As allies closely monitor Iran’s movements toward becoming a member of the nuclear club, President Obama assured Israel’s leader on Monday that the United States “will always have Israel’s back” even while pursuing a “window that allows for a diplomatic resolution.
Posted 4 months ago
1.Find a large padlock
2.Find the nearest hipster with large tunnel plugs
3.Lock it onto their ear
4.Run like fuck
Posted 4 months ago
Go Greece
With the recent bust in the Greek economy, it is important to note than any progress is good progress. So what about Pawn Shops?
“90 percent of the nation’s 224 officially registered pawnshops having opened in the past year”
Sick! So I guess it IS a buyer’s market?
But this is laughable…13% of GDP is made up of tax evasions. SWEET! It’s only $58 billion…
“Tax evasion remains one of the biggest drains on the Greek state, accounting for about $58 billion annually, or 13 percent of gross domestic product”
(Source: The New York Times)
Posted 5 months ago
Pretty cool breakdown of the budget…I haven’t a clue of the origin of this image; regardless of the origin, the words speak volumes.
I validated sources as best as I could, and links are here to prove that the information is in fact (relatively) truthful for 2011. All data is in real USD not adjusted for inflation.
$2,173,700,000,000
Expected tax revenue aka. “receipts” (2011) - Here (Tax Policy Center - Urban Center & Brookings Institute): as of 3/25/2011
$3,818,800,000,000
Federal government expected expenditures/Budget aka. “outlays” (2011) - same source as above
∆2011 = Deficit for the year:
∆2011 = ”outlays” - “receipts” = $3,818,800,000,000 - $2,173,700,000,000
∆2011 = $1,645,100,000,000
(which gets added to our debt at YE 2010, which was $14,025,215,218,708.52)
Thus, the New Debt = Debt through YE 2010 + ∆2011
New Debt = $14,025,215,218,708.52 + $1,645,100,000,000 - Amount Paid off this Past Year (This amount is factored in to the spending, but I neglected to incorporate it.)
New Debt = $15,670,315,200,000 - $541,741,940,010 (Note: This number was calculated by the ∆ of 15.67 trillion dollar number - the 15.13 trillion dollar number (from the Treasury, as of 12/23/2011) = $541,741,940,010)
New Debt = $15,128,733,000,000
**Note, the amount is actually higher, as estimates are through 2011, and the number provided by the treasury is not an estimate, but the sum debt THROUGH the 23rd of December, 2011
(this was not included on the image, but is an odd thing to look at)
Posted 5 months ago
Posted 5 months ago
Oh Credit Ratings
Fitch has downgraded six of the world’s largest banks, citing the challenging financial markets.
The banks include Bank of America and Goldman Sachs in the US, the UK’s Barclays and France’s BNP Paribas.
Germany’s Deutsche Bank and Switzerland’s Credit Suisse were also cut.
I realize I am the one who bashed S&P a few months ago, but I am finding that Fitch is going about it right. Start locally, and assess what problems are causing the bigger issues in the various nations.
Though I figure these arbitrary ratings wield too much power, it is important to realize this is evidently not a “picking on” mentality, but done through some legitimate means and system.
(Source: BBC)
Hell no.
