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MichaelWeston

By MichaelWeston
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Lewdog Hall Of Fame

Lewdog

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Just spotted this on yahoo and though it might be somewhat relevant.



[b] S&P cuts Spain credit rating to BBB-minus, near junk[/b]
[url="http://www.reuters.com/"][img]http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/FZN6924R0WZ__x92.x6.GA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9Zml0O2g9Mjc-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/logo/reuters/d0c3eb8ca18907492a4b337b5cec5193.jpeg[/img][/url]Reuters – 2 hours 8 minutes ago


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[*][url="http://finance.yahoo.com/_xhr/mtf/panel/"]Email[/url]
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[b] Related Content[/b]

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[*][url="http://finance.yahoo.com/photos/spanish-flags-flutter-wind-front-photo-211204940.html"][img]http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/69XNFTB6KhCNhdcGqZBhlA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9NTMwO2NyPTE7Y3c9ODAwO2R4PTA7ZHk9MDtmaT11bGNyb3A7aD0xMjY7cT04NTt3PTE5MA--/http://globalfinance.zenfs.com/images/SG_AHTTP_OLINBUS_Wrapper_NewFeed_1/2012-10-10T214053Z_2_CDEE8991MW700_RTROPTP_3_SPAIN-BAILOUT-PRESSURE_original.jpg[/img]View Photo[/url]
Spanish flags flutter in the wind in front of the dome of Bank of Spain headquarters in central Madrid September 24, 2012. REUTERS/Sergio Perez/Files
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By Daniel Bases
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Standard & Poor's on Wednesday cut Spain's sovereign credit rating to BBB-minus, just above junk territory, citing a deepening economic recession that is limiting the government's policy options to arrest the slide.
The S&P downgrade comes with a negative outlook reflecting the credit ratings agency's view that there are significant risks to economic growth and budgetary performance, plus a lack of clear direction in euro zone policies.
"In our view, the capacity of Spain's political institutions (both domestic and multilateral) to deal with the severe challenges posed by the current economic and financial crisis is declining," S&P said in a statement.
S&P's two-notch downgrade from BBB-plus brings it in line with Moody's Investors Service's Baa3 rating. Moody's has Spain on review for a possible downgrade.
Both firms have Spain just on the cusp of junk status. Fitch Ratings has a BBB rating on Spain, one notch higher, but also with a negative outlook.
A spokeswoman at Spain's Economy Ministry told Reuters the government had no comment on the ratings action.
The country has been in recession since earlier this year, its second economic contraction in just a few years, and unemployment is stubbornly high at close to 25 percent with a return to job creation still two years away.
Falling tax revenue and rising costs of unemployment benefits are confounding the government's efforts to hit a 2012 deficit reduction target of 6.3 percent of gross domestic target agreed with the European Union.
Both the International Monetary Fund and Spain's own Central Bank cast doubt on the savings envisioned in Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's 2013 budget, saying they are based on a too-rosy outlook for the economy.
In the wake of the downgrade, the euro dropped about 0.25 percent to $1.2865 in late New York trade from just under $1.29 prior to the news.
"This is weighing on the euro. A downgrade from S&P could be followed by a downgrade from Moody's, and while S&P did not downgrade Spain to junk, Moody's might," said Kathy Lien, managing director at BK Asset Management in New York.
"If Moody's goes to junk status, that's even more significant, and this adds to the pressure on Moody's to make a decision. It could lead to higher bond yields in Spain and push the government closer to asking for a bailout," Lien added.
In European trade earlier on Tuesday, ten-year Spanish bond yields fell 1 basis point to 5.83 percent. Those yields spiked above 7 percent earlier this year, but have since come down on a European Central Bank bond-buying plan.
SOCIAL DISCONTENT AND EURO ZONE DOUBTS
Prime Minister Rajoy's centre-right People's Party has an absolute majority in parliament and so far has been able to pass spending cuts and economic reforms without any problem.
However, street protests have increased in recent months as Spaniards revolt against public sector wage cuts and lower spending on education and healthcare. Resentment is also rising over huge public bailouts for the country's crippled banks, while social benefits are cut.
Although Rajoy's PP governs 11 of 17 Spanish regions, which have been forced to make massive budget cuts, S&P noted that tensions between the central and regional governments are rising, "leading to substantially diluted policy outcomes."
The agency said Rajoy's resolve will be "repeatedly tested by domestic constituencies."
Although the European Central Bank has set up a bond-buying programme that would support Spanish debt prices on the secondary market, Spain has balked at signing up for international aid because it would come with harsh conditions.
"We view the Spanish government's hesitation to agree to a formal assistance program ... as potentially raising the downside risks to Spain's rating," S&P said in its note.
The agency also said that euro zone policy makers must show progress on implementing a banking union that would allow Europe to directly recapitalise Spanish banks, taking the weight off of the Spanish government.
(Reporting by Daniel Bases, Luciana Lopez and Steven C. Johnson in New York; Fiona Ortiz and Carlos Ruano in Madrid; editing by Dan Grebler, Gary Crosse and Leslie Gevirtz)

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/p-cuts-spain-credit-rating-211204084.html?l=1


I don't see how any country could be worse than the U.S.
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bengalrick Super Bowl Champ

bengalrick

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[b][size=4]Democrats frustrated by Obama's "Big Bird" campaign turn[/size][/b]

[size=3]By Samuel P. Jacobs[/size]
[size=3]WASHINGTON | Wed Oct 10, 2012 7:43pm EDT[/size]
[size=3](Reuters) - In 2008, singer will.i.am provided Barack Obama's presidential campaign with music for its signature anthem, "Yes We Can." On Tuesday, at a rally for Obama in Columbus, Ohio, the performer chose to play something new: the theme song for "Sesame Street."[/size]

[size=3]For Obama's supporters, already dismayed by the president's halting performance in last week's debate with Republican Mitt Romney, that change in tune is a new source for concern as they fret that a children's TV show has become a new backdrop for their candidate's campaign.[/size]

[size=3]In a moment of tightening polls and climbing anxiety for Obama's supporters, the president's decision to grant Big Bird a starring role in his campaign this week has presented another reason to reach for the Alka-Seltzer.[/size]

[size=3]After Romney named Big Bird as part of a promise to pull government funding for public television, Obama's campaign released a caustic new ad mocking Romney for thinking the character was a "big, yellow menace to our economy."[/size]

[size=3]Since the debate, Obama has been piling on, joking about Romney's designs for the TV show at every campaign stop.[/size]

[size=3]Conservatives have been crowing that the silly turn in the campaign diminishes the president.[/size]

[size=3]"President Obama tried to give the bird to Mitt Romney—but wound up laying an egg," the New York Post wrote Wednesday.[/size]

[size=3]Liberals point out that it was Romney who started the Big Bird mess. Still, the tactic may have led to a kind of role reversal for Obama and Romney. Throughout the summer, the Republican was criticized for lurching from one news cycle to the next, introducing attack lines that seemed to detract from his central message that Obama had stunted economic growth.[/size]

[size=3]Now Obama, some Democrats fear, is seeking to revive his campaign with too light a jolt. They worry the president looks small by enlisting the eight-foot costume bird in his defense.[/size]

[size=3]Romney's presidency would endanger more than a television character - if a beloved one - they say, and Obama's "Sesame Street" jabs belittle that peril.[/size]

[size=3]"I'm not sure I understand why he is doing it," said Bill Galston, a former Bill Clinton adviser.[/size]

[size=3]It got worse for the Democrats on Tuesday when the makers of Sesame Street asked them to pull the ad because they did not want Big Bird associated with politics.[/size]


[size=3]The more conspiratorial campaign watchers reckon maybe the president's team must know something Washington does not.[/size]

[size=3]Perhaps, promising to save Big Bird is a winner among moms. A Pew Research Center survey released this week observed an 18-point swing in Romney's favor among likely women voters over the course of the last month.[/size]

[size=3]Maybe, the Obama folks think the only way to bandage the hurt caused by Obama's weak debate performance is with laughter.[/size]

[size=3]The winking ad with its knowing use of irony could be a play for young voters, a nudge that says Obama is still the hip politician they knocked on doors for in 2008.[/size]

[size=3]In a cloudy week where Democrats have formed a search party for silver linings, some hope the Big Bird ad is an attack line that merely hasn't reached its proper conclusion.[/size]

[size=3]Before the campaign retires it, they hope Obama will link Romney's enthusiasm for canning the "Sesame Street" characters with a much larger statement about the former private equity executive's character.[/size]

[size=3]Obama should talk about how Romney suggested PBS news host Jim Lehrer would lose his job too — and grinning while doing it, said Dick Harpootlian, Democratic party chair in South Carolina.[/size]

[size=3]"There's nothing funny about firing anybody," said Harpootlian. "Why do you smile when you say you are going to fire somebody?"[/size]

[size=3]The Obama campaign has said Big Bird was added to the campaign cast to shed doubt on Romney's seriousness as a candidate.[/size]

[size=3]"When Mitt Romney was given the opportunity to lay out his plans for bringing down the deficit, he gave the same answer he has given dozens of times on the campaign trail, which was to cut funding for Big Bird," said Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki.[/size]

[size=3]"If that doesn't point out the lack of seriousness with his deficit reduction plan, I am not sure what does. The ad is an opportunity to highlight that."[/size]

[size=3]Befitting a campaign that has turned toward toddler television, Romney's response has been, in effect, to say he is rubber and Obama glue.[/size]

[size=3]"These are tough times with real serious issues," Romney said in Iowa Tuesday. "So you have to scratch your head when the president spends the last week talking about saving Big Bird."[/size]

[size=3](Editing By Alistair Bell; editing by Todd Eastham)[/size]
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Lewdog Hall Of Fame

Lewdog

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[quote name='Jamie_B' timestamp='1350005405' post='1169090']
[b] [color=#333333][size=3]So it was calculated that Romney told 27 lies in 38 minutes during the Presidential debate, what's the over/under for Ryan to beat him?[/size][/color][/b]
[/quote]

Some of things Romney 'lied' about could be listed as misinterpreted, or the fault of Romney's fact checkers. I'm not saying he didn't lie or make up something during the debate, but there is a difference in telling a lie in ignorance and telling a lie deliberately.
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Jamie_B Hall Of Fame

Jamie_B

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[quote name='Lewdog' timestamp='1350005601' post='1169091']
Some of things Romney 'lied' about could be listed as misinterpreted, or the fault of Romney's fact checkers. I'm not saying he didn't lie or make up something during the debate, but there is a difference in telling a lie in ignorance and telling a lie deliberately.
[/quote]

Yeah if you think he hasnt lied knowingly... especially on the lie they have continuously been called out on about the cuts in medicare they keep telling...then I got a bridge I'd like to sell you
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Lewdog Hall Of Fame

Lewdog

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[quote name='Jamie_B' timestamp='1350006262' post='1169092']
Yeah if you think he hasnt lied knowingly... especially on the lie they have continuously been called out on about the cuts in medicare they keep telling...then I got a bridge I'd like to sell you
[/quote]

As long as you can finance, and deliver, I'm all ears. Do we really need to go over all the unfulfilled promises Obama has made?
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Lewdog Hall Of Fame

Lewdog

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[quote name='Jamie_B' timestamp='1350008658' post='1169107']

[color=#333333][b][url="http://www.facebook.com/Maher/posts/10151099993837297"]Bill Maher[/url] - [/b][color=#808080]Hello 9-1-1? There s an old man beating a child on my tv.[/color][/color]
[/quote]

"Thank you sir, May I have another?!?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdFLPn30dvQ
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Lewdog Hall Of Fame

Lewdog

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[quote name='Jamie_B' timestamp='1350012348' post='1169134']
[color=#333333]CBSNews (Flash) Poll on who won the VP Debate[/color]

[color=#333333]50 % - Joe Biden[/color]
[color=#333333]31 % - Paul Ryan[/color]
[color=#333333]19 % - Undecided[/color]
[/quote]

That's only until Biden comes out and says something stupid. Biden has to be the worst VP since Dan Quayle.
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Jamie_B Hall Of Fame

Jamie_B

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Yea Raddatz did a much better job than Lehrer

[quote name='Lewdog' timestamp='1350012465' post='1169135']
That's only until Biden comes out and says something stupid. Biden has to be the worst VP since Dan Quayle.
[/quote]

Biden didnt do that tonight.
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MichaelWeston Hall Of Fame

MichaelWeston

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[quote name='Lewdog' timestamp='1350005601' post='1169091']
Some of things Romney 'lied' about could be listed as misinterpreted, or the fault of Romney's fact checkers. I'm not saying he didn't lie or make up something during the debate, but there is a difference in telling a lie in ignorance and telling a lie deliberately.
[/quote]

The leader of the free world should know the difference.
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Lewdog Hall Of Fame

Lewdog

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[quote name='Jamie_B' timestamp='1350012637' post='1169136']
Yea Raddatz did a much better job than Lehrer



Biden didnt do that tonight.
[/quote]

No, it doesn't have to happen during the debate, it just has to be within earshot of stalker with a cellphone.

This is classic:



[quote][b]9.[/b]"I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man." –Joe Biden, referring to Barack Obama at the beginning of the 2008 Democratic primary campaign, Jan. 31, 2007 [/quote]

Every African-American should have been pissed about that one. Here is a link to much more:

http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/joebiden/a/bidenisms.htm
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Lewdog Hall Of Fame

Lewdog

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[quote name='MichaelWeston' timestamp='1350012697' post='1169137']
The leader of the free world should know the difference.
[/quote]

What's your point? Just because the President of the United States lies, doesn't mean they don't know the difference between telling a lie or telling the truth. You do understand generally, any appearance the President attends, his speech is written for him, and the facts are normally checked by someone other than the speech writer. So the President is reading something written and fact checked before he steps up to the podium.
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Jamie_B Hall Of Fame

Jamie_B

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[quote name='Lewdog' timestamp='1350012862' post='1169139']
No, it doesn't have to happen during the debate, it just has to be within earshot of stalker with a cellphone.

This is classic:





Every African-American should have been pissed about that one. Here is a link to much more:

[url="http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/joebiden/a/bidenisms.htm"]http://politicalhumo...a/bidenisms.htm[/url]
[/quote]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be6tunbRcs8
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