Game Thread: 7/7 Mutts @ The Return of Pence

[tzill]

You may have guessed that I am in Europe at the moment. Sat before the 'referendum' (which basically asked 'do we accept the conditions of the proposed bailout', which means everybody will have less money to spend) there was a Greek woman on TV who said 'why does Europe hate us so much? We came to the aid of Europe by joining, why can't they help us now??', completely ignoring the last bailout, forgiveness of half the existing debt, and all the payments since 2010. I kid you not.

they have been in default for 60 years; the corrupt government has never come CLOSE to balancing the books. All two generations of Greeks know is deficit spending and bailouts. Of course the refusal to bail them out comes as a surprise to rank and file Greeks; they have no frame of reference.

 

[MarcoPolo]

Interesting. It was widely reported as #2 behind agriculture on BBC all weekend. Thanks for the correction

Agriculture employs a HUGE amount of people (about 12.5% of the county's workforce) but in terms of hard cash, is far from the largest producer.

 

[MarcoPolo]

they have been in default for 60 years; the corrupt government has never come CLOSE to balancing the books. All two generations of Greeks know is deficit spending and bailouts. Of course the refusal to bail them out comes as a surprise to rank and file Greeks; they have no frame of reference.

I hate to inject sobering facts here, but let us look at the U.S. budget. Since 1955 (that's 60 years), there have been exactly 9 federal budgets that weren't in deficit :

1956 (Eisenhower), 1957 (Eisenhower), 1960 (Eisenhower), 1969 (LBJ), 1998-2001 (Clinton)

HALF of the surplus budgets in 60 years were due to a single president (Clinton) and 3 of the remaing 4 were also due to one president (Eisenhower). The reason that the Greek debt is so scary is because it is so huge in relation to its GDP : over 150%. But then the U.S. debt is one of the largest (in proportion to GDP) of the '1st world' countries : just a tad over 100%. Ouch. (That's larger than both France and Germany, which have a long history of expensive social programs, which the US definitely doesn't.) This huge problem created in large part by Bush the 2nd wanting to finish 'daddy's war' and invading a country having nothing to do with terrorism (at the time - now it's rife with sectarianism and terrorism).

Anyhow, 'people in glass houses ...'

 

[MarcoPolo]

PS: to be completely clear, I should probably point out that my favorite republican presidents were : Eisenhower, Teddy Roosevelt, and Lincoln.

 

[calsnowskier]

I LOVE OT discussions here. We are all friends, and OT discussions help to foster that.

But lets keep politics out of it, please. That is the best way to blow up what we have here.

Remember the big religious war we had here a couple years back? I suspect (I could be wrong) that was one reason we lost Cam...

 

[MarcoPolo]

No problem! I'm sure I can get people riled up enough about baseball without having to resort to politics

 

[tzill]

I hate to inject sobering facts here, but let us look at the U.S. budget. Since 1955 (that's 60 years), there have been exactly 9 federal budgets that weren't in deficit :

1956 (Eisenhower), 1957 (Eisenhower), 1960 (Eisenhower), 1969 (LBJ), 1998-2001 (Clinton)

HALF of the surplus budgets in 60 years were due to a single president (Clinton) and 3 of the remaing 4 were also due to one president (Eisenhower). The reason that the Greek debt is so scary is because it is so huge in relation to its GDP : over 150%. But then the U.S. debt is one of the largest (in proportion to GDP) of the '1st world' countries : just a tad over 100%. Ouch. (That's larger than both France and Germany, which have a long history of expensive social programs, which the US definitely doesn't.) This huge problem created in large part by Bush the 2nd wanting to finish 'daddy's war' and invading a country having nothing to do with terrorism (at the time - now it's rife with sectarianism and terrorism).

Anyhow, 'people in glass houses ...'

Well said. I would add that the deficit spending spree started under RayGun...he alone quadrupled the national debt in his 8 awful years.
Economically speaking, worst president ever.

 

[Mays-Fan]

Well said. I would add that the deficit spending spree started under RayGun...he alone quadrupled the national debt in his 8 awful years.
Economically speaking, worst president ever.

Economically speaking, BEST president ever.

FIFY.

 

[tzill]

Economically speaking, BEST president ever.

FIFY.

how do you figure? He quadrupled the debt during sound economic times? He cut taxes and massively increased spending...

 

[Mays-Fan]

how do you figure? He quadrupled the debt during sound economic times? He cut taxes and massively increased spending...

Sound economic times?!?!? They had to invent a new index for Carter, the Misery Index. Reagan drove the tax cuts, but Congress refused to cut spending.

Cutting taxes is ALWAYS a good thing to do.

 

[tzill]

Sound economic times?!?!? They had to invent a new index for Carter, the Misery Index. Reagan drove the tax cuts, but Congress refused to cut spending.

Cutting taxes is ALWAYS a good thing to do.

Not necessarily, but that aside -- you're saying Congress quadrupled the budget?

 

[tzill]

Sound economic times?!?!? They had to invent a new index for Carter, the Misery Index. Reagan drove the tax cuts, but Congress refused to cut spending.

Cutting taxes is ALWAYS a good thing to do.

Per the Misery Index -- that was created under Johnson, or about a decade prior to Carter.

 

[calsnowskier]

Guys...

STOP THE POLITICS!!!!

 

[tzill]

Guys...

STOP THE POLITICS!!!!

seriously? I thought we were being pretty respectful.

anyway, moving on....GO GIANTS

 

[calsnowskier]

seriously? I thought we were being pretty respectful.

anyway, moving on....GO GIANTS

You are being respectful, until you arent anymore. Or someone else gets into the conversation who isnt respectful.

Best to end it BEFORE it gets to that point.

 

[MarcoPolo]

Guys...

STOP THE POLITICS!!!!

But, but, but ... I haven't had a chance to bash Trump yet!!! EVERYBODY hates Trump!

(JK)

 

[1phlapdown]

That play still has me buzzing. Haven't jumped out of my seat for a play in awhile!

And the gif:

 

[Stokes1931]

And the gif:

Not only is it a terrific play, but Pence's enjoyment of it makes it all the better. The man loves to play baseball, doesn't he?

 

[shrksfn9192]

Guys...

STOP THE POLITICS!!!!