southsider2k5

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 10, 2008 -> 12:13 PM) That's nice and all, but it doesn't really address the issue of conflicting information coming out of the Obama camp. 1. Axelrod says they spoke a little while ago. 2. Details on Blago come out, and include him calling Obama a "motherf***er" for not bribing Blago. 3. Obama camp denies ever talking to Blago about this. Given 1 and especially 2 (why would Blago be pissed if he didn't talk to them?), 3 isn't possible. I think its just Obama distancing himself from the situation without saying "Yeah, he wanted to be bribed and we said no." The Blago statement is independant verification that he indeed spoke to the Obama camp about the position. It makes sense honestly, before yesterday, why wouldn't he? I find it hard to believe that he wouldn't have spoken to him at all about his old job. Even harder when people from both sides have said they did speak, even if one side is conviently denying it now.

http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2008/..._2008_draft.php http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2008/...2008_rule_5.php

QUOTE (knightni @ Dec 8, 2008 -> 05:42 PM) Who's your favorite morning show? Me, I get up at the crack of noon. Occasionally though, I like to listen to Bob and Tom. I haven't listened to a morning show in a decade. Usually it is the news on 780 AM. But the favorite I always had was Bob and Tom.

QUOTE (Hatchetman @ Dec 10, 2008 -> 10:57 AM) Jason Grilli, 2003 Thanks

So when was the last time the Sox picked someone in the major league portion of the draft?

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 10, 2008 -> 08:59 AM) The other side of that argument is that they essentially had to sell the big vehicle cash cows because small cars just weren't profitable enough, given their labor costs vs. their competitors'. It still comes back to bad management decisions in signing these contracts in the first place, though. Stop on that thought for just a second. Go back to say 10 years ago, when steel was a record low prices, and gas prices were still cheap. The auto companies were making money hand over first at the time. I can not believe for one nano-second that if the management of ANY of the big three companies had gone to the UAW and said "we want you to take huge concessions, so that we can quit making our hugely profitable product lines, and instead replace them with much smaller, less in demand, and less profitable product lines.", that the autoworkers would not have shutdown the entire company with strike and refused to sign the deal. Its easy to say that management signed the contract, but common sense tells you that they had NO WAY to force labor to sign any contract that involved the sorts of givebacks that we are talking about here. Its a pie in the sky theory that holds no water.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Dec 10, 2008 -> 09:00 AM) In this economy the team ABLE to spend the bucks makes the big news. No surprise its the Yankees. Expect the Red Sox will be signing a few FA also. I would change one word in there.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Dec 10, 2008 -> 08:39 AM) So you would immediately dismiss every business in a given sector during a downturn? It would seem now that companies that are heavily into replacement products and home improvements would fair well as people decide to hang onto their homes and not buy new. I assume most people would replace their windows if needed, not just cover them with cardboard until the economy improves. Are you envisioning most construction products companies folding over the next year or two? Half out of businesses? 25%? It is sad then that we have so many businesses that are that close to failure that they can not weather a single downturn in the economy. Makes me wonder how solid our policies have been when in modern times we face catastrophic failures with one slow spot in the economy. All things being equal, if I am BOA, and lending is at an extreme premium at best, yes, I would be willing to dismiss entire sectors. It only makes sense that industries directly tied to the sectors of the economy which are having the hardest time, are the most likely to fail, right? Is that too big of an assumption? The huge downturns in home building and home prices, people don't have the equity in their houses that they used to use for home improvements. They also aren't building houses like they used to. Obviously BOA has their detailed information and can make a LOT more qualified decesion than I can, but not lending to company's that are on the brink of failure seems like good business practice, or did we learn nothing from this whole banking crisis about subprime lending? And to say one slow spot in the economy is a misnomer. We aren't talking about a two quarter downturn. We are talking about a 2 to 3 YEAR downturn. There is a big difference there. This is going to be much bigger than anything we have seen for at least a generation.

Hmmm, I think I am buying some stock in American Cotton Gin!

GET INTO THE ACT AND BID NOW!!! http://cgi.ebay.com/Open-Senate-Seat-for-I...%3A1%7C294%3A50

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 08:27 PM) I agree. So you're now willing to support my government run healthcare plan. I accept your apology. We already have a government run pension plan that sucks, why not a government run health care plan that falls woefully short... Oh wait, we have that too. Nope. The government still falls short of the private sector in both of those areas, dispite the shortfalls in those areas.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 08:37 PM) Here's the issue with that...almost all of those other factories have started within the past 20 years or less. If I were to compare the number of retirees they have per vehicle produced that they have to cover, they are naturally going to be dramatically lower than the number for a factory that has been operating for 50+ years, because very few of the people originally hired will have worked to retirement age. And given that health care expenditures also rise dramatically as people begin to retire, there is every reason to expect that those same plants will in the future have to assume substantially more costs as their workers approach retirement and have their health care costs go up and begin to actually draw on their retirement plans. Basically, your argument there is that we can just have the companies go out of business every 30-40 years or so when their health care costs get too high, and no one will mind having a large new number of uninsured elderly folks out there, because Medicare will take care of that. The assumption that their legacy costs will even be close is faulty. The people working for the Japanese auto plants in the US don't get NEARLY the benefits, hence their $25 per hour wage advantage over the US workers.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 09:03 PM) Hell, it's even cold here. 32 right now, chance of sleet tonight, and wind chills near 10. Wow. That is minimally different than our forecast. In the Trib today they said that this is the 9th coldest December in the 129 years they have been keep records in Chicago.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 09:07 PM) When you count the arbitration costs and the holds for other people you make up about 1/2 that margin. It's also worth noting that they might decide to put together an extension for Q or Alexei or perhaps one of the other youngins to take advantage of the down market environment by offering them security at this point when security has added value. Good thinking... Maybe even a John Danks extension?

QUOTE (quickman @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 08:42 PM) fathom seriously, this whole climate of economics is changing by the day. Another 50k jobs just got whacked today. Everyday there will be more. This is the time to go young. believe me I hate all this young crap, but it makes excellent business sense. JR is smart. By the way didn't he make his money in realestate, banking? Both of those suck. Just saying. The NFL just laid off 150 workers... Not a team, the NFL itself. The league that is the most financially successful of all sports...

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 08:29 PM) I'll gladly trade my wife for Jessica Alba...it's not going to happen. Thankfully Alba has a full no trade clause.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 08:25 PM) Which is of course why the Japanese companies are bailing out their automakers right now to keep their heads above water during this downturn. Oh...wait... Which is exactly where that extra $2000 a person that is costs to pay a US autoworker would come in handy, wouldn't it. But then again we don't seem to have a problem when a Japanese company undercuts our works, just American ones.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 04:04 PM) I hate this time of year in Chicago. Go to work in the dark, go home in the dark. Cold and wet. Crappy crappy. Preach it brother...

QUOTE (Texsox @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 05:26 PM) How do we know they are such a huge risk? Different banks are more comfortable, or less, lending in different industries. Could this just be BoA is not strong in manufacturing? I know plenty of business owners that spend a great deal of time finding lenders familiar with their industries.Just ask anyone in Ag how it goes when they need capital and LoC. A company in the construction and home improvement industries during the biggest drop in home prices in American history... Nah, they couldn't be a credit risk

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 05:36 PM) This is why any bailout of the auto industry (which I'd rather see not happen at all) would NEED to require these imbeciles to step down. Does he really think that gas will stay at $1.50? And has it not occurred to him that as the economy stengthens, and people buy more cars, that gas prices will also rise, and they will want more FUEL EFFICIENT cars? Idiot. They don't care about fuel effecient, they care about profits. The US automakers made something like 10k off of each of the large SUVs and 5k off of the small ones. They lost money on the small cars. They could give a s*** less about fuel economy. THat doesn't make money.

QUOTE (jasonxctf @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 03:04 PM) CHICAGO � Bank of America says it will extend credit to a Chicago window and door maker whose workers have occupied the factory for five days. The bank said Tuesday that it's willing to give the Republic Windows and Doors factory "a limited amount of additional loans." That's so it can resolve claims of employees who have staged a sit-in since Friday. The factory closed Friday after Bank of America canceled its financing. Workers were given three days' notice. But they refused to leave and vowed to stay there until receiving assurances they would receive severance and accrued vacation pay. The bank has been criticized for cutting off the plant's credit after taking federal bailout money. Brilliant. We get into this mess by extending credit in places where we shouldn't so when someone does something about it, the bank is forced into extending credit to a company in an industry that is falling apart. That's fixing the problem.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20...8&fext=.jsp

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 02:02 PM) I will grant you those points, but without advocating personally for a pardon for Ryan...you do at least understand why a politician might want to make a statement by requesting one for him after his leaving-office death penalty commutations I hope. Its nice and all, but the work he did in office shouldn't excuse his illegal activities. The first part was doing his job to the best of his ability, which is what we were paying him for after all. The illegal part, not so much.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 01:43 PM) Can you name anything done by Blago that would be worthy of a pardon, unlike the other one? I don't think either of them are worthy of s***. Break the public trust and go to jail. Being a public official should hold you to a higher standard, not a lower one. Ryan needs to serve his term.

Apparently Dick Durbin is calling for a special election... So kick one corrupt gov out of office, and pardon the other one? Ummm OK.