Jesus tap dancing Christ, I almost don’t believe it. He almost said he was wrong.
Hot off the presses! This is too good to wait for it to be free on another newspaper.
I will always associate inflation with the taste of Hamburger Helper.
In the summer of 1973 I shared an apartment with several other college students; we didn’t have much money, and the cost of living was soaring. By 1974 the overall inflation rate would hit 12 percent, and some goods had already seen big price increases. Ground beef, in particular, was 49 percent more expensive in August 1973 than it had been two years earlier. So we tried to stretch it.
That’s very interesting. I always associate inflation with the taste of Burt Reynolds’s dick.
Beyond the dismay I felt about being unable to afford unadulterated burgers was the anxiety, the sense that things were out of control. Even though the incomes of most people were rising faster than inflation, Americans were unnerved by the way a dollar seemed to buy less with each passing week. That feeling may be one reason many Americans now seem so downbeat about a booming economy.
Sure, it has nothing to do with everything Americans associate with a shitty economy, like soaring fuel prices or unemployment or Peter Schiff gloating about being right all the time. Why would they possibly be so sour on when times are so great?
The inflation surge of the 1970s was the fourth time after World War II that inflation had topped 5 percent at an annual rate. There would be smaller surges in 1991 and 2008, and a surge that fell just short of 5 percent in 2010-11.
Now we’re experiencing another episode, the highest inflation in almost 40 years. The Consumer Price Index in November was 6.8 percent higher than it had been a year earlier. Much of this rise was due to huge price increases in a few sectors: Gasoline prices were up 58 percent, used cars and hotel rooms up 31 percent and 26 percent respectively and, yes, meat prices up 16 percent. But some (though not all) analysts believe that inflation is starting to spread more widely through the economy.
The current bout of inflation came on suddenly. Early this year inflation was still low; as recently as March members of the Fed’s Open Market Committee, which sets monetary policy, expectedtheir preferred price measure (which usually runs a bit below the Consumer Price Index) to rise only 2.4 percent this year. Even once the inflation numbers shot up, many economists — myself included — argued that the surge was likely to prove transitory. But at the very least it’s now clear that “transitory” inflation will last longer than most of us on that team expected. And on Wednesday the Fed moved to tighten monetary policy, reducing its bond purchases and indicating that it expects to raise interest rates at least modestly next year.
Inflation is an emotional subject. No other topic I write about generates as much hate mail.
Its because you’ve been ignoring it until now, which means either your a liar or a fucking retard.
You decide.
And debate over the current inflation is especially fraught because assessments of the economy have become incredibly partisan and we are in general living in a post-truth political environment.
But it’s still important to try to make sense of what is happening. Does it reflect a policy failure, or just the teething problems of an economy recovering from the pandemic slump? How long can we expect inflation to stay high? And what, if anything, should be done about it?
To preview, I believe that what we’re seeing mainly reflects the inherent dislocations from the pandemic, rather than, say, excessive government spending. I also believe that inflation will subside over the course of the next year and that we shouldn’t take any drastic action. But reasonable economists disagree, and they could be right.
To understand this dispute, we need to talk about what has caused inflation in the past.
Inflation stories
Inflation, goes an old line, is caused by “too much money chasing too few goods.” Alas, sometimes it’s more complicated than that. Sometimes inflation is caused by self-perpetuating expectations; sometimes it’s the temporary product of fluctuations in commodity prices. History gives us clear examples of all three possibilities.
The White House Council of Economic Advisers suggested in Julythat today’s inflation most closely resembles the inflation spike of 1946-1948. This was a classic case of “demand pull” inflation — that is, it really was a case of too much money chasing too few goods. Consumers were flush with cash from wartime savings, and there was a lot of pent-up demand, especially for durable goods like automobiles, after years of wartime rationing. So when rationing ended there was a rush to buy things in an economy still not fully converted back to peacetime production. The result was about two years of very high inflation, peaking at almost 20 percent.
The next inflation surge, during the Korean War, was also driven by a rapid increase in spending. Inflation peaked at more than 9 percent.
For observers of the current scene, the most interesting aspect of these early postwar inflation spikes may be their transitory nature. I don’t mean that they went away in a matter of months; as I said, the 1946-1948 episode went on for about two years. But when spending dropped back to more sustainable levels, inflation quickly followed suit.
That wasn’t the case for the inflation of the 1960s.
True, this inflation started with demand pull: Lyndon Johnson increased federal spending as he pursued both the Vietnam War and the Great Society, but he was unwilling at first to restrain private spending by raising taxes. At the same time, the Federal Reserve kept interest rates low, which kept things like housing construction running hot.
The difference between Vietnam War inflation and Korean War inflation was what happened when policymakers finally acted to rein in overall spending through interest rate increases in 1969. This led to a recession and a sharp rise in unemployment, yet unlike in the 1950s, inflation remained stubbornly high for a long time.
Some economists had in effect predicted that this would happen. In the 1960s many economists believed that policymakers could achieve lower unemployment if they were willing to accept more inflation. In 1968, however, Milton Friedman and Edmund S. Phelps each argued that this was an illusion.
Sustained inflation, both asserted, would get built into the expectations of workers, employers, companies setting prices and so on. And once inflation was embedded in expectations it would become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
This meant that policymakers would have to accept ever-accelerating inflation if they wanted to keep unemployment low. Furthermore, once inflation had become embedded, any attempt to get inflation back down would require an extended slump — and for a while high inflation would go along with high unemployment, a situation often dubbed “stagflation.”
And stagflation came. Persistent inflation in 1970-71 was only a foretaste. In 1972 a politicized Fed juiced up the economy to help Richard Nixon’s re-election campaign; inflation was already almost 8 percent when the Arab oil embargo sent oil prices soaring. Inflation would remain high for a decade, despite high unemployment.
This was great right up until he ignored what else happened in 1971.
Stagflation was eventually ended, but at a huge cost. Under the leadership of Paul Volcker, the Fed sharply reduced growth in the money supply, sending interest rates well into double digits and provoking a deep slump that raised the unemployment rate to 10.8 percent. However, by the time America finally emerged from that slump — unemployment didn’t fall below 6 percent until late 1987 — expectations of high inflation had been largely purged from the economy. As some economists put it, expectations of inflation had become “anchored” at a low level.
Despite these anchored expectations, however, there have been several inflationary spikes, most recently in 2010-11. Each of these spikes was largely driven by the prices of goods whose prices are always volatile, especially oil. Each was accompanied by dire warnings that runaway inflation was just around the corner. But such warnings proved, again and again, to be false alarms.
How 2021 happened
So why has inflation surged this year, and will it stay high?
Mainstream economists are currently divided between what are now widely called Team Transitory and Team Persistent. Team Transitory, myself included, has argued that we’re looking at a temporary blip — although longer lasting than we first expected. Others, however, warn that we may face something comparable to the stagflation of the 1970s. And credit where credit is due: So far, warnings about inflation have proved right, while Team Transitory’s predictions that inflation would quickly fade have been wrong.
But this inflation hasn’t followed a simple script. What we’re seeing instead is a strange episode that exhibits some parallels to past events but also includes new elements.
Soon after President Biden was inaugurated, Larry Summers and other prominent economists, notably Olivier Blanchard, the former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, warned that the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion bill enacted early in the Biden administration, would increase spending by far more than the amount of slack remaining in the economy and that this unsustainable boom in demand would cause high inflation. Team Transitory argued, instead, that much of the money the government handed out would be saved rather than spent, so that the inflationary consequences would be mild.
Inflation did in fact shoot up, but the odd thing is that overall spending isn’t extraordinarily high; it’s up a lot this year, but only enough to bring us more or less back to the prepandemic trend. So why are prices soaring?
*takes long drag of cigarette*
Do tell.
Part of the answer, as I and many others have noted, involves supply chains. The conveyor belt that normally delivers goods to consumers suffers from shortages of port capacity, truck drivers, warehouse space and more, and a shortage of silicon chips is crimping production of many goods, especially cars. A recent report from the influential Bank for International Settlements estimates that price rises caused by bottlenecks in supply have raised U.S. inflation by 2.8 percentage points over the past year.
Now, global supply chains haven’t broken. In fact, they’re delivering more goods than ever before. But they haven’t been able to keep up with extraordinary demand. Total consumer spending hasn’t grown all that fast, but in an economy still shaped by the pandemic, people have shifted their consumption from experiences to stuff — that is, they’ve been spending less on services but much more on goods. The caricature version is that people unable or unwilling to go to the gym bought Pelotons instead, and something like that has in fact happened across the board.
Here’s what the numbers look like. Overall consumption is up 3.5 percent since the pandemic began, roughly in line with normal growth. Consumption of services, however, is still below prepandemic levels, while purchases of durable goods, though down somewhat from their peak, are still running very high.
No wonder the ports are clogged!
Over time, supply-chain problems may largely solve themselves. A receding pandemic in the United States, despite some rise in cases, has already caused a partial reversal of the skew away from services toward goods; this will take pressure off supply chains. And as an old line has it, the cure for high prices is high prices: The private sector has strong incentives to unsnarl supply chains, and in fact is starting to do that.
In particular, large retailers have found ways to get the goods they need, and they say they’re fully stocked for the holiday season. And measures of supply-chain stress such as freight rates have started to improve.
You sure it wasn’t Trump’s trade war moving production elsewhere didn’t temporarily reduce supply? You hate Trump, and so do the retards that believe you, why not point fingers at him?
You could also point out people are quitting their jobs for some reason so there is nobody around to move their vibrators and 55-gallon drums of lube once it actually does arrive at the port. So the cost of labor for those willing to work will rise with employer’s demand for workers. That means shit costs more.
Yet supply-chain problems aren’t the whole story. Even aside from bottlenecks, the economy’s productive capacity has been limited by the Great Resignation, the apparent unwillingness of many Americans idled by the pandemic to return to work. There are still four million fewer Americans working than there were on the eve of the pandemic, but labor markets look very tight, with record numbers of workers quitting their jobs (a sign that they believe new jobs are easy to find) and understaffed employers bidding wages up at the fastest rate in decades. So spending does appear to be exceeding productive capacity, not so much because spending is all that high but because capacity is unexpectedly low.
Inflation caused by supply-chain disruptions will probably fall within a few months, but it’s not at all clear whether Americans who have dropped out of the labor force will return. And even if inflation does come down it might stay uncomfortably high for a while. Remember, the first postwar bout of inflation, which in hindsight looks obviously transitory, lasted for two years.
So how should policy respond?
They should sit on their hands and finger their butthole, it’ll work better than whatever you cook up.
To squeeze or not to squeeze, that is the question
I’m a card-carrying member of Team Transitory. But I would reconsider my allegiance if I saw evidence that expectations of future inflation are starting to drive prices — that is, if there were widespread stories of producers raising prices, even though costs and demand for their products aren’t exceptionally high, because they expect rising costs and/or rising prices on the part of competitors over the next year or two. That’s what kept inflation high even through recessions in the 1970s.
So far I don’t see signs that this is happening — although the truth is that we don’t have good ways to track the relevant expectations. I’ve been looking at stories in the business press and surveys like the Fed’s Beige Book, which asks many businesses about economic conditions; I haven’t (yet?) seen reports of expectations-driven inflation. Bond markets are essentially predicting a temporary burst of inflation that will subside over time. Consumers say that this is a bad time to buy many durable goods, which they wouldn’t say if they expected prices to rise even more in the future.
For what it’s worth, the Federal Reserve, while it has stopped using the term “transitory,” still appears to believe that we’re mostly looking at a fairly short-term problem, declaring in its most recent statement, “Supply and demand imbalances related to the pandemic and the reopening of the economy have continued to contribute to elevated levels of inflation.”
Still, an unmooring of inflation expectations is possible. Given that, what should policymakers be doing right now? And by “policymakers” I basically mean the Fed; political posturing aside, since, given congressional deadlock, nothing that will make a material difference to inflation is likely to happen on the fiscal side, inflation policy mainly means monetary policy.
I recently participated in a meeting that included a number of the most prominent figures in the inflation debate — a meeting in which, to be honest, those of us still on Team Transitory were definitely in the minority. The meeting was off the record, but I asked Larry Summers and Jason Furman, a top economist in the Obama administration, to share by email summaries of their positions.
Summers offered a grim prognosis, declaring, “I see a clearer path to stagflation as inflation encounters supply shocks and Fed response than to sustained growth and price stability.” The best hope, he suggested, was along the lines of what the Fed has now done, end its purchases of mortgage-backed securities (which I agree with because I don’t see what purpose those purchases serve at this point) and plan to raise interest rates in 2022 — four times, he said — with “a willingness to adjust symmetrically with events.” In other words, maybe hike less, but maybe hike even more.
There it is! STAG MOTHERFUCKING FLATION.
Furman was less grim, saying, “We should not drop the goal of pursuing a hot economy,” but he wanted us to slow things down, to “get there by throwing one log on the fire at a time.” His policy recommendation, however, wasn’t that different. He called for three rate hikes next year, as the Fed said on Wednesday that it was considering.
Where am I in this debate? Clearly, a sufficiently large rate hike would bring inflation down. Push America into a recession, and the pressure on ports, trucking and warehouses would end; prices of many goods would stop rising and would indeed come down. On the other hand, unemployment would rise. And if you believe that we’re mainly looking at temporary bottlenecks, you don’t want to see hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of workers losing their jobs for the sake of reducing congestion at the Port of Los Angeles.
But what both Summers and Furman are arguing is that the inflation problem is bigger than temporary bottlenecks; Furman is also in effect arguing that tapping on the monetary brakes could cool off inflation without causing a recession, although Summers doesn’t think we’re likely to avoid at least a period of stagflation when bringing inflation down.
The Fed’s current, somewhat chastened, position seems almost identical to Furman’s. The latest projections from board members and Fed presidents are for the interest rate the Fed controls to rise next year, but by less than one percentage point, and for the unemployment rate to keep falling.
Perhaps surprisingly, my own position on policy substance isn’t all that different from either Furman’s or the Fed’s. I think inflation is mainly bottlenecks and other transitory factors and will come down, but I’m not certain, and I am definitely open to the possibility that the Fed should raise rates, possibly before the middle of next year. I think the Fed should wait for more information but be willing to hike rates modestly if inflation stays high; Furman, as I understand it, thinks the Fed should plan to hike rates modestly (in correspondence he suggested one percentage point or less over the course of 2022, matching the Fed’s projections) but be willing to back off if inflation recedes.
This seems like a fairly nuanced distinction. It is, of course, possible that bad inflation news will force far more draconian tightening than the Fed is currently contemplating, even now.
Maybe the real takeaway here should be how little we know about where we are in this strange economic episode. Economists like me who didn’t expect much inflation were wrong, but economists who did predict inflation were arguably right for the wrong reasons, and nobody really knows what’s coming.
My own view is that we should be really hesitant about killing the boom prematurely. But like everyone who’s taking this debate seriously, I’m hanging on the data and wonder every day whether I’m wrong.
No, we were right all along you cunt nugget.
The sad part is, Krugman being a vapid mouthpiece of the establishment is now floating the word “stagflation”. He’s their attempt at a moist towelette to mop up our leaking asshole after we got fucked for two years. Remember they went from no inflation, to transitory inflation, to okay there’s inflation but its not all bad…
…to there could be stagflation but this time its not like the 70’s.
a liar or a fucking retard
Why not both?
I couldn’t read it all. Fuck Krugnuts.
Inflation is here and is going to stay. There ain’t gonna be another Reagan/Volker team to fix it.
I can’t read Krugnuts for long either. But I like Winston’s mom.
I like Winston’s mom
Who doesn’t? I mean, she is a nice lady, right? Plus she is less wrong than Krugnuts. That’s a winning combo.
there could be stagflation but this time its not like the 70’s.
No, it will be much, much worse.
So more like Argentina or Zimbabwe? I’m trying to gauge my audience.
Why not both?
We can default on our loans and also achieve social justice by the trillion.
We seem to be more and more like Mexico every year. How many times have they ‘re-valued’ the peso?
“I always associate inflation with the taste of Burt Reynolds’s dick.”
Did it taste like Dom DeLuise?
No, more like your feet.
That’s going to leave a mark.
On topic for Winston’s Mom!
https://archive.md/nfnHD
2 and done.
I was one and done.
Whatever the case, Biden Claus to the rescue.
Joe Biden on Wednesday met with his ‘supply chain disruptions task force’ and private sector CEOs.
Biden absurdly claimed there was never a supply chain crisis.
“Earlier this fall, we heard a lot of dire warnings about supply chain problems leading to a crisis around the holidays, so we acted,” said Biden. “The much predicted crisis didn’t occur!”
“Packages are moving. Gifts are being delivered! Shelves are not empty,” Biden declared.
If only saying it would make it so.
To be fair, not ALL of the shelves are empty.
See? Biden saved Christmas!
Communist utopia eludes us again.
/Sad Trombone
Things seem fairly well stocked around here. Durable goods may be an exception, from what I’ve heard.
“Packages are moving. Gifts are being delivered! Shelves are not empty,” Biden declared.”
Please, Joe, tell that to the purchasing department at work! They say that circuit boards, chips, cockpit displays, engines, gascolators; even raw materials like fiberglass, carbon fiber, and adhesives are all hard to come by right now. Are you calling them liars, Joe? Or are you talking out of your ass?
He is so full of shit. I have had to order some computers and accessories for my office. There are fewer choices than 2 years ago and delivery times are extended.
For Yusef, 3000 ft disc golf hole.
I don’t play disc golf so I have no idea how this popped up on my Youtube recommendations.
I just saw that on my feed, Simon Lizotte is one of the great players, and funny!
Thanks!
People who disagree with me are the debil: MSNBC’s @AnandWrites: Republicans are using Covid to “kill as many people as possible”
Joyless Reid remains a dishonest cunte: Another one for the “Republicans are using Covid to kill people for fun” column
Wow, that’s sad that Beschloss would join in that insanity.
It’s all gonna collapse. The cool kids say “end the Fed!”, but that started pretty much the day the dumbfucks created the monster.
I think you’re right. Its a big, self-lubricating clusterfuck.
You know what else is self-lubricating?
Oil impregnated bronze bushings!
Cane toads?
Winston’s mom?
You’re not very good at this.
A potato slicer?
Well I have a flight at at a godawful time tomorrow morning, so everyone have a very Merry Christmas.
And as a parting gift here is Small Towns Titans cover “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”of “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”
Merry Christmas and safe travels!
That cover is my new Xmas tradition.
After Chile’s recent decision to stop being the exemplar of good, stable governance in South America (admittedly, a bar so low as to be subterranean), I asked the guy I work with importing wine from the country if he was going to continue working there. He figures that he’ll stick it out until everything goes sideways, and hopefully keep an ear to the ground so he can get his money out while the getting’s good. Besides, with the Chilean peso losing value against the USD, sales might actually go up in the next few years.
Which will be nice, since the winery makes a wine named for Winston’s Mom.
*orders two cases*
Burt Reynolds?
Thats fuckin’ Gator to you pal!
Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to? Sit your punk ass down on the floor like the dog you are.
Good. Now roll over.
Shake
Stay
*tosses Zwak a treat*
(do I get charged extra for this?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwmU343eBu0
The fuck should I know? I just received XLM 368.14 from first four 0Xd5 last four c19K from some schmuck.
If that wasn’t you you’ll hear from my billing department.
which means either your a liar or a fucking retard.
Why not both?
I couldn’t finish it. Fuck Krugman.
Great minds DEG – see #1.
Nice.
Seems to me that, in the final analysis, all of Krugman’s inflation periods were caused by too much money chasing too few goods.
Someone, someone, von Mises
Soy Republicana!
I ❤️ @gayguycandleco’s products.
Unless you have a LEGITIMATE medical reason, if you’re not vaccinated, I don’t want to see you, talk to you, work w/you, socialize w/you or know you. It’s enough. Your “personal freedom” is holding the rest of us hostage. It’s selfish and stupid.
“Personal freedom is terrorism.”
I don’t want to be near you either bud.
I don’t see why there’s an exception for “LEGITIMATE medical reason[s]”. I mean, if you’re that terrified and hateful, really there should not be.
That’s what I thought at first, then I realized it has nothing to do with a virus.
“LEGITIMATE medical reason[s]”
Is schizophrenia a medical reason or a psychological problem? Trying to match the ambiguous merits of vaccines with reality is driving me nutty.
Is Fauci et al lying or stupid? I’m thinking this new pill will be the catharsis that will save mankind, take two of these placebos in the morning and if you have any symptom like symptoms , those are just side effects and can be ignored. The brown one may taste like peanut butter and the black one will have a slight licorice after taste.
The first song really captures the season. The second is overdone so I never listen to it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAEJKg0lSPk&list=RDMM&index=21
I had a girl engage me at the bar, first time in some time. I found the whole affair unreasonably upsetting. It’s been five years since I’ve had any intimate engagement with women. I find their species upsetting and I’d really have rather not dealt with her at all. During the entire encounter I thought about how much I’d rather have been watching clips from Father Ted. My God, you have to justify yourself. I never thought myself strung out, but when you’re formulated, as upon a pin, you must justify your existence, and you realize all the time you waste, all the experiential indicia of your existence is just wasted mass and time and space, and you wonder how could you ever present yourself to the world, why do you even bother waking up in the morning other than brute hormonal necessity,
and then she cashed out and I was, thank God, in whom I don’t believe but wish I did, I thank God she goes away, and I’m left to recoup myelf.
The long and short of it is that I’m a boring fuck and can’t justify myself to the world.
I bar hopped to another establishment and listened to a guy who is a senior manager at a fitness club spell out his entire life, and I realized maybe being a boring fuck with his tongue tied is preferable to a loquacious boring fuck.
It’s weird to me the confidence some people have. Fitness club manager guy was obnoxiously confident. But maybe it’s weird that I’m confident enough to spill my dumb guts here.
Just glad I’m not single anymore. Hopefully never be a manager. 😛
A few weeks ago a good looking woman sat next to me at the bar. She started chatting me up.
At first I thought, “Nice!” And then, “She’s way too friendly for New England.” Then, “Fuck, she’s trouble.”
Yep, she started causing all sorts of trouble. She was exceptionally rude to the folks around me and to me, but according to her it was us being rude to her.
I tried getting the attention of the staff. At some point I saw the manager staring at the group of us. Eventually the manager came over and threw the woman out.
Afterwards, the manager told me she had thrown this woman out before for the same reason. She also banned the woman from ever coming back into the bar.
As for you, are you a boring fuck? I don’t know, you seem like a decent sort to me. I’d have a drink with you.
Whoa, back up.
I find their species upsetting…
So fucking what? They are unsettling. And weird.
You don’t need to justify yourself to the world. You just need to be interesting to one chick.
You are lounging in a soup of infinite topics here! Including this very article.
Now go back to the bar and be fucking interesting.
To the girl. Not the fitness douche.
Good luck.
I think, because I am barely literate, I think
And because I can only hope she is as barely literate as I, I hope she can answer,
Not really but that would be funny
Dude, you need a slump-buster.
Start by asking her about herself. Follow up with more questions about her. She’ll handle most of the talking duties.
Slum speaks the truth here. Become an excellent listener by asking a few questions and let her do the work. The favorite topic for the vast majority of people (including women people) is themselves and their interests. You definitely need a slump breaker.
For what it’s worth I went on three dates with my now wife without barely saying anything. But I’m exceptionally quiet and she’s exceptionally talkative.
Listen to this guy.
https://fatherted.gifglobe.com/scene/?id=wwRYGMtLPkF1
Craggy Island has a Chinatown?!
Different species, eh? / “Ancient Chinese secret, huh?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zkL91LzCMc
I had a man engage me in a bar once. I found the whole affair unreasonably upsetting. I find their species upsetting and I’d really have rather not dealt with him at all.
😉
So I didn’t and left the poor fellow thinking I was an A-number one bitch because I was a cowardly fuckette.
Good on you for engaging. That takes guts, my friend.
Which scene out of Father Ted did you imagine? Was it the Ecumenical Matter bit?
Ummmm….
Was that a trespass?? I don’t know religions. I think I’m doing a bit but I’m kicking over gravestones, sometimes
I am embarrassed that I don’t know what Father Ted is and am not getting the joke.
Father Hackett is one of the priests exiled to Craggy Isle. He is for at least one episode sobered up enough to deliver more than one of his handful of drunkenly-conceived lines (the others being FECK!, ARSE!, and GIRLS!). In this episode he is prevailed upon to deliver the line “That would be an ecumenical matter” to a retinue of bishops who are visiting the isle.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111958/
Middle-aged corrupt priest, young dumb priest, old alky priest, and aggressively hospitable housekeeper on a remote Irish island.
Hence
Oh come on come on come on
Priests?! Don’t tell me I’m still on that fecking island!
Oh, that looks interesting. I’ll give it a whirl.
Hey, you just made a telephonic TV-watching date.
Careful Now?
Only 25 episodes. You might like it, Moj.
Or: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFTgkibl7DU (1m1s)
Caravan? oh heck, Graham Norton’s in dat one.
And when you’re turned on to that Moj we’ll get you into The Inbetweeners.
I luv GN, just wasn’t what I meant to link to.
Pilot for Mo or ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klrS-1zznR0
It’s not an English show, it’s an Irish show produced by the English…
Christ, I’m glad we Americans needn’t concern ourselves with those bizarre distinctions, we’re all business here.
The long and short of it is that I’m a boring fuck and can’t justify myself to the world.
Try to embrace the absurdity of it all, nothing you do matters, this scares a lot of people but it’s actually very liberating, You can’t be a fuck up when all your fuck ups are ultimately meaningless.
“You can’t be a fuck up when all your fuck ups are ultimately meaningless.”
So Fucking True,
What kind of dumb f*ck thinks that cutting the supply of energy will not increase the price of energy?
What kind of dumb f*ck thinks that paying people to sit on their asses at home won’t increase unemployment?
What kind of dumb f*ck thinks that printing $2.5T won’t increase inflation?
What kind of dumb f*ck thinks that shutting down supply lines for an entire year won’t result in bare shelves at the retail level?
What kind of dumb f*ck? A Democrat.
Iron Law (or maybe Lead Law): If Democrats understood basic economics they wouldn’t be Democrats.
They’re not as dumb as you think. Because the fact is they want all of those things.
Why can’t we just call them commies?
I know I do, so should you,
Cheers Mate!
Cheers, Yusef!
I can’t imagine what I would be doing differently than the current admin if I was not trying to bring about the social and economic destruction of the country. So I assume that is their goal.
if I *was
not* trying…Iron Law (or maybe Lead Law): If Democrats understood basic economics they wouldn’t be Democrats.
What would they be? Republicans who spend, print, borrow, and steal just as much but give lip service to fiscal responsibility?
I’ve got savings I need to dispense with, can someone tell me for the love of god what to buy that won’t get wiped out by bidenflation? It’s not a lot but it’s what I’ve got.
Rice.
=,(
Nothing is very safe now. Saw some people having for inflation adjusted us bonds, real return is near zero and there are limits to redeeming them early.
I’m hoping mutual funds will keep up with inflation, thinking the big guys will take care of themselves and by default take care of me.
I use ETFs with a bit of gold and crypto on the side and a significant amount of fiat.
It’s done well, particularly the funds as I’ve been buying the dips. Holdings of crypto and gold are really new so nothing to report there, but I’m not expecting great returns and maybe even losses. Still feels better than losing 6-7% a year doing nothing.
Gold/silver/platinum?
Rare wines?
Hookers and blow?
#3 for the memories that last a lifetime.
Dogecoin?
Hobbit, remember that 1/2 of the people are below average. Whether they are all democrats or not, I don’t know, but republicans that I do know aren’t much different when it comes to spending other people’s money.
Trump and his gang ran up the debt a couple trillion, balancing the budget is something that isn’t ever heard any more. Could it be that all the repubs/demos are below average?
@Hype and @4×20:
You are both right. Perhaps I should modify my judgement of “Democrats” to be “politicians.”
Modify to “humans”.
Humans are dumb.
Still gonna harp on this group. Goes Wrong Show does A Christmas Carol. Next year they did Peter Pan. I bought this DVD for my mother, even though it’s region locked. Don’t think I won’t buy it for you, too. You’ve been warned.
So you’ve just had two known MLWs, one happily married and one happily single, being solicitous of you and trading quips and references. Is life so bad?
No such thing.
In one place at once?
I am trying to talk him down!!
Wanna bet?
@Mo
I think she’s just being facetious.
I wouldn’t know,
Just stepped over to the TOS for a glance. Bailey has two articles. The leads for both contain the phrase “…as Omicron surges”. Jeesh he’s gotten worse. And that phrase has become like that old New Yorker gag – make the caption for any cartoon “As Omicron surges” and it works.
NBC censorship: a cop was shot in Philly last night. Today, on the six o’clock local NBC News, they showed him being released from the hospital. One of his buddies was wearing a shirt that said “Let’s Go, Brandon!” Just saw the same clip on the 11pm news – now the t-shirt lettering is blurred out. Usually they reserve the blurring for obscenities that frequently crop up on left-wing protest signs or sprayed graffiti, thereby leaving viewers to assume the cop’s buddy was walking around in public with obscenities on his shirt.
Heheh, I find it amusing that the lefties are feigning outrage at the supposed vulgarity of “Let’s go Brandon”, especially after four years of every insult possible hurled at BOM. It’s wholesome as fuck, and that is part of why it has become such a popular meme. At this point nothing the legacy media does surprises me in any way. They’ve been pretending for almost two years that cloth has somehow become an antivirus shield for fuck sakes.
TMITE. Blurred-out film at 11.
As I walk through the valley of the shadow of second
I take a look at my life and realize there’s nothin’ left
‘Cause I’ve been Firstin’ and winnin’ so long
That even my momma thinks that my mind is gone
Keep spending most our lives
Livin’ in a Firster’s paradise
Second = Twenty Third.
I was born to be First.
You were born to be second.
And I’ve been milkin’ and plowin’ so long that
Even Ezekiel thinks that my mind is gone
I’m a man of the land, I’m into discipline
Got a Bible in my hand and a beard on my chin
But if I finish all of my chores and you finish thine
Then tonight we’re gonna party like it’s 1699
We been spending most our lives
Living in an Amish paradise
Merry Glibmas After Dark!
https://archive.md/okSyO
You post directly after me too much for it to be a coincidence. I think you have a fetish for being second. I think it gets you off more than abnormally large breasts. That’s worse than the worst sort of sex pervert.
Women appreciate it when you finish second.
Firsters go home and fuck the prom queen.
My favorite part of the day.
I fucked up again!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHwkXxOVIXc
RIP, Mike Nesmith.
Peter, no?
He has a lot not Monkees music out there that I was unaware of before he kicked it that’s really good.
The same thing goes for Christmas.
WP Brooksed me.
Another quick thread on Russia/Ukraine stuff – from Putin’s press conference.
https://twitter.com/maxseddon/status/1473959572775837700?t=ZTt6cmBxOgdrSmv1sv3wmw&s=19
Related:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russia-us-agree-security-talks-nato-expansion-set-january
Looks like the Russians are parlaying this situation into holding talks which is good.
He writes this but can’t seem to understand that printing much more money right now is part of the problem.
Morning Hayek,
In 1967 we were using funny money in Viet Nam, monopoly money, script. This stuff was being printed with absolutely nothing backing it up. Even down to nickles were paper, change was smaller, the size of Monopoly money. A billfold full of money might be 2-3 bucks. The idea being we Americans couldn’t flood the local economy will greenbacks, since script couldn’t be used off base. Wasn’t long before the locals were accepting scrip, at the black market rate.
We changed color once, to try to discourage local use (PXs wouldn’t accept the old color after a certain date with a very short time line) but the GI bars kept on chugging, any loss was the cost of business, since everything was over priced anyway.
“Unexpectedly low”? After deliberately shutting down the economy in the name of COVID so that Donkeys could win the 2020 elections, you didn’t expect it to affect capacity ?
Go fuck yourself. Turn in your Nobel prize while you’re at it.
Good morning, hay – and Stinky and LCDR! ::salutes::
Are you up late or up early?
Krugman’s a smart guy so don’t give him the presumption of being incorrect. The man’s a liar in the service of neoliberalism and a political hack, no more and no less.
*snort*
“Full faith of the government” or something.
I was 60 years old before 50s and 100s were commonly seen. Now I walk around with a few in my pocket and every store takes them without a pause. Easy to drop a 50 on a lunch for 2 with no strong drinks.
“I got gas on pump 2”
“83 bucks, right?”
$50s are the new $20s.
True dat
I’d rather carry around U.S. Grant than Andrew Jackson any day.
*sets up aluminum pole*
Let’s get this Festivus celebration started!
No.
Just you wait for the airing of grievences, buddy…
*side eyes UCS*
I hate fake holidays.
All holidays are fake.
Untrue.
Solstices & equinoxes?
https://mobile.twitter.com/anulman/status/1472095268489236482
Jfc.
If there’s a hell I hope this guy’s demon just kicks him in the nads for all eternity.
A loser snitch ass bitch who ought to get a lump of coal in his stocking if I’ve ever seen one.
CS’s punishment is a bit harsh, but that guy definitely deserves some lumps for sure.
“I demand to see the manager!” (paraphrasing)
LOL I hope that is all some clever satire.
Way too many pictures for that to be the case.
https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/lehighvalley/driver-taken-to-hospital-after-vehicle-crashes-into-house-in-bethlehem-dog-returns-home/article_8cd882bc-6378-11ec-b3de-3fe76b4ad61e.html
Sir, this is not a drive though Wendy’s.
https://www.nj.com/politics/2021/12/gov-murphy-to-celebrate-christmas-out-of-the-country-with-his-family.html
Quick, close the borders and change the locks.
But! CASES!!
Whycome he not stay and HELP US?!
THIS ^^^
https://ktla.com/news/california/democrats-appear-to-gain-edge-in-california-congressional-districts/
I didn’t know they could make it worse.
It’s cute that they think the 2020 results will carry over to 2022.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/portland-business-owner-robbed-delayed-911-response-oregon
Robbed three times in one month. That’s fucked up.
I don’t think “despite” is the word you’re looking for, though I don’t doubt there’s a fair amount of spite involved on the part of the politicians.
suh’ fam
whats goody
Good morning! How are you feeling, homey?
Getting better. Just endured another coughing fit that nearly had me pass out.
There has to be a way to hold someone responsible for this nasty little bug.
Getting better
This is good, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
I have now officially come down with something. Nothing like what you went through, but dry cough, stuffy nose, body aches, and a low fever around 100 are no bargain. Probably a common cold if there is such a thing these days.
What a time to be sick, too.
Ill pray that your symptoms remains mild and you get over it soon.
I have all the symptoms of zOMGicron.
Also known as “December”.
Thanks guys. Not the first time I’ve been sick, hope it won’t be the last. Might fuck up my planned vacation, though. Also. putting the pipe away for a few days, a sure sign it’s pretty bad.
Mornin, Glibbies. Tonight I felt on the knife edge – https://youtu.be/G7_XkndCwQc. That weird prickly feeling at the back of your eyeballs and it feels like your skull is expanding? I had one of the staff share some kind words with me and I needed to visit the powder room to compose myself. Company boot is getting heavier and I just feel so fucking low. I don’t mean to harp on the ‘poor me” narrative but this is breaking me. I feel like an eleven year-old getting her first menses or more probably I’m just dealing with Manopause. Anyhow, I don’t like it one little bit. Just so very stressed and tired. One more night to get through without ugly-crying. I was actually featuring some waterworks while writing this. Thanks for listening once again, beloved friends.
Just one more night, buddy! You can do this! Please try to get as much sleep as you can today – rest is your friend!
We’re here for ya, Canuckian. Even if you are metric.
After all, we put the FUN in dysfunction.
Heh. Ya I’m just at a low ebb. Lipids are off or something. I hate this time of year. You fine folk have a great one if you can manage it and Tres? I’m glad you are on the mend!
Jugsy gets home tonight after 5 weeks. I need my strength.
Red pill? Black pill?
Gonna be lots of blue pills.
African men swear by Yohimbe, try that.
One more day; be strong.
Thanks Patzy! I can do this. It isn’t about the clients anymore and it sure as hell ain’t about the Company. This I finish for me. (starting to sound like Brother Deadhead)
That’s the spirit. In the end, it’s always about doing the right thing because it’s the right thing to do. And that is not easy sometimes.
Dude, so sorry that its been rough out there. These times are often very stressful.
You got us, we can listen to you.
You have always been a great guy to listen to. Its almost over. What is the first thing you are going to do? Lets focus on that.
Morning all, good to hear you’re getting better, TC.
Festus, the age thing hits all of us, sooner or later. We realize that time is passing us by and we haven’t accomplished the things we had set out to do. It’s because our expectations were high, as they should be, and reality sometimes treats us a little differently.
I went through a two year period of depression in my early 60s. Seemed like the thing I wanted most was beyond my reach and it was. Finally I had to accept that it was never going to be realized and I was only hurting myself. It took a while. I’m grateful now where I’m at, the ride has been long, sometimes bumpy, but with good friends like you and the other Glibs I can wake up and enjoy each day.
I see my generation slipping away, I need you.
You just read my mood like the back of the Corn Flakes box, Dad! Who is this man that contains the wisdom of the Ages?
https://www.kiro7.com/news/trending/virginia-woman-moves-into-nations-first-3d-printed-habitat-humanity-home/2BLPXO56ERGTRLSFLVM6JTXIXE/
Huh.
Interesting. I had no idea you could 3d-print a home.
Meta: the house came with a 3d printer.
With files to print door knobs, outlet plate covers, etc.
With files to print door knobs, outlet plate covers, etc.
Hmm, I wonder what else it can print *walks away whistling*