Balta1701

I find it useful to be embarrassingly self-deprecating.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Dec 10, 2010 -> 01:58 PM) Did A11 ever go around to the dark side? To give them the benefit of the doubt, we dont know HOW they are working this in. Of course they did...but only while in orbit.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 10, 2010 -> 01:56 PM) I don't think the market is really getting defined a whole lot by these signings. Cliff Lee was going to get a crapload of money regardless. If anything, the Crawford signing probably hurts Beltre's value, unless they just hold the screws to Anaheim and they relent. I dunno, I sure feel like the Werth signing defined the market for the Crawford signing.

Fortunately, I am no one.

Don't elaborate.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Dec 10, 2010 -> 01:43 PM) Transformers 3 Trailer At no time while anyone was on the surface did they hit a radio blackout point.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 10, 2010 -> 01:32 PM) So what. Demand for bonds is immaterial to its stimulative abilities. The point is, this can't be considered "stimulus" while tax cuts aren't, because it is money going to the exact same tax bracket. Huh? What do you mean by "This"? I'm more than willing to accept that the corporate and high income level tax breaks in this are poor stimulus, and are probably worse than usual right now because they're sitting on such large sums of cash already. That part will have some impact, but it'll be very, very small. The remainder of the bill will likely have a much more solid impact.

Bringing this thread back to where it started...

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 10, 2010 -> 01:22 PM) The numbers are all relative. To someone working in a sweatshop in China, you just spent years worth of money on a slow computer. And they're glad that you purchased the computer that they assembled.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 10, 2010 -> 01:24 PM) The problem is, who are the bond holders in this country? The same people who we keep getting told don't need the tax breaks. The Federal reserve and the Chinese need tax breaks? Seriously...we're at near record low interest rates on US Treasury bonds and have been for well over 2 years now. That suggests that the global market has yet to satiate its appetite for that particular safe investment. The bond market wants more US treasuries out there.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Dec 10, 2010 -> 01:15 PM) They still will resist expensive US hiring. US job creation at a pace which can actually cover new entrants into the work force and employ the unemployed, will be the last thing to pick up. We will need to be adding around 350,000 jobs a month for this. Right now we are adding like 50,000 a month. We have even had negative job growth in recent months. The old scenario in which consumer spending picks up and factories re-hire to keep up with demand is true, but those factories aren't in the US. I believe this period in the US economy will be fairly long and is a product of the process of global normalization. If you wind up being right and the U.S. winds up being undercut and low on jobs for the next few years...I'd be shocked if we ever got back to quasi-full employment before the next financial crisis hits. (Hence, perhaps, the utility of some additional stimulus now).

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Dec 10, 2010 -> 01:21 PM) Contracts are out of control considering the current state of the economy. No, they're not. They're reflecting the revenue states of the teams that are signing them.

Assuming this report is accurate for a moment...this also tells me that Manroid is in a condition right now where he's regularly playing through so many injuries that he can't even tell when something serious has happened.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Dec 10, 2010 -> 11:07 AM) They are with BUFFET, he owns how many insuarance companies. He is a f***ing turd. Well, at least we're being civil.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Dec 10, 2010 -> 12:17 PM) I think that would be an accurate statement. But I wouldn't expect any type of major jobs boost to come from extending all the tax cuts. Raising all taxes could, however, have a detrimental effect on the economy. I wouldn't expect any major hiring from corporations because of the tax cuts, it is more cost effective to get more out of existing employees, automate operations, and hire overseas for new positions. What is preventing corporations from hiring right now is a lack of customers. The business community is sitting on an enormous amount of assets in dollars right now, with no reason to invest it because it's not losing value (no inflation) and there's no gain if they do (already have more capacity than necessary). The more money people spend, the more we bring that excess capacity in the economy back on line to produce goods for people to buy. The more money the government puts out right now, if it goes into the hands of people who are going to spend it, the more it brings that capacity online. That's where the jobs boost comes from. The Federal reserve is printing another $800 billion in interest free dollars, handing it to the Treasury dept., saying "find a way to give that to people".

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Dec 10, 2010 -> 10:39 AM) I don't think it's out of the realm of reality to guess that with the Angels striking out on Crawford and apparently Lee, they may have jumped in with a strong bid. Beltre is still a better fit.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Dec 10, 2010 -> 10:10 AM) I didn't say CC was great. But he's worlds better than JP. Crawford was a developing player his first couple years. He didn't really take off until '04. He's better than JP at every aspect of baseball. That's all I'm saying. To hell with career OBP. Look at the last 5 years or so. And yes, even most of Juan Pierre's hits are of the sissy version. This is exactly why I'm getting so annoyed at the Juan Pierre hate.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Dec 10, 2010 -> 10:04 AM) When do tickets go on sale? Single game tickets usually are in Feb. You can probably get in on ticket packages right now.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Dec 10, 2010 -> 10:05 AM) It's a shame that this has become the only way people in politics look at this. In reality, this is nothing but political terrorism - using the American population as hostages for political points. And you don't think that the language there is a little over the top, calling people "terrorists", as a way of similarly trying to score political points?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 10, 2010 -> 10:08 AM) First responders came all the way from Jersey and Connecticut? If the bill was out of state people only I could buy it a little more. But we all know it's 99.9% New Yorkers. Hell, I can recall first responders and recovery workers being sent from Indiana.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Dec 10, 2010 -> 10:01 AM) So is the DREAM act. So is the Defense Reauthorization Bill. So is any bill not related to tax cuts. The Senate Republicans are holding the chamber hostage and refusing to allow an actual passage vote on anything but tax cuts. IF there's no electoral penalty and strong electoral rewards for doing so, why not do so?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 10, 2010 -> 10:02 AM) This is a political issue. New York doesn't want to (i.e., can't) pay for it, so they're trying to get the federal government to, painting it as some attack against American heroes. I'm not buying it. And I am.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Dec 10, 2010 -> 09:58 AM) Career stats can be skewed sometimes. Crawford has a .350 OBP the last 5 years. Pierre has a .337 OBP the last 5 years years. Crawford is faster, a better baserunner and a better defender and offers something more than a sissy single in his best-case scenario. There's no comparison. No one's going to argue that Carl Crawford is a worse player than Juan Pierre, come on, that's exactly the kind of thing I mean when I talk about what annoys me on this. If you want to rip on Pierre for being a low slugging, poor RBI guy, you're right. No one would argue that he isn't. Your OBP point is the thing that I actually want to hear when we discuss this matter...an actual, factual point. A "Sissy single" though? Come on man.

A bill has now been officially introduced into the Senate. It includes a few nuggets that weren't in the supposed agreement, such as extending the tax credits for ethanol production (with no reduction), in addition to some actual renewable energy credits. The bill has been CBO scored and comes in at an $857 billion cost.

QUOTE (bighurt4life @ Dec 10, 2010 -> 09:48 AM) Also we have Clevelan Santeliz and Brian Omogrosso. Santeliz has the best shot at making the team along with Infante because they both throw very hard and we all know how kenny likes power relievers. Wasn't Santeliz released/removed from the 40 man a few weeks ago?