Comment by phil

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phil
April 17th, 2014 at 9:44 am

DXD/Louis – With the Dow and S&P totally shrugging off IBM's $9 drop, you may well be right but, in addition to IBM, we have misses from ORB, FRC, CS, BAC, NTRS, PBY, TZOO, MAT, CMG, FITB, BBT. SLM, KMP, GOOG, SAP… this week, maybe 1/4 of reporting companies.  That would certainly make me want to keep it as a hedge (as it is in our STP) over a holiday weekend.  

Also note the run-up yesterday was back to no volume.  I know I sound like a broken record but, like a broken record, we fall back every time after these low-volume rallies:



Obamacare/StJ – As I have said for more than a year, the GOP has made a critical mistake focusing on this issue.  EVERYONE gets sick, EVERYONE gets bills.  Even worse for them, people talk about their health and doctors and costs, etc. – especially the GOP's aging constituency and this thing snowballs when people here their friends say "all I did was sign up on a web site and now I save thousands of dollars".  

1930s/Louis – That's right, they tried to kill Roosevelt in 1933 in Miami, after he was elected, but before he took office.  Also, like SS, the GOP likes to exaggerate the problem – especially in SS's case, where simply eliminating the salary cap would keep it solvent for at least another 100 years:



That one really kills me, they just raised taxes 2% by rolling back some of the tax cuts and, obviously, it didn't crash the economy so why not simply raise the cap on SS and only people making over $130,000 are affected and pay, let's say, 1% to replenish the funds.  Would 1% kill us?  I'd sure feel good about it knowing it was doing so much good.  And, by the way, when the GOP tells you it's a wasteful program – they are also lying!  





That's the bottom 80% who depend on SS for half to almost all of their income.  To me, it's just unthinkable that we would even consider cutting it back – especially since those people, in good faith. contributed to this retirement fund their whole lives on the promise that it would be there for them when they got older.  When an insurance company sets up a fund like this, they make good on it – even if it does hit them for a loss down the road.   The insurance company's failure to anticipate the full cost of the plan should not void their obligation to the policy-holders.  

Wow, what idiots, StJ!  



A drought is an extended period of dry weather caused by a lack of rain or snow. As temperatures rise due to global climate change, more moisture evaporates from land and water, leaving less water behind. Some places are getting more rain or snow to make up for it, but other places are getting less.

Looks like we're pretty screwed.  Another idiot issue for the GOP, who are telling their farming constituency that the worst droughts in 100 years are some kind of illusion.

Taxes/Louis – That's what's really killing America – our complete failure to collect taxes from Corporations and the top 1% who own them.  



Good point Sibe.  

/RB/Burr – May contracts (/RBK4) still have 8 days to go.  That's the /RB in TOS still, just under $3.05 now but that was our goaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllll!!!