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Ted Cruz

7 (6.5%)

Rick Santorum

16 (14.8%)

Michelle Bachmann

13 (12%)

Chris Christie

23 (21.3%)

Rand Paul

49 (45.4%)

Total Members Voted: 107

[Bauglir]

Investing in that, I'd go after the cheaper one. You get more bang for your buck. If they both go up 1 dollar, then for every 1 of palladium you buy, you could have gotten 20 bucks from the beryllium.

It also goes the other way, if they both go down a dollar, you lose 20 bucks in beryllium compared to the palladium.

It all depends on how much they go up~ But the berylium has a 20-fold headstart on the palladium.

Yeah, but the way the market works, that's not exactly a fair comparison. The palladium is a lot likelier to fluctuate by whole dollar amounts because that's a smaller percentage of its current value, all else being equal (it never is in commodities, but eh). It's one reason penny stocks aren't automatically the correct investment strategy.

[PyroDesu]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/10/tennessee-valley-authority_n_3055345.html

Okay, first off, is that article from April 10th or from October 4th?

Second off, woah, woah, no, bad idea. Tennessee and the surrounding states have a lot of poverty going on, but one of the things that helps everyone survive is electricity being pretty darn cheap. Employment with benefits with TVA is also a really big deal for people. If you privatize the TVA, that all goes to hell, electricity costs whatever the owners want it to, employment benefits disappear, likely tons of legal loopholes after its sale due to it being a federal entity for the longest time and probably being exempt all over the place, etc.

It would ruin Tennessee. We'd lose the current re-industrialization we've got going on due to the low cost of electricity and other incentives (we don't have a lot else going for us, really). I don't know how far away the energy distribution for the TVA goes, but it would likely ruin them, too.

1: 4th of October.

2:I don't think the national power grid would like losing the public control over 11 coal-fired plants (ew.), 29 hydroelectric dams, 3 nuclear plants totaling 6 reactors, 9 simple-cycle natural gas plants, and 5 combined cycle natural gas plants. As well as small-scale facilities totaling 15 solar plants, a wind farm, and a waste-derived methane plant.

They're one of the biggest power producers in the US. Privatizing them wouldn't just ruin Tennessee, nor just the entire southern US. It'd be felt across the whole continental US.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Really, when has privatization ever made a system better?

[Max White]

Really, when has privatization ever made a system better?

No you don't understand! I read a book called Atlas Shrugged where everything was privatized and things were so much better for everybody! It solved all our problems! Clearly this works in real life and anybody saying otherwise is a lazy welfare slacker!

[Leafsnail]

Speaking of which, does anyone want to take a break from thinking about how the world economy is doomed and read a comic about the life of Ayn Rand?  It's interesting in that it addresses the contradiction at the heart of her philosophy.

http://activatecomix.com/162-1-1.comic

[Helgoland]

Really, when has privatization ever made a system better?

Industrial production of goods, for example. Privatization is only a bad idea if market forces are distorted* in the field in question, making government interference/nationalization the more efficient choice.

*By lack of competition, for example

[lue]

Speaking of which, does anyone want to take a break from thinking about how the world economy is doomed and read a comic about the life of Ayn Rand?  It's interesting in that it addresses the contradiction at the heart of her philosophy.

http://activatecomix.com/162-1-1.comic

Interesting read so far, only on page 12 though. Perhaps most interesting so far is the very beginning of her life, and how that probably affected her worldview.

[misko27]

Spoiler: Responses (click to show/hide)

beryllium is around $110/100 grams

palladium is around $2200/100 grams

i wonder which one i have enough capital to waste my money investing into

I'm just letting you know that getting through the coming Financial crisis with even a net profit is going to be hard as balls, and only skilled investors are going to get through it. Plenty of others will fall miserably into poverty, as the Price of things will spike and fall tremendously.

Is the US government still dead?

Still dead. It being Sunday, I doubt anything much will get done today except for the obligatory Daily Media Circus. This coming week is going to get rather... heated.

If by dead you mean  several functions halted or running at reduced capacity, then yes, "dead".

And on the other hand, if it weren't for Hitlers rabid and crippling hate of communists, they might have very well allied, Nazis and Commies. Even WITH Hitler's stupidity, they did manage to split Poland between the two of them.

(I might be wrong~)

Totally wrong. Hitler hated communists because his entire Ideology was almost the fundamental opposite of Communism. A Society enforcing Equality, versus a society enforcing Inequality. Hell they only teamed up because the one thing they hated more was the Middle. Germany went far-right because the ground war between gangs of Fascists and Communists and people of all stripes went against the Reds: The Freikorps was backed by the Moderate Democrats (who feared Russia-style communist takeover), and was the only game in town by the end.

In other news, to quote Reporter Ben Hecht from 1918 Germany, "[Congress] is having a nervous breakdown. There is nothing sane to report." McConnell, who is Head of Senate Republicans and facing re-election next year, is stuck in the middle; between Senate Democrats led by Harry Reid, who want a longer Debt ceiling extension (original was 3 months) and to prevent a lock-in of sequestration level funding, and who can make him face trouble in his election on blame for the culmination of the crisis; or House Republicans (read: Tea-Party influenced republicans) led by John Boehner, who want a even shorter extension of the debt ceiling (6 weeks) and no agreement to fund the government, and who can bolster McConnell's right-wing challenger if he goes against them. No bill will pass the senate with Democratic support, the House is more of a toss-up due to extremely dissatisfied Moderate republicans.

I could say more, like about the posturing of Republican Presidential candidates, the fall of the Maine Republican's plan, or Rand Paul demanding the the Sequester be permanent while saying the debt ceiling should be respected, but none of that is all that important. Essentially the Democrats see the opportunity to force the Tea-Party into either capitulation, or total collapse. And the Tea-Party hasn't realized that it was out-maneuvered, went farther to protect itself, and faces a difficult decision that could manage to bypass them entirely either way.

[Max White]

Speaking of which, does anyone want to take a break from thinking about how the world economy is doomed and read a comic about the life of Ayn Rand?  It's interesting in that it addresses the contradiction at the heart of her philosophy.

http://activatecomix.com/162-1-1.comic

Sounds like a mix of narcissism and high functioning autism. I mean I'm sure as a web comic it is subject to bias, but still...

[smirk]

Crap, I'm a day late posting this. Still relevant-ish though:

"It is represented to us that the universal suffrage, as now existing through the Union, is abused; that fraud and corruption prevent a fair and proper expression of the public voice; that open violation of the laws are constantly occurring, caused by mobs, parties, factions and undue influence of political sects; that the citizen has not that protection of person and property which he is entitled to by paying his pro rata of the expense of Government--in consequence of which, WE do hereby abolish Congress, and it is therefore abolished; and WE order and desire the representatives of all parties interested to appear at the Musical Hall of this city on the first of February next, and then and there take the most effective steps to remedy the evil complained of."

That was a proclamation from Oct 12 1859, made by His Imperial Majesty Norton I. So you see, recent events aren't so much a crisis as simply 154 years too late =D

[SalmonGod]

Really, when has privatization ever made a system better?

No you don't understand! I read a book called Atlas Shrugged where everything was privatized and things were so much better for everybody! It solved all our problems! Clearly this works in real life and anybody saying otherwise is a lazy welfare slacker!

In my experience, the logic of libertarians does not follow that getting closer to their ideal should result in improvements.  If you point to examples where de-regulation resulted in bad things, they'll point to the regulations that remained, even if they were barely of any consequence, and claim that any bad thing was a result of those regulations.  Their perspective is 100% all-or-nothing.  You either have an **absolutely** free market, or you have misery and despair.  There is no gradient between the two.

The biggest problem presented by this style of thinking is that libertarians are convinced that a free market has never actually existed, so their views cannot be refuted by any evidence.  They can argue with evidence against you, but any evidence you present in return is bound to have some shred of non-free market taint on it that makes it completely meaningless in their eyes.  So it's nearly impossible to ever reason with them politically.

[Max White]

So the only falsifiable test they will accept is one that could end in total economic disaster...
From the people who claim to be about objective rationality. Wow, that is pretty stupid. If you have no empirical evidence how can you possibly claim your ideals are more rational?

Then again I'm most likely preaching to the choir here.

[FearfulJesuit]

In the midst of all this nonsense, the GOP's think-tanks are drawing possibly the worst conclusions they can.

No, Ted Cruz hasn't learned his lesson, and neither have the GOP's primary voters.

[alway]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jd-iaYLO1A&feature=share
So basically, there is basically no way for anyone but Boner to reopen the government.

[lue]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jd-iaYLO1A&feature=share
So basically, there is basically no way for anyone but Boner to reopen the government.

Please don't tell me this invalidates a potential discharge petition. I hope not.