Politics (formerly Election 2012)

[Koatanga]

I believe you'll find that's because many of the big names backing the Romney share their surnames with board members and shareholders of many of the civilian companies that supply the military.

Romney likes the trickle-down theory, and if he can cause it to trickle down the companies of his backers, then the more the merrier.

[Fivelives]

Regarding veteran hiring: http://www.dol.gov/vets/ (federal/state jobs)
http://www.uschamber.com/hiringourheroes/events (here's a list of "career fairs" with a map showing them)

Not to mention there's a chapter of the GI bill focused entirely on vocational rehabilitation, and a bunch of other local/federal programs. You can do more than just flip burgers or be a McManager.

[Brekkie]

I'm veeeeeeeeery interested to see how this situation in Cairo and Benghazi plays out.

[Melathys]

Regarding veteran hiring: http://www.dol.gov/vets/ (federal/state jobs)
http://www.uschamber.com/hiringourheroes/events (here's a list of "career fairs" with a map showing them)

Not to mention there's a chapter of the GI bill focused entirely on vocational rehabilitation, and a bunch of other local/federal programs. You can do more than just flip burgers or be a McManager.

On that note. https://www.usajobs.gov/

[Skye1013]

I didn't say there aren't jobs out there, but if you're planning to cut >90% of the force, you're going to be fighting a lot of people for those jobs. I can guarantee you none of those hiring programs can cover that big an influx of people.

[Fridmarr]

A big part of the problem with Defense cuts is that most lawmakers see Defense spending as a form of "safe" pork.

It's pork that is desired by "us" unfortunately. While lawmakers are certainly responsible, ultimately the bulk of the blame belongs on us and the system we support. We support those that give us the tit and oust those that don't.

I haven't heard a serious candidate as yet make a realistic pitch at what is going to be required to solve our debt issues, and I doubt I ever will.

[tinalt]

lol, speaking of throwing more money away on defense. only decent part of this plan is the potential manning increase.
http://www.dodbuzz.com/2012/09/10/romney-promises-to-buy-more-f-22s/

[Cogglamp]

Really Ben, QE3? Not only does this repurchase of packaged securities really only benefit those on the fringe and isn't going to get at the core of our anemic growth, why do I get this sinking feeling reading the monetary easing will continue without any limit to the size of the easing?

Argh...just . . . argh!

[Skye1013]

Really Ben, QE3? Not only does this repurchase of packaged securities really only benefit those on the fringe and isn't going to get at the core of our anemic growth, why do I get this sinking feeling reading the monetary easing will continue without any limit to the size of the easing?

Argh...just . . . argh!

?



I hope that makes sense to someone else, because I'm completely lost.

[Brekkie]

Well.... Ben Bernanke is the chairman of the Federal Reserve...

[Skye1013]

Might just be the grammar (or lack thereof) that is losing me.

[Malthrax]

Might just be the grammar (or lack thereof) that is losing me.

The Federal Reserve has started their 3rd round of "legalized counterfeiting" of U.S. currency - printing billions of dollars (face value) of worthless bills in order to buy up mortgage bonds in an attempt to (re-)kick-start the economy.

[Nooska]

Isn't it just basic Keynesian economics?

[Cogglamp]

Quantitative Easing = QE; we're now on our third round of QE with the first two having done little for the economy

packaged securities = portfolios of assets bundled together and sold in the market place as one big bond issuance; assets can include credit card debt, auto loans, student loans, residential loans, commercial real estate loans, (think anything with term with a defined payment schedule)

the fringe = Generally Wall Street/high finance firms as they're the only ones selling packaged securities. The hope is that QE frees up capital that has been otherwise held against the securities that have been marked down due to "mark to market" accounting. This will let financial firms recoup the notional value of the debt which frees up the capital being held against it as well which would then be re-invested back into the economy. Basically, it's a giant liquidity event for the firms holding the securities, ie they get paid 100 cents on an asset that was marked down at something significantly less than 100 cents.

without limit = This is the first time that the Reserve has said they will continue to do this until they find the job situation to be acceptable. In previous versions of QE, the Fed stated how much they were going to inject into the market. Now, they're pushing that a side and saying they're going to do it until they're satisfied with the outcome.

Understanding nomenclature is half the battle when it comes to finance talk.

Basically, the whole QE things is hogwash to me and I work in the financial sector. It's a way of supporting asset prices, which for many sectors, I'd argue are in an asset bubble (overly inflated). Coupled with historically and exceedingly low interest rates, we're putting ourselves in a situation where the de-leveraging that we've been going through over the past 4 years has a chance of repeating itself all over again.

Long and short of it:

The recovery of debt asset prices does not help the overall economy in my opinion.

[Fivelives]

I had QE explained to me as "printing more money to make people think the dollar is doing fine, when in reality just printing the money actually hurts the value".

Accurate?