The S&P 500 was down Friday for the ninth straight day, something that hasn’t happened since 1980. “The U.S. elections are the elephant in the room for markets,” Julius Baer’s head of research Christian Gatticker told Bloomberg. Donald Trump is still a long shot, consistently trailing Clinton in key swing states, but the stock market seems to be evaluating his odds for what they are: a low, if real, chance of economic harm.

Deporting some 11 million undocumented immigrants, building a wall along the border with America’s third biggest trading partner, starting a trade war with Mexico and China that would destroy 4 million U.S. jobs: These are all deeply harmful economic policies.

Moody’s says Trump’s policies would throw the U.S. economy into the longest recession since the Great Depression. Citigroup thinks a Trump win could cause a global depression. By a different measure, Trump in the White House would cause the American economy to shrink by $1 trillion over five years, according to British research firm Oxford Economics.

That a campaign based on those ideas still has by some estimates a 35 percent chance of winning should scare markets.


You don't care do you Carl? You've got your little cabinet shop deal going so you're immune from Wall Street. Oh, wait. Wasn't wind blown saw dust the only thing moving in your shop during the last downturn?

But I survived and thrived didn't I? I work for the 1% on up, they give no ****s when it comes to showing off their worth, especially when the smart ones hedge on things going to hell. When there's blood on the streets, but property.

I seriously doubt Trump will be elected. How rigged the game is was shown top us when Clinton took the Democratic Party's nomination.

Building a wall? Neither's puppet master will allow it.
Removing all the illegals? Neither's puppet master will allow it.

And as far as me caring, I don't really. Bring on the chaos, I'm getting bored.

"It turns out that Trump is not the rough-talking, screwy, ignorant candidate they say he is, but is actually a wise politician and a prescient presidential candidate." — A May 31 column in DPRK Today, a mouthpiece of the reclusive, deeply anti-American regime in North Korea, after the Republican nominee suggested the U.S. should pull its troops from South Korea unless Seoul pays it more.

No wonder the wingers are firmly behind Trump.

Oh oh...

The FBI's much-trumpeted new scrutiny of emails related to Hillary Clinton has turned up nothing that would cause the bureau to recommend charges against her, the bureau's director, James B. Comey, has told Congress.

Somebody stepped in a doggie Picasso.

Rigged? I'm surprised how many people are buying into that. The voting system is so purposefully disjointed that it would be practically impossible to actually rig it. Everyone keeps screaming "rigged!" but where's the evidence?

The electoral college is an artifact - I'll give you that but it's worked in republican's favor in the not so distant past. The same guys that are screaming rigged are pointing at polling stations that are staying open late to allow the people already in line at closing time to place their vote (due to overwhelming local turnout). They point at this as "rigging" the vote. However, folks, being provided a chance to vote is the foundation of democracy. The fact that people are publicly trying to keep people from voting and not getting called to the mat for it is terrifying. It's bad enough with the gerrymandering that takes place with district border manipulation but this is a whole new level. Man, this is some twisted crap and I'm shocked at some of the people that are buying it without question.

We're too divided. Maybe what we need is a horrifying failure for the next four years, to unify us behind someone like in the Carter/Reagan election? Bush II and Obama tried, but apparently weren't quite bad enough.

Channeling Rachel Phelps here...

Mike

The national nightmare is over. Nugent is back in the news.

[size:14pt][b]Ted Nugent grabs his crotch at Trump rally[/b][/size]

No surprise here...


Donald Trump is losing more than this election. If recent news reports and his own self-evident behavior are any indication, may also be losing his mind.

Trump has entered the final days of his campaign increasingly anxious and in need of both discipline and reassurance, according to a shocking New York Times report Sunday. He barely sleeps and reportedly needs aides to keep him company late at night, particularly his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner. Because his poll numbers are looking worse and worse by the day, he’s had to instead point to the size of his rallies and insist that aides vocally share his optimism. When in less generous moods, Trump has made ominous threats, such as vowing to create a super PAC after the election which exact vengeance against politicians he deems to have been enemies.

Perhaps the most remarkable story is how Trump’s Twitter account — which he once wielded like an ax against everyone from Republican primary opponents and Hillary Clinton to former pageant queens who angered him at 3 a.m. — has been taken over by his staff, who review and edit his tweets before publishing them.

Trump’s deteriorating mental state has also had a very real impact on the substance of his campaign. Despite maintaining comparatively higher discipline now than in the early months of his candidacy, Trump has still shot himself in the foot, despite pleas from those around him. On Oct. 22, as he prepared for a speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, intended to draw attention to a series of populist policy proposals, Trump insisted on threatening to sue the women who had publicly accused him of sexual assault.


Still bored Carl? I'm heading to Costco to buy a case of popcorn.

I would counter that it's in no one's best interest that the government "fail". I doubt seriously that anyone would actually wish that upon their political rival, as my recollection of a failed government is something like Somalia which no one wants.

Sure, you've stockpiled 10,000 rounds of ammunition and some C-4. But I don't think that will solve a whole lot when the country is in khaos (no utilities, no martial law, etc.). Unless you've got a large piece of property (and the manpower to defend it from the hoards) and are really good at farming...

If the rate of lying in this election cycle has failed to impress a giant group of people, I'm sure the government "failing" would also land with a dull thud of denial.

When they run out of ammo and explosives, they can throw Beck Gold Coins at 'em.

I'm just baffled that Trump is polling at around 45% of the popular vote.
If you look at all of the crazy stuff he said both in public and in private he really must be some salesman, I have not heard him say one positive or hopeful thing during this entire election.
Ripping people of with his fake university, losing a billion dollars on a Casino(!), not paying any taxes, and just not being knowledgeable in general make it hard for me to believe millions of people want this man as the leader of their country.

You clearly missed the sarcasm. You need to go watch Major League again.

No one wants a repeat of the gas rationing or any of the other economic horrors of the late 70s. And, we're extremely unlikely to find another Reagan.

Mike

I didn't serve all those years to hand the place to Fascists. I know I’m not the only one who has ever taken an oath that includes “...against all enemies, foreign and domestic...” Call me psychic, but I think Trump and his white nationalist groupies fall into the latter category—and when we find out for sure, it is going to be way too late to un-rub this particular genie lamp. So do all of us G.I.s a favor and exercise that Constitutional right to vote. Please. It is perhaps the ultimate form of national service, and just might head off a national nightmare.


Word brother.

Glenn Beck Confesses: 'So Much Of What I Used To Believe Was A SHAM' - Ya Think?

Do you think Beck will buy the gold coins back from Chumlee? Stranger things have happened.


There have been too many bizarre events in the past year to keep track of. This election is going to provide material for a whole library worth of books and analyses. And one of the subsections of the collection is going to have to cover the metamorphosis of Glenn Beck.

When the campaign season began Beck was reluctant to choose a candidate. It was an embarrassment of riches with several of Beck's favorite wingnuts in the running. However, as the roster whittled down he eventually decided that Ted Cruz was God's choice for president and Beck took up the Lord's cause.

Unfortunately for God, Cruz was bested by a reality TV game show host. Donald Trump tagged him as Lying' Ted and cast him into the Lake of Fire. Throughout it all, Beck remained firmly opposed to Trump. At every opportunity he blasted The Donald as unbalanced and unfit. It was jarring to see Beck taking a position that was in alignment with many progressives, at least so far as NeverTrump was concerned. But he still wasn't on board with Hillary Clinton.

Nicholas Schmidle of New Yorker magazine has noticed Beck's descent into Bizzaro World as well. He writes that Beck was recently impressed with a speech by Michelle Obama. You know, the wife of the guy that Beck once said had "a deep seated hatred for white people." On his radio radio show Beck described the First Lady's speech as "The most effective political speech I have heard since Ronald Reagan."

Continuing, Beck said that "If you’re a decent human being, those words were dead on." Although you would still have to wonder what Beck knows about being a decent human being. He has spent most of the last decade condemning liberals to hell and prophesying the end of civilization. But according to Scmidle:

"That was the old Beck, he insists: 'I did a lot of freaking out about Barack Obama.' But, he said, 'Obama made me a better man.' He regrets calling the President a racist and counts himself a Black Lives Matter supporter. 'There are things unique to the African-American experience that I cannot relate to,' he said. 'I had to listen to them.'"
Of course, Beck has had revelatory transformations before. There is no more reason to believe that this one is any more sincere than the others. It's often just a scam to attract more media attention. But it is kinda fun. Especially when when he goes after Trump saying that "This guy is dangerously unhinged. And, for all the things people have said about me over the years, I should be able to spot Dangerously Unhinged." That's actually pretty funny, and suggests some measure of self-awareness. As does this:

"So much of what I used to believe was either always a sham or has been made into a sham. There’s nothing deep."
That may be the truest thing that Beck ever said. He is tacitly admitting the fallacy of his whole career as a demagogic broadcaster. Although he isn't quite admitting that he was responsible for creating the sham.

Time will tell if this incarnation of Beck lasts for more than a couple of ratings periods. But it's gonna be interesting to watch how his fans react to this transformation. We may already have a hint of it as Beck worries about recent death threats he's received from Trump supporters. He's now saying about some of the folks who used to follow him like a prophet that "These people scare the hell out of me." Me too, Glenn. Me too.

From Rolling Stone Magazine

But now is the moment for every last American to decide what it truly means to be a citizen. You can be reluctant about Hillary Clinton. You don't even have to vote for her (though I did, without doubt or hesitation).

What you cannot do is vote for Donald Trump and pretend that this is just another election, and he is just another candidate. It is your minimum duty as a citizen not to support a racist, sexist, unqualified, dishonest, corrupt manchild who celebrates everything that's ugly about America and not a single thing that's great about it.

No matter how left out or left behind you feel, voting for Trump is nothing short of a moral failure. It's a vicious act against the human beings, mostly women and people of color, who would suffer miserably under his presidency.

I honestly can't believe that one of these nincompoops is going to be our next President.

How much of a check do they have to write to settle the slander case they just lost? And how much is the other plaintiff going after them for?

Lets see, Dan Rather, Brian Williams, Rolling Stone, Daily Kos, etc.... They say you can't make this **** up... in their world I guess you can...

Is that goat roper bar logic?