Why are tea baggers white?

EagleSmack

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Feb 16, 2005
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It took 8 years to screw it up and you expect him to wave a magic wand and make it all better?

But the Democrats have owned the entire Congress for about four years. Things got worse. It is not just on the Executive Office, it's the Congress too.
 

SirJosephPorter

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Nov 7, 2008
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I guess that's why Honda and GM are hiring lots of people in Ontario, because the Wendy's and Burger King jobs in the US are so lucrative.

Manufacturing jobs also are up in USA. Manufacturing companies are hiring again. These Republicans will say anything to trash Obama.
 

SirJosephPorter

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SirJoseph

I have to disagree on your bright happy praise of Obama - since he took office my savings for retirement have lost $300,000 in less than one year. Much of the funding was the contribution from my husband's employment before he died, but
as I am the "keeper" I have tried to manage it properly and it had increased under
my care - knowing little about the stock market I was proud I had been able to
enjoy success for at least five years watching the savings grow. I never touched that savings fund once. But the government did.


For whatever reasons the current government has interefered with some of the successful plans which have been going on for years in this nation under both political parties, the eggheads in Washington seem to have lost their way or are
choosing another "way" to lead us into depression.

In case you are not aware of it, the world was close to plunging into depression when Obama took office. Stock market tanked big time right after Obama was elected, when Bush was still in power. That didn’t stop Bush acolytes from blaming Obama for the stock market drop, however.

And exactly when did you lose this 300,000? Did you lose it in 2009, the year Obama was in power? I find that astonishing. I can understand you losing that much in 2008, when Bush was in power. 2008 was a terrible year for stocks, the markets really tanked. That is when DOW bottomed at 6500.

But 2009 was one of the best years for stocks on record, most stock markets jumped by 30% in 2009. If you are saying that you lost 300,000 $ in 2009 you really must have a lousy, terrible investment advisor. Anybody who got less than say 15% return in 2009, clearly is not managing his money properly.

Personally speaking, I lost 10% of my portfolio in 2008, but had a gain of 30% in 2009, giving me an impressive rate of return of 13.5 % per year for 2008 and 2009 combined.

So if you lost 300,000 $ in 2009, don’t blame Obama, blame your investment advisor. Any moron could have made money in 2009, perhaps you should have consulted a moron rather than your investment advisor.

So don’t blame Obama for your misfortunes. The only complete year that Obama has been in office was 2009, and stock markets performed gangbuster in 2009. That has been the best year for me ever (and indeed, the best year ever for many people).

Indeed, that is what the historical records tell us, stock markets perform much better under Democratic presidents than they do under Republican presidents. Clinton (1992-2000) and Bush (2000-2008 ) is but one example.
 

Socrates the Greek

I Remember them....
Apr 15, 2006
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In case you are not aware of it, the world was close to plunging into depression when Obama took office. Stock market tanked big time right after Obama was elected, when Bush was still in power. That didn’t stop Bush acolytes from blaming Obama for the stock market drop, however.

And exactly when did you lose this 300,000? Did you lose it in 2009, the year Obama was in power? I find that astonishing. I can understand you losing that much in 2008, when Bush was in power. 2008 was a terrible year for stocks, the markets really tanked. That is when DOW bottomed at 6500.

But 2009 was one of the best years for stocks on record, most stock markets jumped by 30% in 2009. If you are saying that you lost 300,000 $ in 2009 you really must have a lousy, terrible investment advisor. Anybody who got less than say 15% return in 2009, clearly is not managing his money properly.

Personally speaking, I lost 10% of my portfolio in 2008, but had a gain of 30% in 2009, giving me an impressive rate of return of 13.5 % per year for 2008 and 2009 combined.

So if you lost 300,000 $ in 2009, don’t blame Obama, blame your investment advisor. Any moron could have made money in 2009, perhaps you should have consulted a moron rather than your investment advisor.

So don’t blame Obama for your misfortunes. The only complete year that Obama has been in office was 2009, and stock markets performed gangbuster in 2009. That has been the best year for me ever (and indeed, the best year ever for many people).

Indeed, that is what the historical records tell us, stock markets perform much better under Democratic presidents than they do under Republican presidents. Clinton (1992-2000) and Bush (2000-2008 ) is but one example.


:cool::cool::cool::smile:
 

SirJosephPorter

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If you managed to keep your retirement savings intact UNTIL Obama took office, you're a pretty astute investor, in which case I can't see how you can blame someone else for losing money when the markets have recovered as much as they have.

Jan 09, when Obama took office, the Dow was at 9000. Today, it's at 11000.

Between Oct 07 and Jan 09, the Dow went from 14000 to 9000. I doubt you can blame that on Obama.

Exactly my point also. And I think Dow bottomed around 6500 in November 2008. That was truly a miserable year for stocks. But for the life of me, I don’t see how Curiosity managed to lose 300,000 $ in 2009, when practically everybody was making money hand over fist. Indeed, almost any investment you bought in 2008 or early 2009 paid you rich rewards by the end of 2009.

The only explanation I can come up with is that she invested in risky futures and lost her shirt (metaphorically speaking, of course). If you shorted the market in 2009, you would have lost big time. Other than that I really cannot see how somebody could manage to lose 300,000 $ in 2009.
 

SirJosephPorter

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I feel that the Fed Gov. is propping up the stock market by strengthening the dollar artificially thru the price of oil. There is no reason for oil to be hovering around $86 a barrel at this time, with demand being lower this time of year.

I see. So when the stock market does well under a Democratic president, it is a conspiracy between the president and the feds, they are keeping stock market artificially high. But if stock market does well under a Republican president (admittedly a rare occurrence), that is due to economy, is that it? Why doesn’t that surprise me.

I suppose the positive economic indicators one sees all over the place have nothing to do with the Bull Run in the stock market. OR are those indicators also cooked, in a vast left wing conspiracy?

.
There will be a major stock market drop before the end of the year, there is only so much a goverment can do to keep a dollar strong.

Indeed. No doubt you hope for a major drop in stock market just before November elections. Well, you are likely to be disappointed.
 

ironsides

Executive Branch Member
Feb 13, 2009
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I don't care about the colour, I want to know why some tea bags are square, and some are round.

Now I have read everything, someone actually did research on your question.


"Some market research surveys serve merely to confirm commonsense perceptions. On occasion, however, a survey can yield result that amaze even those with a commercial interest in believing them. Such research lay behind one of the major marketing successes of the past few years, namely that of Tetley tea bags, which achieved market leadership after changing their shape from square to round.
The change followed careful preparation. It was in 1985 that Lyons Tetley first called in the research company Mass Observation to help determine whether there was any future in the wheeze the client company had come up with for differentiating its tea bags from those of competitors.
The simple change from square to round would, it was hoped, somehow boost sales. However, the hope was by no means a certainty. So tenuous was the faith of Tetley managers in their own initiative that, when the research agency reported that the change of shape did indeed produce a very significant impact on brand preference, they found it difficult to accept.
What Mass Ob had done was to give specially produced round-bag samples to 300 people to try in their homes. The finding was that round bags were preferred to square by roughly 60 per cent of people tested. What most of them actually said was that the tea in the round bags tasted better than conventional square-bag tea. In fact there was no difference between the stuff put in the trial round bags and the company's usual product."
file:///D:/MA/website/Teabags.htm

:lol::lol:
 

Curiosity

Senate Member
Jul 30, 2005
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I just checked my 2008 and 2009 Income Tax submissions which denotes losses and the year 2008 reflected about one-third ($61,100) of the loss while 2009 made up the next total of $289,000 loss in investments which is actually over the $300,000 (which made me sorry I went and looked !).

I have been advised to look for some future tax breaks....but hesitate to change things right now when I feel we are on an elevator and have given myself till the close of 2010 to see what happens.

As this is an IRA there isn't much risk in trading and activity - I have my own portfolio for personal stock trading - and do not touch the IRA. Well actually I
don't touch the regular fund either - my broker calls and asks me what "I think" and I have no answer - because she is handling my portfolio as well as her company
will allow...and I don't know enough to necessitate a change...only hope for improvement next year (or the year after).

I am going to find a worm to eat now...gag
 

TenPenny

Hall of Fame Member
Jun 9, 2004
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I just checked my 2008 and 2009 Income Tax submissions which denotes losses and the year 2008 reflected about one-third ($61,100) of the loss while 2009 made up the next total of $289,000 loss in investments which is actually over the $300,000 (which made me sorry I went and looked !).

I have been advised to look for some future tax breaks....but hesitate to change things right now when I feel we are on an elevator and have given myself till the close of 2010 to see what happens.

As this is an IRA there isn't much risk in trading and activity - I have my own portfolio for personal stock trading - and do not touch the IRA. Well actually I
don't touch the regular fund either - my broker calls and asks me what "I think" and I have no answer - because she is handling my portfolio as well as her company
will allow...and I don't know enough to necessitate a change...only hope for improvement next year (or the year after).

I am going to find a worm to eat now...gag

You should go see your IRA adviser with a shotgun, if they managed to lose that much money in 2009.
 

SirJosephPorter

Time Out
Nov 7, 2008
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I just checked my 2008 and 2009 Income Tax submissions which denotes losses and the year 2008 reflected about one-third ($61,100) of the loss while 2009 made up the next total of $289,000 loss in investments which is actually over the $300,000 (which made me sorry I went and looked !).

I have been advised to look for some future tax breaks....but hesitate to change things right now when I feel we are on an elevator and have given myself till the close of 2010 to see what happens.

As this is an IRA there isn't much risk in trading and activity - I have my own portfolio for personal stock trading - and do not touch the IRA. Well actually I
don't touch the regular fund either - my broker calls and asks me what "I think" and I have no answer - because she is handling my portfolio as well as her company
will allow...and I don't know enough to necessitate a change...only hope for improvement next year (or the year after).

I am going to find a worm to eat now...gag

Curiosity, I find this very mystifying. I really cannot think of any stock, any mutual fund that went down in 2009 (there may be very few that I am unaware of). Toronto Stock Market, Dow, NASDAQ, S & P 500, they all showed huge gains in 2009. Could you maybe mention one stock or one mutual fund that went down in 2009? You evidently have a few in your portfolio.

I would think with most stock markets up by around 30% in 2009, it would be difficult to find an investment that did poorly in 2009. 2009 was an exact mirror image of 2008, in 2008 it would be difficult to find a stock or mutual fund that went up.
 

SirJosephPorter

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Nov 7, 2008
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The losses in the IRA ....


In 2008/09 they plunged to an amount of $300,000 from 2008 half way to the end of 2009. This year they have gained a portion in return - approx. $50,000 and if I watch them carefuly perhaps they will grow back but the $300,000 is the amount which occurred when Obama became president or was campaigning for the job.

Now here you are saying something totally different. You are saying that they plunged to “300,000 $ from 2008 half way to the end of 2009.” So you are saying that they plunged over a period of 18 months. That is certainly plausible.

But if you break down those 18 months, you will find that they must have fallen off the cliff in the second half of 2008 (that was a particularly nasty period) and recovered substantially in 2009 (though the net result still may have been a loss).

Break down those 18 months and very likely what you will find is that during the Bush 6 months, you lost a huge amount of money and recovered a substantial part of it (though not all of it) during the Obama year, 2009.

So if anything, you should thank Obama, not curse him.

I am sorry - the nation is headed for a depression unless some bright guy figures out how to access more work, jobs, housing, export, all those things we have turned over to nations who are getting very wealthy on the U.S. lack of foresight.
I seriously doubt that we are headed for a depression, all the signs are pointing to a sure if slow recovery. If the deficit is not tackled (and it won't be tackled if Republicans have anything to say about it, just look at their history), there may be problem down the road, say 10 or 15 years into the future.

I have always thought the U.S. "took care of its own first" - not so much any more - they seem more interested in maintaining a huge military force around the world. No one nation should be expected to shoulder the skirmishes all over the planet alone. Also the jobs are being farmed out to other nations.... when Americans are out of work. Even I who am a dunce in financial matters, sees this as insane.

I have become an isolationist..... I never thought I would see the sense in it....now I do.
Then you probably admire Pat Buchanan. Though a right wing extremists, he has been isolationist for a long time now.
 

SirJosephPorter

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Let me guess..you're broker felt that since bank stocks were down 25% and couldn't get any lower he/she moved you in, and the same with GM.

Brokers have a worse record than Obama.

I don't know about American banks Kreskin, but that is precisely what I did with Canadian banks, and reaped a rich reward for it. I bought BMO in 2008, it is paying me 10% dividend, I bought CIBC it is paying me 9% dividend. Now of course the dividends are down to around 4% (if you buy it today, that is).
 

Curiosity

Senate Member
Jul 30, 2005
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SirJoseph

There were dividends from Capital World Growth and Income Fund Class A, Capital Income Builder Fund Class A, New Perspective Fund Class A, Bond Fund of Merica Class A and some reinvestments with CitibankNA South Dakota

They are all on both Fed and State income tax forms for the IRA.....Tax guy said everything was done conservatively but honestly..... it is why I have him do the preparation...

You may be confusing the IRA with my own FMA which is more of a buy and sell and hold onto your hat thing.... although I have calmed down for the last year and
am slowly crawling back into the plus profit status - I don't touch the IRA other than to file annually.

I am writing all of this not knowing what the heck I am writing.... but appreciate you warning me to be more concerned that I have been.... I've never been much of a Scrooge "count the money" kinda person..... but I see it appears I am being careless too and need to pay more attention....

Thanks people...