Where's my NY bar email?

Elie

We are smart enough to tell that the "not racist" is sarcastic and you are in fact throwing the racist moniker around. Again. Perhaps you would be a happier person if you didnt hit up the OE 800 and Kools so early in the morning.

CNN

The employment rate is up, blah blah blah. "Well, I guess it is a good time to go back to school if you wanna become a lawyer or one of those type of things."

Lebowski reference = win.

cell phones kill more people as an aspect of distracted driving, biking and walking than they every will even if there is a link b/t cell phone radiation and cancer.

sinatra dude? try Jayz and Alicia keys.

Cell phones kill more people when used as a projectile (e.g. throwing one at someone in a fit of rage) than they would eve kill because of radiation causing cancer.

So much for the Obama administration's promise that the "stimulus" would keep unemployment below 8.5% by the end of the year.

But hey, just think about all the jobs that were "saved"!

Mystal,

I am going to take you down a peg or two with my home fashioned spear and my Eskimo intellect.

The Most Interesting Eskimo in the World

With unemployment so high, I've suddenly felt the urge to obtain the Master of studies in law in Law & Jewish Civilization from NYU to supplement my already exploding debt load. There I can get a unique LLM or MSL degree, my choice. Thanks NYU!

@7. You know, I really thought about that choice a lot. Ultimately, I went with Frank because of Jay-Z's outrageous claim in that song that he is the "new" Frank Sinatra.

Not so fast my friend. Could Jay-Z get there? It's possible (and that in itself is a compliment). But Frank was a cultural icon in this country for decades. Decades. Shawn Carter isn't there yet.

Not yet. But it's a close thing.
--Elie

DICKSTEIN RESCINDED OFFERS TO FIRST YEARS YESTERDAY.

Mystal--you effing retard. You keep posting your Huffington post anti-republican chopjobs and outright refuse to acknowledge that UE rate topped Saint Obama's rosy projections when he forced the "stimulus" down our throats. i say to you the same thing I'd say to an Irish guy who blindly followed a President merely because he's Irish. You're an idiot.

Mystal sat on a puppy once.

9 -

I'm pretty sure that everyone expected unemployment to exceed 10% by years end . . . even the Obama administration. They (and most everyone else) are predicting job growth in Q1 of 2010.

Though the speed of job recovery is very difficult to predict, the steps leading to job recovery are the same in every economic cycle:

1) GDP increases indicating increased economic output, but jobs decline because the increased output is coming from the existing workforce.

2) Overall hours worked increases as job loss slows to a trickle - 100% productivity is based on 40 hours/week. (This is about where we are now).

3) Either productivity increases over 100% (more than 40 hours per week worked) or job growth begins and unemployment decreases. The former will happen in this economic cycle because of the uncertainty about the rate of growth. However, firms can't keep productivity over 100% for more than a few months - it's very inefficient.

4) Job growth accelerates as firms attempt to adopt an optimally efficient labor force capable of meeting increased production requirements. (this is the "stable" economy that we rarely pay attention to).

Back to work.

@15 -- No. The puppy crawled under there for warmth.

-- Obscure Sopranos Reference

Elie is far more afraid of dying of steak inhalation than cell-phone induced cancer

With luck, there will be more layoffs in BigLaw in the coming months. One thing we don't need is so many BigLaw associates using cell phones and getting brain tumors.

In the last 6 months of the Bush 43 administration my investments lost roughly 30% of their value. They've made most of that back in the Obama administration. You can criticize Obama all you want, but if you're going to do it you need to explain how we would have been better off under noted economic experts John McCain and Sarah Palin and their colleagues in the Republican party. And I'm sorry, but if you think there's any conceivable way those jackasses would have left this country better off, you're out of your fucking mind.

I have a dream that one day, voting districts will be drawn not on the basis of the color of the voters' skin.

16--If the Obama admin were so sure about north of 10%, then they lied to us because they publicly stated the stimulus would prevent that. Instead he plays golf every week and his wife goes on Iron Chef. I know, I know. He's brilliant because he went to Harvard Law and because he's black. Well, half black And we're all racists for questioning anything he does.

Whoa, rescinded first year offers? Please explain.

16, see
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Unemployment-soars-beyond-projections-used-to-sell-stimulus--47050482.html

Stimulus was supposed to keep unemployment under 8%. We overshot that six months ago. Okay so maybe they didn't know what they were doing, but then what makes you think they know what they're doing now?

CHECK YOU EMAIL.

Are Blacks allowed to vote yet?

SMU2L

CHECK YOU WALRUS.

All voting laws should be designed to maximize the political clout of non-citizens. Preference should be given to people here illegally. Evil white people must be disenfranchised because they are the devil. I am the walrus.

22, 24 -

My post isn't about defending the stimulus. My post is about why the news today isn't shocking or unexpected. For months, the administration has been saying "over 10% is likely." Frankly, I don't care if the stimulus worked or didn't (it likely did something, but who knows what). I care that people don't go up in a tizzy over the psychological value of a "double digit" unemployment rate.

And frankly, there's enough ammo on both sides of the political fence to warrant a discussion removed from politics. Sure - Obama made hopeful predictions to get the stimulus through . . . but he's cleaning up Bush's mess. Argue all you want about the politics involved, but don't make unemployment a political issue . . . it's a fundamental issue that both sides care about.

How on earth do you all know what's happening before people in the firms do. Lots of tipsters huh? I check here every morning to see if I still have a job.

29, I'm sure when the economy was in a recession in November 2001, you were saying that Bush was still cleaning up Clinton's mess from the stock market collapse the year before.

29--"cleaning up Bush's mess". Wonderful. And precisely how long a period of time will you use this excuse? Maybe you don't care about 10% UE, but several million families do.

Suck my ass, Mystal, you race bating, puppy killing, obese WALRUS!

Cure for unemployment- reinstate slavery.

31--Excellent point. I don't recall the liberal media blaming Clinton for the dot com bubble/collapse. And why would they? Then they wouldn't get invites to all the snobby leftist shindigs.

Liberals=closet racist snobs. And Mystal, in case you don't understand, liberals hand out AA spots to schmucks like you so they can aggrandize themselves to fellow elitist snobs at these parties. They still think you;re an idiot, much like a Tarzan character to them.

Everything will be W's fault for approximately 130 years. Reagan had to clean up John Quincy Adams' mess. I hate that Quincy bastard.

-- Andrew Jackson

32 -

My God, you are a douche. Didn't you read anything in the post you're criticizing? He's saying that we shouldn't be making this a political issue, and that both political sides have legitimate gripes.

Perhaps you have a solution to accelerate job growth?

16 -- thanks, I was an econ major, too. I'm well aware of how economic cycles work.

The point is that the "stimulus" was pitched by the administration as keeping unemployment below 8.5% by year's end. The bill passed, and yet we're now over 10% unemployment.

Meanwhile, the same administration is making promises that sound awfully similar regarding the health care bill. If we pass it, costs will be contained, the savings will pay for increased spending; you won't face a reduction in healthcare quality, etc. etc. etc. Why should we place any trust in these promises, since the last ones were spectacularly misplaced?

35, lol yep. Nasdaq fell 60% during Clinton's last year and triggered the early 2000s recession that ended surprisingly quickly under Bush, but let's not talk about that please.

Dallas News Story=Racist. I love that the claim was that 50% of the residents in one of the area have hispanic surnames and yet they can't elect an hispanic member. So if my last name is Garcia I MUST vote for the hispanic candidate, no matter what my views on the issue are? I mean if this was a Presidential election then I can see it....

38 -

Take anything that any president says and condition it with, "If things work out the way we think (or hope) they will . . ."

Truth is, shit happens. What you don't want to do is look back and say, "Man . . . we should've thought about this a bit more."

With the stimulus, we probably could've thought about it a bit more - but we were weighing fast action versus well thought through action. With the way the economy looked in January and February, I fully understand why Obama came out on the side he did - but still, he was wrong about the absolute effect on unemployment.

Compare this, however, with the Iraq invasion. There was ample time to prepare - we were not faced with an "act quickly or act deliberately" dilemma. However, insufficient preparation was accomplished and what could've been a wildly successful engagement turned into a 5 year clusterfuck that cost us our advantage in Afghanistan.

The current administration may seriously muck up healthcare, I'll give you that. However, it won't be for a lack of forethought - it would be because their well thought out assumptions turned out to be wrong.

No one was shocked when the Nasdaq fell in 2000. Frankly people wondered why it didn't happen sooner. I remember Suck.com cartoons depicting investors as clowns handing out big bags of money to hipster douches. Objectively, Clinton's economic policies had little to do with the tech bubble run up and burst. It would've happened no matter how quickly the fed acted to raise rates (not to mention that the fed is "supposed" to be independent). Nothing shady was going on in the banking sector - and regulators didn't miss anything.

Bush's economic policies, on the other hand, directly contributed to the severity of the current economic downturn. First, there was no oversight. Banks ran wild with risk and didn't care. Second, consumers were directly affected. People were allowed to buy houses they couldn't afford with loans they didn't understand (that ties into the lack of oversight). Third, the rate was PURPOSEFULLY kept low because no one (at least no one in power) though that a bubble like this could exist. Oops. Finally, the tax policy was simply outrageous. Unsustainable tax cuts despite an ever increasing budget deficit? And these tax cuts were kept in force DURING the economic run up? It was ill advised at the time, but it is absolutely outrageous in retrospect.

Allow me to explain the bullet points in the post:

1. Throw the rotten food at Bush. Everything bad that occurs over the next 3-7 years is his fault.
2. I'm sure the Huffington Post's unbiased reporting will clear everything up. And Giuliani is the nightmare.
3. That was tongue-in-cheek. Dallas really is racist - see #5.
4. You see what I did there? 'Nam had no rules because that's where John Kerry witnessed all the baby-killing U.S. soldiers do bad things. U.S. Armed Forces = imperialists.
5. "Black hole" = racial epithet. Proof:

http://michellemalkin.com/2008/07/09/dallas-county-official-black-hole-is-racist/

6. Jay-Z = Frank Sinatra.

41-- Compare and contrast that "5 year clusterfuck" as against the likely multi-generational clusterfuck forced national health care would become, yet another in a successive array of welfare rights paid for by the true "working class", not the democtrac party invented "working class".

We're still pissed off in my town about being forced to pay to educate children of illegals. Forced, via constitutional fiat. their parents pay no taxes, other than sales taxes they incur at Wendy's, and 67% of our town property taxes is used in part to pay for their education. This is what welfare rights create. Endless mindnumbingly stupid wastes of pooled tax resources. There's and elndless list of such rights. Section 8, Welfare, WIC, the list goes on.

42-- Brilliant. Clitnon had nothing to do with dot com bust but the mortgage debacle was all Bush's fault. You must be from the Chicago School of Economics. or perhaps the South Bronx School.

42-- Brilliant. Clitnon had nothing to do with dot com bust but the mortgage debacle was all Bush's fault. You must be from the Chicago School of Economics. or perhaps the South Bronx School.

44 -

Tell me about it! Why the hell don't we just implement accessible legalization procedures so we're not footing the entire bill for the illegals' kids' education? Finally, someone that makes sense on here!

46 - do tell. What did clinton's policies have to do with the dot com bubble? I'm all ears.

42, the tech bubble bursted when Greenspan finally raised the federal funds rate systematically and let it peak in May 2000, so your first paragraph is a bit wrong. It's funny that you excuse the low rates during Clinton's tenure because the Fed is independent, but then blame Bush's policies for the low rates during his term. Take off your partisan blinders and learn some history.

If only someone important could have proposed some regulations for the housing agencies, like say in 2003...
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/11/business/new-agency-proposed-to-oversee-freddie-mac-and-fannie-mae.html

''These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ''The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.''

47 - "accessible legalization procedures" - In liberal speak, that means open borders. See what I did there-- I caught your infantile sarcasm. I think your rent check is due.

48 - What did Bush' policies have to do with credit default swaps. do tell.

47 - Que?

Mystal-- Why don't you post this story about Mr Eloquence, Barry Dunham. "Shout out" to Injun Joe! Holla dawgs!

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/politics/A-Disconnected-President.html

The last time unemployment was this high, Republican Saint Ronald of Reagan had been in office for years. Was it his fault? Of course not. It was the fault of the guy who came before him.

When 9/11 happened, Republican Dubya had been in office for nine months. Was it his fault? Of course not. It was the fault of the guy who came before him.

Democrat Barack Obama has been in office ten months. Are the problems in the country today the fault of the guy who came before him? Of course not.

See how this works? HTMFH!

365 days 'til NY Mets ticker tape parade...

55 - I think they are actually having one today, it's at David Wright's house. There is a clown, and everything.

Elie -

When a really major news story takes place, whether or not it relates to law, ATL usually drops it into a docket item. Why no mention of Ft. Hood? Not that important to you?

Looks like a lot of "angry" posters didn't get their NYS bar results yet. Let's all calm down, shall we? P.S. The anti-Obama sentiment in this thread makes puppies cry. You Rethuglican troglodytes can take your irrational hatred, Birtherism and revanchist history of the Bush
Cheney Disaster. Those two and their toadies have done more to harm this country, its reputation and standing in the world than Mr. O. will be able to clean up were he able to sit for three terms. Yes, unemployment sucks, and as it always has, it will begin to tick down. We did not end up in this economy overnight, nor is it proper to judge Obama a failure after 11 months in office. Go jerk off to your fantasies of Palin-Whoever in 2012. Not. Gonna. Happen.

58 - you are a not a troll. You are a caricature of a troll.

Obama can't fix the economy and he can't protect us against terrorism. All he cares about is pressing his radical leftist agenda. He is a hopeless failure.

58 -

You are a moron, honestly. You attribute views to political adversaries that most of them do not hold. Most Republicans do not support Sarah Palin, and many altogether loathe her. You are a walking, talking set of CodePink talking points. Think for yourself, if you remember how.

Haven't you heard? Anyone who so much as sneezes Saint Obama's way is a neanderthal. There's a word for that. Its called fascism.

I absolutely love this "standing in the world" argument. Did you "standing-ers" care when Clinton was carpet bombing Sarajevo to divert attention away from his frigging a fat chick? Actually, you all were probably being indoctrinated by ultraliberal schoolmarms in 7th grade at the time.

Everyone knows that the best way to stimulate the economy is to raise taxes on employers and workers to pay for free abortions and health insurance for illegal aliens.

Carrie Prejean in "Solo Clam Digging"

Wow, it came late on, but 65 FTW.

CHECK YOU EMAILS (AND GETS TEH BRAIN CANCERS)!

I had post bar exam results with #1 tonight, he drank two Rock Green Light ponies and declared he was too drunk to pee standing up