All bow before the power of America

Spend that cash!

bullshit

Cool. I bet that is really good for our record deficit.

I am gonna run out and buy an Escalade, happy days are here again.

Clearly things are horrible and China will be passing us in the next 3 days.

It's all just a question of accountancy

You spelled it wrong. It's spelled "b-u-l-l-i-s-h".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3227665.stm

http://www.cnn.com/

nothing more ironic than a patriot quoting the bbc and cnn.

Damnit.

Do I know you, son?

This is the correct answer.

It's a right wing conspiracy to make everyone wealthier.

The left will never put up with such a crime.

That's one conspiracy I could live with. Or even better, to make the wealthy wealthier. Fuck the poor. What have they ever done for anyone?

The poor sit around all day complaining about the wealthy. Fuck that. Do business with the haves and leave the have-not to complain. Yeah, send me some traffic and I'll send you some checks.

I agree. Keep the ******s poor. What have they ever done for us?

Your lips chapped lips from all that flapping you're doing over there? Why do you have to be a racist? Poor is a disease of the stupid and lazy. Racists like you should be locked up.

If one does not like the culture of a race of people...is that person a racist...or a cluturist?

Ah, the prodigal son returns.

Where you been, mano?

The economy has grown 7.2% or regained 7.2% of its previously lost ground?

The dollar needs to grow - By much more than 7.2% - And quickly!

Hey Wig,

Taking a little vacation and preparing for the November-January business explosion - culminatin in Vegas, of course. You heading there again? Hope so.

The economy grew about 3% last year - which is close to the average. So obviously then - there's nothing lost to "regain".

WB colin, where the hell have you been anyhow?

Got a bambino on the way and won't make Vegas this year unfortunately.

Want to talk to you about something. You still got ICQ hooked up? lol

Poor is a disease of the lazy and the stupid?

Like all of those freed slaves that created the ghettos of America? Those lazy stupid bastards.

People are only poor because they are lazy and stupid. Ahhh nothing like the pedantic rantings of delusional American puritan work ethic.

You go white boy, tell us how it all works.

That work ethic that has contributed to the most powerful economy in all modern times? That one? Get over it, lazy little boy. You sound like a bitter webmaster still making $50k/year bragging about your 30 days vacation. Come back when you're done complaining about the world and decide to be other than a useless urchin.

Thats not an answer, thats called spin.

Justify the poverty of certain segments of the American population using Colins Theory of "Poverty Due to Stupidity".

Are ******s really poor because they are historically stupid and lazy?

Other groups in America were repressed and forced to live in ghettos for a full generation.

How did they pull out of it?

They werent ******s. Do we really need to get into why slavery of the Irish and Natives didnt work? Or can the obvious answer suffice?

No fair using LOGIC in an emotional argument!

So I can assume by the last two responses that you believe black poverty is due to them being largely lazy and ignorant?

Syracuse, NY. Glad to be home. I don't know how people live in the snow and ice.

GDP is measured in ...

Answer the question and you have part of the explanation

Has nothing to do with it.

Other groups were repressed, treated like shit, kicked around, and forced to live in crappy areas.

Not worthy of a response?

Idiot.

White people regardless of nationality blend, ******s did not. They were easier to segregate. A second generation Irish guy who changed his last name (which the Irish and Italians, as well as many other groups, did en mass) is not so easily segregated.

Dumbass.

Damn.

I thought it was because the O'Connors got bonus points on their job applications.

PW,

The US economy never went anywhere. Last year, the US had an average GDP growth (3+%) and average unemployment (6.0% is the average for the period 1970-2003). This despite a weak performance by important trade partners Japan and Western Europe. When the EU grew at 1% for the year, the US grew 3x faster than that. Don't worry, we'll pull you out of it. Look to America for guidance ;-) ;-)

Depends. Does he have a rebel flag on his car or not?

So then are ******s poor according to the Colin Theory of Ignorance Induced Poverty because they are lazy and stupid as a group?

Report Links Iraq Deals to Bush Donations

WASHINGTON - Companies awarded $8 billion in contracts to rebuild Iraq (news - web sites) and Afghanistan (news - web sites) have been major campaign donors to President Bush (news - web sites), and their executives have had important political and military connections, according to a study released Thursday.

The study of more than 70 U.S. companies and individual contractors turned up more than $500,000 in donations to the president's 2000 campaign, more than they gave collectively to any other politician over the past dozen years.

The report was released by the Center for Public Integrity, a Washington-based research organization that produces investigative articles on special interests and ethics in government. Its staff includes journalists and researchers.

The Center concluded that most of the 10 largest contracts went to companies that employed former high-ranking government officials, or executives with close ties to members of Congress and even the agencies awarding their contracts.

Major contracts for Iraq and Afghanistan were awarded by the Bush administration without competitive bids, because agencies said competition would have taken too much time to meet urgent needs in both countries.

"No single agency supervised the contracting process for the government," Center executive director Charles Lewis said. "This situation alone shows how susceptible the contracting system is to waste, fraud and cronyism."

J. Edward Fox, an assistant administrator at the U.S. Agency for International Development, took issue with Lewis' statement and aspects of the report.

"It would ... be incorrect to suggest that there is no overall oversight of this process," he wrote the Center. "The USAID inspector general's review of all Iraq contracts which was requested by USAID Administrator Andrew S. Natsios on April 14th has shown that all Iraq contracts to date have been done in compliance" with federal regulations.

The top contract recipient was the Halliburton subsidiary KBR, with more than $2.3 billion awarded to support the U.S. military and restore Iraq's oil industry.

Halliburton was headed by Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) before he resigned to run with Bush in 2000.

Halliburton's top executive, Dave Lesar, said Wednesday he was offended by criticism of the company's Iraq work but believed it was "less about Halliburton and more about external political issues."

"As a company uniquely qualified to take on this difficult assignment, we will continue to bring all of our global resources to bear at this critical time in the Middle East. We have served the military for over 50 years and have no intention of backing down at this point," he said.

Bechtel was second with a $1 billion capital construction contract involving Iraq's utilities, telecommunications, railroads, ports, schools, health care facilities, bridges, roads and airports.

The company's Internet site says, "We do engage in the political process, as do most companies in the United States. We have legitimate policy interests and positions on matters before Congress, and we express them in many ways, including support for elected officials who support those positions.

"We do not expect or receive political favors or government contracts as a result of those contributions."

The Center's analysis of contractor political donations showed:

_The top 10 contractors contributed $11 million to national political parties, candidates and political action committees since 1990.

_Fourteen of the companies won contracts in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Those companies, combined, have given more than $23 million in political contributions since 1990.

_Most contractors, their political action committees and their employees have contributed just under $49 million to national political campaigns and parties since that year.

_In the same time period, contractor donations to Republican Party committees outpaced contributions to the Democrats, $12.7 million to $7.1 million.

Many of the companies with large contracts have important political connections.

Former Secretary of State George Shultz is a member of Bechtel's board of directors, although he has no management role, according to the company's Web site.

Riley Bechtel, the chairman and chief executive officer, was named early this year to the President's Export Council, which advises the president on programs to improve U.S. trade.

Jack Sheehan, senior vice president in Bechtel's petroleum and chemicals business, served on the Defense Policy Board, which advises the defense secretary on a variety of issues.

Other contractors also had connections. Among those cited by the Center:

David Kay, head of the Bush administration's search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, is a former vice president of Science Applications International Corp. He left the company in October 2002.

Christopher "Ryan" Henry left the same company as a vice president in February 2003 to become principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy.

Scott Spangler, principal owner of Chemonics International, was a senior U.S. Agency for International Development official during the first Bush administration. The company receives 90 percent of its business from USAID.

Sullivan Haave Associates Inc. was founded by Carol Haave, currently the deputy assistant secretary of defense for security and information operations.

The Center's findings are based, in part, on 73 Freedom of Information Act requests and an analysis of a federal contractor database.

There are a lot of reasons.

I believe that their own actions are a big part of it, yes.

There are ******s that got out of poverty and it wasn't because they joined the local gang, sold dope, and popped out 6 kids by the time they were 18 and had no job.

It's funny that the ******s that get out of poverty are never held up as role models to the community but are called Uncle Toms and ridiculed as sell outs.

What does all this race-card stuff have to do with the fact that the "work ethic" that you make so much fun of, has resulted in an economy that is so strong that people have enough computers and spare cash lying around to pay you a good living for a bunch of porno pictures!

You should be cheering that damn "work ethic"

You failed to complete the riddle:

GDP is measured in ...
(in the US)


Here's a little something to help:

Old situation:

100x = 100y = 100z
A = 100y
B = 100z

New situation:

100x = 200y = 50z
A = 200y (+100%!!!)
B = 50z (-50%!!!)

If x is objective, what has changed?

And those would be?

Tell me why some black people are born poor and do well financially and yet others fail.

You're making statements like "black people" and *insert pejorative here* as if you can categorize entire groups of people simply and neatly, stuffing them into categories, and speaking of averages as "those people".

I dont share your enthusiasm for consumption.

All your precious work ethic has done is make you a slave to corporate America.

By the way KRL, all the same shit about political fund raising was happening during the Clinton years, except that those contributors actually included illiegal funds from semi-hostile foreign goverments in order to get a hold of banned US weapons systems and people went to jail for it. Big fricking deal

Hi LabRat... I've missed you

If you don't share my enthusiam for consumption then you need to do two things:

1. Go take a class in ecomomics
2. Get out of this business....you total hypocrite!

I think you're confusing M1 and GDP ;-)

Just look at the strong home sales and auto sales in the past quarter. Auto sales contributed 1.7% of the quarter's rise in GDP. People are spending money.