They are the string-pullers, the ones who push for this law or that law, who move millions of dollars around which influences where the grapes can live, where they can work, and even if they get to work a decent job at all.
It was grape-pickers who engineered this subprime/ald-A/CDOs housing mess, and they made a lot of money off the little grapes they picked– grapes who are now getting laid off, seeing their houses foreclosed upon, or both.
Grape-pickers make up less than 10% of the American population (probably less than 5%, actually) and have something like 50% of the wealth in this country. Obama proposes to “redistribute” the wealth from the grape-pickers to the grapes. The grape-pickers can well afford it– as Warren Buffett, grape-picker extraordinaire, has happily told the media on more than one occasion.
And quite frankly, both server and homeless guy were grapes in this little scenario. Servers’ wages are not much better than minimum wage; they need those tips to survive. The kinder thing in this scenario would have been to give the server his tip and give the homeless guy a $5-spot. Because as is pretty clear from the essay, the guy writing it was a bigger grape than either of them.
ParticipantGrapes vs Grape-pickers
In this world there are two main types of people: the grapes and the grape-pickers. Grapes are people who work for their living. They may work 2 or 3 minimum-wage jobs just to make ends meet, they may have worked their way through college like your brother, or they may be a doctor working of $100,000+ in med school loans. The vast majority of grapes earn under $250,000 a year. CEOs of large corporations, and there are about 500 or so of them, are the exception to this.
Then there are the grape-pickers. These are the guys who make their living off “investments”, from dividends that roll in. They are the string-pullers, the ones who push for this law or that law, who move millions of dollars around which influences where the grapes can live, where they can work, and even if they get to work a decent job at all.
It was grape-pickers who engineered this subprime/ald-A/CDOs housing mess, and they made a lot of money off the little grapes they picked– grapes who are now getting laid off, seeing their houses foreclosed upon, or both.
Grape-pickers make up less than 10% of the American population (probably less than 5%, actually) and have something like 50% of the wealth in this country. Obama proposes to “redistribute” the wealth from the grape-pickers to the grapes. The grape-pickers can well afford it– as Warren Buffett, grape-picker extraordinaire, has happily told the media on more than one occasion.
And quite frankly, both server and homeless guy were grapes in this little scenario. Servers’ wages are not much better than minimum wage; they need those tips to survive. The kinder thing in this scenario would have been to give the server his tip and give the homeless guy a $5-spot. Because as is pretty clear from the essay, the guy writing it was a bigger grape than either of them.
ParticipantGrapes vs Grape-pickers
In this world there are two main types of people: the grapes and the grape-pickers. Grapes are people who work for their living. They may work 2 or 3 minimum-wage jobs just to make ends meet, they may have worked their way through college like your brother, or they may be a doctor working of $100,000+ in med school loans. The vast majority of grapes earn under $250,000 a year. CEOs of large corporations, and there are about 500 or so of them, are the exception to this.
Then there are the grape-pickers. These are the guys who make their living off “investments”, from dividends that roll in. They are the string-pullers, the ones who push for this law or that law, who move millions of dollars around which influences where the grapes can live, where they can work, and even if they get to work a decent job at all.
It was grape-pickers who engineered this subprime/ald-A/CDOs housing mess, and they made a lot of money off the little grapes they picked– grapes who are now getting laid off, seeing their houses foreclosed upon, or both.
Grape-pickers make up less than 10% of the American population (probably less than 5%, actually) and have something like 50% of the wealth in this country. Obama proposes to “redistribute” the wealth from the grape-pickers to the grapes. The grape-pickers can well afford it– as Warren Buffett, grape-picker extraordinaire, has happily told the media on more than one occasion.
And quite frankly, both server and homeless guy were grapes in this little scenario. Servers’ wages are not much better than minimum wage; they need those tips to survive. The kinder thing in this scenario would have been to give the server his tip and give the homeless guy a $5-spot. Because as is pretty clear from the essay, the guy writing it was a bigger grape than either of them.
ParticipantGrapes vs Grape-pickers
In this world there are two main types of people: the grapes and the grape-pickers. Grapes are people who work for their living. They may work 2 or 3 minimum-wage jobs just to make ends meet, they may have worked their way through college like your brother, or they may be a doctor working of $100,000+ in med school loans. The vast majority of grapes earn under $250,000 a year. CEOs of large corporations, and there are about 500 or so of them, are the exception to this.
Then there are the grape-pickers. These are the guys who make their living off “investments”, from dividends that roll in. They are the string-pullers, the ones who push for this law or that law, who move millions of dollars around which influences where the grapes can live, where they can work, and even if they get to work a decent job at all.
It was grape-pickers who engineered this subprime/ald-A/CDOs housing mess, and they made a lot of money off the little grapes they picked– grapes who are now getting laid off, seeing their houses foreclosed upon, or both.
Grape-pickers make up less than 10% of the American population (probably less than 5%, actually) and have something like 50% of the wealth in this country. Obama proposes to “redistribute” the wealth from the grape-pickers to the grapes. The grape-pickers can well afford it– as Warren Buffett, grape-picker extraordinaire, has happily told the media on more than one occasion.
And quite frankly, both server and homeless guy were grapes in this little scenario. Servers’ wages are not much better than minimum wage; they need those tips to survive. The kinder thing in this scenario would have been to give the server his tip and give the homeless guy a $5-spot. Because as is pretty clear from the essay, the guy writing it was a bigger grape than either of them.
ParticipantGrapes vs Grape-pickers
In this world there are two main types of people: the grapes and the grape-pickers. Grapes are people who work for their living. They may work 2 or 3 minimum-wage jobs just to make ends meet, they may have worked their way through college like your brother, or they may be a doctor working of $100,000+ in med school loans. The vast majority of grapes earn under $250,000 a year. CEOs of large corporations, and there are about 500 or so of them, are the exception to this.
Then there are the grape-pickers. These are the guys who make their living off “investments”, from dividends that roll in. They are the string-pullers, the ones who push for this law or that law, who move millions of dollars around which influences where the grapes can live, where they can work, and even if they get to work a decent job at all.
It was grape-pickers who engineered this subprime/ald-A/CDOs housing mess, and they made a lot of money off the little grapes they picked– grapes who are now getting laid off, seeing their houses foreclosed upon, or both.
Grape-pickers make up less than 10% of the American population (probably less than 5%, actually) and have something like 50% of the wealth in this country. Obama proposes to “redistribute” the wealth from the grape-pickers to the grapes. The grape-pickers can well afford it– as Warren Buffett, grape-picker extraordinaire, has happily told the media on more than one occasion.
And quite frankly, both server and homeless guy were grapes in this little scenario. Servers’ wages are not much better than minimum wage; they need those tips to survive. The kinder thing in this scenario would have been to give the server his tip and give the homeless guy a $5-spot. Because as is pretty clear from the essay, the guy writing it was a bigger grape than either of them.
ParticipantAnd if the freakin’ Mexican government would create a climate there that is friendly to, rather than hostile to small business, maybe the Mexicans could start their own businesses and stay there instead of having to brave 1,000 miles of desert/snakes/bandidos etc just to come up here and cram 15 to a house and wire money back to their families in Mexico.
The whole “illegal immigration” thing is a giant scam by both some American businesses, and the Mexican government… and the little people (us and the Mexican peasants) are caught in the middle, set at each others’ throats for jobs.
ParticipantAnd if the freakin’ Mexican government would create a climate there that is friendly to, rather than hostile to small business, maybe the Mexicans could start their own businesses and stay there instead of having to brave 1,000 miles of desert/snakes/bandidos etc just to come up here and cram 15 to a house and wire money back to their families in Mexico.
The whole “illegal immigration” thing is a giant scam by both some American businesses, and the Mexican government… and the little people (us and the Mexican peasants) are caught in the middle, set at each others’ throats for jobs.
ParticipantAnd if the freakin’ Mexican government would create a climate there that is friendly to, rather than hostile to small business, maybe the Mexicans could start their own businesses and stay there instead of having to brave 1,000 miles of desert/snakes/bandidos etc just to come up here and cram 15 to a house and wire money back to their families in Mexico.
The whole “illegal immigration” thing is a giant scam by both some American businesses, and the Mexican government… and the little people (us and the Mexican peasants) are caught in the middle, set at each others’ throats for jobs.
ParticipantAnd if the freakin’ Mexican government would create a climate there that is friendly to, rather than hostile to small business, maybe the Mexicans could start their own businesses and stay there instead of having to brave 1,000 miles of desert/snakes/bandidos etc just to come up here and cram 15 to a house and wire money back to their families in Mexico.
The whole “illegal immigration” thing is a giant scam by both some American businesses, and the Mexican government… and the little people (us and the Mexican peasants) are caught in the middle, set at each others’ throats for jobs.
ParticipantAnd if the freakin’ Mexican government would create a climate there that is friendly to, rather than hostile to small business, maybe the Mexicans could start their own businesses and stay there instead of having to brave 1,000 miles of desert/snakes/bandidos etc just to come up here and cram 15 to a house and wire money back to their families in Mexico.
The whole “illegal immigration” thing is a giant scam by both some American businesses, and the Mexican government… and the little people (us and the Mexican peasants) are caught in the middle, set at each others’ throats for jobs.
ParticipantIt’s my impression that illegals are first hired/first fired, and also that many of them provide “optional” services– gardening, restaurant bussing, etc. As legal citizens pull in their spending horns due to the economy, these spending items might be the first to go.
Some anecdotes:
1) A commentor on another econ blog, some number of months ago, said that the “brown” people (whether green card or illegal) working construction were the first to be let go. She had talked to a Guatemalan guy who was planning to go back to Central America to look for work there, because work had dried up here. This was before we saw the dip in construction employment numbers here in SD/on Rich’s charts. My take was that the “shadow employees” were let go first, hiding the impact on overall construction employment till later in the housing downturn.
2) A headline in the U-T, a couple of months ago, said that Tijuana border crossing traffic was way down.
[/anecdotes]
What I hate is when people on both sides of the argument lump “immigration” and “illegal immigration” together and then everybody gets into a hairball about it. I have no problem with people who immigrate legally or get their green card, it’s the fence-jumpers who get on my nerves.
I have to wonder how much the price of housing here in SD is due to illegals cramming 10 and 15 to a house and paying whatever the landlord demands because hey, it’s only a couple hundred each for them.
It’s clear that San Diego housing is overcrowded. Go down any street in Mira Mesa or Clairemont and see how many cars are parked along the curb by people doubling and tripling up in their houses.
-
AuthorPosts