The Krypto Fund is the name that I use for all our long term investments: IRAs, 401Ks, and all long term, taxable accounts. On February 10, 2007 I first described how it is managed in this blog, and have written about its style a few other times. From recent comments, obviously I need to repeat and update this management style.
For 2010, the Krypto Fund is up about 12% year-to-date - pretty good compared to the averages & hedge fund averages. Krypto Fund contains almost all index funds in different asset classes. I use canonical allocation percentages and manage around those benchmarks. I do adjust them as I age.
The canonical allocations NOW are this:
25% US stocks,
20% foreign stocks,
15% real estate funds,
25% fixed income bonds,
5% inflation-protected bonds,
5% gold & silver,
5% cash.
Since I think inflation protected bonds and fixed income bonds are greatly overvalued in bubble regions, the actual allocations NOW are 20% fixed income bonds, 0% inflation protected bonds and 15% cash with other asset classes at canonical percentages.
I use a spreadsheet to compute the asset class %'s, usually weekly based on Friday's prices.
US stock funds are Vanguard Total Market Fund, the corresponding exchange traded fund (ticker VTI), or the CREF Stock Account. [Mrs. Bunkerman was a scientist, so her retirement savings from work went to TIAA-CREF funds. Their "Stock Account" has some foreign stocks, so I reallocate these in the spreadsheet based on annual percentage components].
Foreign stocks are Vanguard Pacific Index, European Index and Emerging Markets Index Funds (& corresponding ETFs) - I allocate 1/3 of the total foreign stocks component to each, hence these are really 6.66% of total Krypto Fund each. Included here for total asset class calculations are the re-allocated CREF foreign stock amounts in correct proportions.
The real estate asset class is the Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund and the TIAA-CREF Real Estate Fund.
The fixed income bonds are the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index, various Long term municipal bonds, the TIAA traditional fixed income account, and the cash value of an old whole life insurance policy.
The inflation-protected bonds are Vanguard or TIAA-CREF inflation-protected bond funds, as appropriate.
Gold & silver are mostly American Eagle gold coins and silver bullion bars, plus ETFs for gold & silver (tickers are GLD and SLV, respectively), and the Vanguard Precious Metals Fund.
The Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund invests in REIT stocks, by the way, while the TIAA-CREF Real Estate Fund invests in actual buildings, etc., so they perform somewhat differently. Both are a bit leveraged, so I keep that asset class at 15%, rather than the 20% which would be appropriate for unleveraged real estate.
The spreadsheet computes the % size of each asset class each week. IF an asset class is more than 5% off its target percentage, I look to reallocate some funds to top it off if it's low or take some out if it's too large. For example, if the US stocks are over 26.25% of the total Krypto Fund, that's 5% off the target 25%. So I look to see what's low & move the excess 1.25% to other asset classes. One has to consider fund restrictions and taxes for frequent moves, but since we have multiple accounts, I have always been able to figure out a way to reallocate. See David Swenson's great book, "Unconventional Success" for a description of why this type of personal investing works well.
I have done long-term investing along this strategy for over 20 years. When I read his book, I was happy to see he agreed with me (joke haha) and I learned about the value of the inflation-protected bonds. So I added that asset class. I also recently became more aware of the leveraged in the real estate classes, so cut it back. I'm not perfect and continue to make changes as I see a need.
I also adjusted my rebalancing trigger to 5% from 10%, as I realized from his book I had been missing many good re-balancing opportunities with a 10% trigger. My percentages were pretty close to his, otherwise. Also, I have some gold & silver for many reasons.
On down moves, I make the re-allocations on the first 5%, BUT if another 5% adjustment is called for because of a down move, I wait awhile. Down moves can be fast & furious, and it's better to let the dust settle. This helped me alot in 2008 and 2009 to get more buying of stocks closer to the lows. In addition, for stocks, once the indices hit intermediate term highs, I make adjustments in them more frequently to keep the %'s close to canonical levels. This "buy-low, sell-high" and "sell high, buy low" intermediate term trading tactic lowers volatility and increases returns to help me stay fully invested at all times.
If some asset class is low, BUT is greatly overvalued, I put sale proceeds into cash as a buffer. Then when the low class readjusts to a more fair valuation, I buy it. This is the case with fixed income bonds and inflation-protected bonds now.
I love that name, The Krypto Fund. I like to think my dog, Krypto, pushes the computer key every week to do the reallocation. She accepts dog biscuits as payment. :-)
This investment methods works well: the Krypto Fund is at all time highs, even though the US stock market is almost 20% below its all time high. That buy-low, sell high and sell high, buy low asset allocation tactic worked well through the Panic of 2008 and the lows of 2009.
Word of the Day
"Quotidian" - adjective [$10]
Quotidian means something occurring daily.
Sentence: Krypto Fund rebalancing is NOT quotidian; I check it weekly, but often a month or more can pass before a change is made.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
Friday = Saturday
I am declaring today a holiday, or perhaps a time translation merging Friday into Saturday. Or am I influenced by intense advanced waves from Saturday that my mind now has been taken over by the state function that it will have on Saturday morning?
LOL.
In any case, my post today will simply be a link to the text of Battleship Ben's speech today in Europe (which I listened to), explaining the problems caused by nations that undervalue currencies.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bernanke20101119a.htm
I guess Ben reads this blog. It's time for Asia nations to develop domestic demand and get off our back!
Word of the Day
"Profundity" - noun [$10]; Profound - adjective [$10]
Profound means having to showing great quality or insight.
Profundity means the state or quality of being profound.
Sentence: The immense profundity of Battleship Ben's speech today crushes his pipsqueak critics, who are shown to be simpleminded fools with no insights.
LOL.
In any case, my post today will simply be a link to the text of Battleship Ben's speech today in Europe (which I listened to), explaining the problems caused by nations that undervalue currencies.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bernanke20101119a.htm
I guess Ben reads this blog. It's time for Asia nations to develop domestic demand and get off our back!
Word of the Day
"Profundity" - noun [$10]; Profound - adjective [$10]
Profound means having to showing great quality or insight.
Profundity means the state or quality of being profound.
Sentence: The immense profundity of Battleship Ben's speech today crushes his pipsqueak critics, who are shown to be simpleminded fools with no insights.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Obama's Values
The announcement of Barry's picks for the Medal of Freedom, which is America's highest civilian honor, are enlightening. Here we go:
Warren Buffet - a multi-billionaire. He's done zero for the American common man.
George H. W. Bush (aka Bush I) - he led the repeal of the Reagan Revolution, raised taxes, presided over the 1990 recession, and failed to complete the job in the first Gulf War, leaving a festering mess.
Angela Merkel - the chancellor of Germany. Huh?
John H. Adams, who co-founded the Natural Resources Defense Council, an anti-freedom greenie group that wants to impose crypto-greenie fascism on all common people.
Bill Russell, the basketball player for the Boston Celtics.
Stan Musial, the baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals.
Gerda Weissman Klein, a Holocaust survivor. A naturalized citizen, she recently founded Citizenship Counts, an organization that teaches students to cherish the value of their American citizenship. Klein has spoken to audiences of all ages and faith around the world about the value of freedom and has dedicated her life to promoting tolerance and understanding among all people.
Maya Angelou, a writer-poet.
Jasper Johns, a painter.
Yo-Yo Ma, a cellist.
Jean Kennedy Smith, former ambassador to Ireland. The "Kennedy" names says it all.
John J. Sweeney, labor leader (& bigtime Obama-Dem supporter).
Sylvia Mendez, a civil rights activist of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent. As an eight-year-old, her parents attempted to enroll Mendez in an all-white school in their community, but were denied entry at and were told to go to the school for Mexican children. Her father and other parents sued and prevailed.
Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, who helped organize the first lunch-counter sit-in in 1959 and the Selma-to-Montgomery march for voting rights in 1965, where he was beaten.
Dr. Tom Little, an optometrist who was brutally murdered on August 6, 2010, by the Taliban in the Kuran Wa Munjan district of Badakhshan, Afghanistan, along with nine other members of a team returning from a humanitarian mission to provide vision care in the remote Parun valley of Nuristan. .
I suppose I'll be criticized for being harsh, but of that list I see only three persons who truly deserve that medal, which is supposed to be the civilian equivalent of the Medal of Honor. Their names are in bold. The others don't. I put some info in italics regarding ones that I see as undeserving. They are so incongruous* to the concept of a Medal of Freedom that the awards are ridiculous.
Barry continues to devalue American values. Can anyone now not realize that he simply does not like the common American man and woman nor their way of life or core values?
*Word of the Day
"Incongruous" - adjective [$10]
Incongruous means 1. not harmonious: incompatible; 2. not conforming; 3. inconsistent within itself; 4. lacking propriety.
Sentence: see * above.
Warren Buffet - a multi-billionaire. He's done zero for the American common man.
George H. W. Bush (aka Bush I) - he led the repeal of the Reagan Revolution, raised taxes, presided over the 1990 recession, and failed to complete the job in the first Gulf War, leaving a festering mess.
Angela Merkel - the chancellor of Germany. Huh?
John H. Adams, who co-founded the Natural Resources Defense Council, an anti-freedom greenie group that wants to impose crypto-greenie fascism on all common people.
Bill Russell, the basketball player for the Boston Celtics.
Stan Musial, the baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals.
Gerda Weissman Klein, a Holocaust survivor. A naturalized citizen, she recently founded Citizenship Counts, an organization that teaches students to cherish the value of their American citizenship. Klein has spoken to audiences of all ages and faith around the world about the value of freedom and has dedicated her life to promoting tolerance and understanding among all people.
Maya Angelou, a writer-poet.
Jasper Johns, a painter.
Yo-Yo Ma, a cellist.
Jean Kennedy Smith, former ambassador to Ireland. The "Kennedy" names says it all.
John J. Sweeney, labor leader (& bigtime Obama-Dem supporter).
Sylvia Mendez, a civil rights activist of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent. As an eight-year-old, her parents attempted to enroll Mendez in an all-white school in their community, but were denied entry at and were told to go to the school for Mexican children. Her father and other parents sued and prevailed.
Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, who helped organize the first lunch-counter sit-in in 1959 and the Selma-to-Montgomery march for voting rights in 1965, where he was beaten.
Dr. Tom Little, an optometrist who was brutally murdered on August 6, 2010, by the Taliban in the Kuran Wa Munjan district of Badakhshan, Afghanistan, along with nine other members of a team returning from a humanitarian mission to provide vision care in the remote Parun valley of Nuristan. .
I suppose I'll be criticized for being harsh, but of that list I see only three persons who truly deserve that medal, which is supposed to be the civilian equivalent of the Medal of Honor. Their names are in bold. The others don't. I put some info in italics regarding ones that I see as undeserving. They are so incongruous* to the concept of a Medal of Freedom that the awards are ridiculous.
Barry continues to devalue American values. Can anyone now not realize that he simply does not like the common American man and woman nor their way of life or core values?
*Word of the Day
"Incongruous" - adjective [$10]
Incongruous means 1. not harmonious: incompatible; 2. not conforming; 3. inconsistent within itself; 4. lacking propriety.
Sentence: see * above.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Another Blank Wednesday
Nothing in the news.
Fools lining up for GM paper ... ugh.
I have no fine philosophical thinking to offer today.
It's raining hard & cold here & I have to take the recycling out soon - ugh. I suppose that's a lot better than my 20-something ancestor who lived in a lean-to in Ohio around 1805 in the snow & cold, who went hunting a panther with his older brother with a black powder muzzleloader rifle. Those guys were tough, no doubt. But on days like this, rather than whine, I just think that I'm inherently the same person as them, so tough it out. You are too - you have the same biological and cultural strength that our pioneer ancestors had. Adopt their mental attitude and be a survivor.
Mrs. B bought a two pound bag of "House Blend" Starbucks coffee beans at a local HomeGoods store for $16.99. It's pretty good - small beans with sort of an Italian roast. My first pot will make about four cups. Hmmm ... compared to a $4.50 latte that one has OTHERS make and serve, I break even on the first pot.
Inflation fighting: use your own hands and tools to prepare your own daily food. Even a caveman can do it :)
Word of the Day
"Distaff" - adjective & noun [$10]
Distaff means (adjective) 1. maternal; also female; (noun) - 1. a woman's work or domain; 2. the female branch / side of a family.
Sentence: The great Triple Crown winning horse, Secretariat, showed fine descendants on the distaff line; his daughters were superb mares producing great runners.
Fools lining up for GM paper ... ugh.
I have no fine philosophical thinking to offer today.
It's raining hard & cold here & I have to take the recycling out soon - ugh. I suppose that's a lot better than my 20-something ancestor who lived in a lean-to in Ohio around 1805 in the snow & cold, who went hunting a panther with his older brother with a black powder muzzleloader rifle. Those guys were tough, no doubt. But on days like this, rather than whine, I just think that I'm inherently the same person as them, so tough it out. You are too - you have the same biological and cultural strength that our pioneer ancestors had. Adopt their mental attitude and be a survivor.
Mrs. B bought a two pound bag of "House Blend" Starbucks coffee beans at a local HomeGoods store for $16.99. It's pretty good - small beans with sort of an Italian roast. My first pot will make about four cups. Hmmm ... compared to a $4.50 latte that one has OTHERS make and serve, I break even on the first pot.
Inflation fighting: use your own hands and tools to prepare your own daily food. Even a caveman can do it :)
Word of the Day
"Distaff" - adjective & noun [$10]
Distaff means (adjective) 1. maternal; also female; (noun) - 1. a woman's work or domain; 2. the female branch / side of a family.
Sentence: The great Triple Crown winning horse, Secretariat, showed fine descendants on the distaff line; his daughters were superb mares producing great runners.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
There's a Fool Born Every Minute
I don't know who first said or wrote that, but it is being proven true this week as the fools are lining up for the GM IPO. Amazingly, the offering appears oversubscribed and they are raising the price targets and share offerings.
The sheer lunacy of any buyer is certain from the following:
1. The company has roughly zero free cash flow net of unfunded pension & healthcare obligations.
2. The company is controlled by its labor unions.
3. The company looted billions from its bondholders and gave the labor unions a free pass on restructuring costs.
4. The company broke contracts with dealers who had provided good service for its customers for many decades.
5. The company broke a implicit bond with customers by cutting entire product lines and dealer networks, thus orphaning prior buyers with no places to get service.
6. The company's snout in the government trough has antagonized millions of potential buyers of its products - "Government Motors".
Having lied and broken promises made in the past, why or why would ANYONE believe them now? I guess the greed factor in the world capital markets is rising much faster than I felt was occurring.
Oh well, a new top might be a few years away. These trends can go on awhile before grinding out. It took the tech bubble about four years after Greenspan's "irrational exuberance" speech to blow up.
Bunkerman's little birdie is chirping. He will be more caution now about being heavy in equities over recent highs.
Word of the Day
"Defalcation" - noun [$10]
Defalcation means an act or event of the misuse of funds; embezzle.
Sentence: The gross defalcation that occurred in the GM bankruptcy case should give great pause to anyone rational who considers investing in such a company ever again.
The sheer lunacy of any buyer is certain from the following:
1. The company has roughly zero free cash flow net of unfunded pension & healthcare obligations.
2. The company is controlled by its labor unions.
3. The company looted billions from its bondholders and gave the labor unions a free pass on restructuring costs.
4. The company broke contracts with dealers who had provided good service for its customers for many decades.
5. The company broke a implicit bond with customers by cutting entire product lines and dealer networks, thus orphaning prior buyers with no places to get service.
6. The company's snout in the government trough has antagonized millions of potential buyers of its products - "Government Motors".
Having lied and broken promises made in the past, why or why would ANYONE believe them now? I guess the greed factor in the world capital markets is rising much faster than I felt was occurring.
Oh well, a new top might be a few years away. These trends can go on awhile before grinding out. It took the tech bubble about four years after Greenspan's "irrational exuberance" speech to blow up.
Bunkerman's little birdie is chirping. He will be more caution now about being heavy in equities over recent highs.
Word of the Day
"Defalcation" - noun [$10]
Defalcation means an act or event of the misuse of funds; embezzle.
Sentence: The gross defalcation that occurred in the GM bankruptcy case should give great pause to anyone rational who considers investing in such a company ever again.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Viking Capitalism
As Europe suffered in the ninth century from Viking raids that brought devastation, social turmoil and serfdom, the world today suffers from Viking Capitalism.
What is Viking Capitalism?
Viking Capitalism relies on the ideology of unfettered economic power for whoever can grab it. And that societies should not organize to prevent the raids of the Vikings. Yup, that's right. Societies and peoples are actively prevented from defending themselves from the Vikings. No limits to the power of the few; rules and laws to prevent the common man and woman from effective defense.
This is a mutant of world Libertarianism designed to help the powerful get... more power. It's a naturally occurring mutation, though. The Hayek analysis applied to Libertarianism showed its failure in this specific fault [see this blog's post of October 18, 2010]. Unfettered freedom for the powerful leads them to grab more power and they use that power ruthlessly to prevent others from organizing to defend themselves. This is what the Vikings are doing in the world.
Who are the Vikings ?
Beefers - big, evil funds and their Rulng Class investors; Big multinational corporations; Non-governmental organizations such as the World Bank and IMF; CEO suite hogs; Ruthless intellectuals in the New Class; All those people who meet at Davos every year.
What do they do ?
Organize currency raids on nations. Cause financial turmoils with huge flows - tsunamis - of money flows in and out of nations. Raid capital markets. And trade flows. Free trade lets the multinationals gut jobs and factories in one nation, and move production to wherever they can make it cheaper, often via bribes and corrupt deals in the new locations.
The US has been subject to Viking capitalist raids since GATT. Small nations are hammered by beefer currency raids. The CEOs of the powerful corporations take more and more pay, yet shareholder returns suffer. Pay for the common man and woman worker goes down, despite increasing productivity by them. Those CEO hogs are another class of the Vikings.
The ruling classes use legislation and pressure by world organizations to prevent nations from defending themselves. In the US, legislation and the power groups in DC pile regulations onto business and tax employment in the US. Yet GATT lets the Vikings take jobs to small countries whose leaders they can pressure to gain favors, them freely import those good back to the US, without paying anything to support America. Those corporate Vikings don't even pay US income taxes - they use a barndoor-sized loophole to avoid tax until the money comes back to the US. Of course, it NEVER comes back. The Vikings use that money overseas to create power bases there.
The Viking intellectuals write laws to protect THEIR products and use governmental power to prevent free trade in those products.
Consider this dichotomy:
(I) A factory in Ohio makes a product via the hands of the common man. A Viking Capitalist can copy that plant & product in Asia and bring copies of the product back to the US freely, to gut the Ohio business. The Viking pays no US taxes, while the Ohio plant and workers paid plenty to support America. The Vikings and Ruling Classes say this is good and fine; they get richer while the common man or woman becomes destitute.
(II) A writer of books or software or filmmaker makes an intellectual product in the US, produces and sells it for a huge profit margin. Can a Viking copy that product in Asia and bring the goods back to America to sell cheaply? Nope. Copyright and intellectual property laws prevent it. Government power is used to protect products of the intellectual class. THEIR product is legally protected, but the factories and work product of the hands of the common man is raided by the Vikings.
Ditto the intellectual product of the Legal Vikings. Bar association rules and guilds enforced by judges prevent copying their product. They loot more and more.
Viking capitalism is ruining the lives of billions of people, all for the gains of the Ruling Classes worldwide. People of the world must throw off their fetters and adopt Fraternal Libertarianism - put regulations and chains on the Vikings; take freedom for themselves. Empty the hog trough and use those resources to help the people and small business directly. Stop the Viking raids on US jobs.
Viking Capitalism vs. Fraternal Libertarianism. That's the fight we want. Bring it on.
Word of the Day
"Contumely" - noun [$10] from Hamlet's Soliloquy, Shakespeare. Also "Contumelious" - adjective. Also "contumacy" and "Contumacious"
Contumely means 1. insolent or reproachful language or treatment; 2. disgrace.
Contumelious means reproachful, insulting or insolent.
Sentence: The Vikings want to be worshipped and adored; give them contumely instead. Social pressure can help. Do it, all the time and everytime.
What is Viking Capitalism?
Viking Capitalism relies on the ideology of unfettered economic power for whoever can grab it. And that societies should not organize to prevent the raids of the Vikings. Yup, that's right. Societies and peoples are actively prevented from defending themselves from the Vikings. No limits to the power of the few; rules and laws to prevent the common man and woman from effective defense.
This is a mutant of world Libertarianism designed to help the powerful get... more power. It's a naturally occurring mutation, though. The Hayek analysis applied to Libertarianism showed its failure in this specific fault [see this blog's post of October 18, 2010]. Unfettered freedom for the powerful leads them to grab more power and they use that power ruthlessly to prevent others from organizing to defend themselves. This is what the Vikings are doing in the world.
Who are the Vikings ?
Beefers - big, evil funds and their Rulng Class investors; Big multinational corporations; Non-governmental organizations such as the World Bank and IMF; CEO suite hogs; Ruthless intellectuals in the New Class; All those people who meet at Davos every year.
What do they do ?
Organize currency raids on nations. Cause financial turmoils with huge flows - tsunamis - of money flows in and out of nations. Raid capital markets. And trade flows. Free trade lets the multinationals gut jobs and factories in one nation, and move production to wherever they can make it cheaper, often via bribes and corrupt deals in the new locations.
The US has been subject to Viking capitalist raids since GATT. Small nations are hammered by beefer currency raids. The CEOs of the powerful corporations take more and more pay, yet shareholder returns suffer. Pay for the common man and woman worker goes down, despite increasing productivity by them. Those CEO hogs are another class of the Vikings.
The ruling classes use legislation and pressure by world organizations to prevent nations from defending themselves. In the US, legislation and the power groups in DC pile regulations onto business and tax employment in the US. Yet GATT lets the Vikings take jobs to small countries whose leaders they can pressure to gain favors, them freely import those good back to the US, without paying anything to support America. Those corporate Vikings don't even pay US income taxes - they use a barndoor-sized loophole to avoid tax until the money comes back to the US. Of course, it NEVER comes back. The Vikings use that money overseas to create power bases there.
The Viking intellectuals write laws to protect THEIR products and use governmental power to prevent free trade in those products.
Consider this dichotomy:
(I) A factory in Ohio makes a product via the hands of the common man. A Viking Capitalist can copy that plant & product in Asia and bring copies of the product back to the US freely, to gut the Ohio business. The Viking pays no US taxes, while the Ohio plant and workers paid plenty to support America. The Vikings and Ruling Classes say this is good and fine; they get richer while the common man or woman becomes destitute.
(II) A writer of books or software or filmmaker makes an intellectual product in the US, produces and sells it for a huge profit margin. Can a Viking copy that product in Asia and bring the goods back to America to sell cheaply? Nope. Copyright and intellectual property laws prevent it. Government power is used to protect products of the intellectual class. THEIR product is legally protected, but the factories and work product of the hands of the common man is raided by the Vikings.
Ditto the intellectual product of the Legal Vikings. Bar association rules and guilds enforced by judges prevent copying their product. They loot more and more.
Viking capitalism is ruining the lives of billions of people, all for the gains of the Ruling Classes worldwide. People of the world must throw off their fetters and adopt Fraternal Libertarianism - put regulations and chains on the Vikings; take freedom for themselves. Empty the hog trough and use those resources to help the people and small business directly. Stop the Viking raids on US jobs.
Viking Capitalism vs. Fraternal Libertarianism. That's the fight we want. Bring it on.
Word of the Day
"Contumely" - noun [$10] from Hamlet's Soliloquy, Shakespeare. Also "Contumelious" - adjective. Also "contumacy" and "Contumacious"
Contumely means 1. insolent or reproachful language or treatment; 2. disgrace.
Contumelious means reproachful, insulting or insolent.
Sentence: The Vikings want to be worshipped and adored; give them contumely instead. Social pressure can help. Do it, all the time and everytime.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Deep Six the Deficit Commission
You don't even have to read their report. Just look at its members. Here they are:
Deficit Commission Members
NAMED BY OBAMA
ERSKINE BOWLES, co-chairman; Bill Clinton’s chief of staff from 1996 to 1998.
ALAN SIMPSON, co-chairman; Simpson was the No. 2 Republican in the Senate for a decade.
DAVID COTE, a Republican, has served as Honeywell International chairman, chief executive and president since 2002.
ALICE RIVLIN is a former Federal Reserve vice chair who was also budget director under Bill Clinton. She was the founding director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office from 1975 to 1983.
ANN FUDGE, chairman and chief executive of Young & Rubicam Brands from 2003 to 2006.
ANDREW STERN, president of the Service Employees International Union, which covers 2.2 million workers such as healthcare staffers, security officers and public employees.
NAMED BY SENATE DEMOCRATIC LEADER HARRY REID
SENATOR RICHARD DURBIN, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, from Illinois.
SENATOR KENT CONRAD, Budget Committee Chairman, from North Dakota.
SENATOR MAX BAUCUS, the Finance Committee chairman.
NAMED BY SENATE REPUBLICAN LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL
SENATOR JUDD GREGG, from New Hampshire.
SENATOR TOM COBURN
SENATOR MIKE CRAPO
NAMED BY HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN SPRATT, chairman of the House Budget Committee.
REPRESENTATIVE XAVIER BECERRA, from California
REPRESENTATIVE JAN SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois Democrat.
NAMED BY HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER JOHN BOEHNER
REPRESENTATIVE PAUL RYAN, from Wisconsin,.
REPRESENTATIVE JEB HENSARLING
REPRESENTATIVE DAVE CAMP
How ridiculous is the composition of that commission? Every single person is a member of the Ruling Classes. Most are members of Congress, person who are coddled and cossetted as no other group. They know nothing about running a business, nothing about actually doing a tax form, and know noting about the common man and woman - their lives and problems and what government truly does, and does NOT do.
For nongovernmental representatives, they toss in a couple CEOs - another group of chief hogs. Does any of them live in a small town? Nope. Does any of them do their own tax form ? Nope. Does any of them work with their hands ? Nope. Does any of them run a business on the ground level ? Nope. Is any of them poor ? Nope. Heck, they are probably all multimillionaires.
Does any of them have intellectual experience in practical matters ? Nope. Can any of them do calculations themselves ? Nope. It's totally dependent on the government for basic information - a fine example of garbage in, garbage out.
That commission is a disgrace and has been a disgrace since the day it was named. Toss that report in the circular file - the trash bin.
Word of the Day
"Consanguineal" - noun [$10]; "Consanguineous" - adjective [$10]; "Consanguine" - adjective [$10]
Consanguineous means (A) descended from the same ancestor; (B) of the same lineage or origin, esp. related by blood.
Sentence: All persons on the Deficit Commission are consanguine members of the Ruling Class.
Deficit Commission Members
NAMED BY OBAMA
ERSKINE BOWLES, co-chairman; Bill Clinton’s chief of staff from 1996 to 1998.
ALAN SIMPSON, co-chairman; Simpson was the No. 2 Republican in the Senate for a decade.
DAVID COTE, a Republican, has served as Honeywell International chairman, chief executive and president since 2002.
ALICE RIVLIN is a former Federal Reserve vice chair who was also budget director under Bill Clinton. She was the founding director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office from 1975 to 1983.
ANN FUDGE, chairman and chief executive of Young & Rubicam Brands from 2003 to 2006.
ANDREW STERN, president of the Service Employees International Union, which covers 2.2 million workers such as healthcare staffers, security officers and public employees.
NAMED BY SENATE DEMOCRATIC LEADER HARRY REID
SENATOR RICHARD DURBIN, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, from Illinois.
SENATOR KENT CONRAD, Budget Committee Chairman, from North Dakota.
SENATOR MAX BAUCUS, the Finance Committee chairman.
NAMED BY SENATE REPUBLICAN LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL
SENATOR JUDD GREGG, from New Hampshire.
SENATOR TOM COBURN
SENATOR MIKE CRAPO
NAMED BY HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN SPRATT, chairman of the House Budget Committee.
REPRESENTATIVE XAVIER BECERRA, from California
REPRESENTATIVE JAN SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois Democrat.
NAMED BY HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER JOHN BOEHNER
REPRESENTATIVE PAUL RYAN, from Wisconsin,.
REPRESENTATIVE JEB HENSARLING
REPRESENTATIVE DAVE CAMP
How ridiculous is the composition of that commission? Every single person is a member of the Ruling Classes. Most are members of Congress, person who are coddled and cossetted as no other group. They know nothing about running a business, nothing about actually doing a tax form, and know noting about the common man and woman - their lives and problems and what government truly does, and does NOT do.
For nongovernmental representatives, they toss in a couple CEOs - another group of chief hogs. Does any of them live in a small town? Nope. Does any of them do their own tax form ? Nope. Does any of them work with their hands ? Nope. Does any of them run a business on the ground level ? Nope. Is any of them poor ? Nope. Heck, they are probably all multimillionaires.
Does any of them have intellectual experience in practical matters ? Nope. Can any of them do calculations themselves ? Nope. It's totally dependent on the government for basic information - a fine example of garbage in, garbage out.
That commission is a disgrace and has been a disgrace since the day it was named. Toss that report in the circular file - the trash bin.
Word of the Day
"Consanguineal" - noun [$10]; "Consanguineous" - adjective [$10]; "Consanguine" - adjective [$10]
Consanguineous means (A) descended from the same ancestor; (B) of the same lineage or origin, esp. related by blood.
Sentence: All persons on the Deficit Commission are consanguine members of the Ruling Class.
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