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2005/2/24 [Politics/Domestic/President/Bush, Politics/Domestic/SocialSecurity] UID:36390 Activity:high |
2/23 Survey, do you still remember what you did the day before 9/11, and if do you what were you doing? \_ On 9/10, I posted 2 questions on motd, the Accuvue question and the Java == and equals(...) question. I didn't get to see the responses till now, how funny. \_ Working. had a rehearsal that night (and the next night as well). Did Iolanthe with San Jose Lyric Theatre. You wouldn't believe the outporing of appreciation for the performances (couple weeks later). Everyone wanted something they could enjoy. \_ working. I remember this old polish guy who lived through WWII running into the room and telling us not to panic, that we should listen to the news and just keep working as normal, which is exactly what we did(after making a couple phone calls). \_ What was on the news on 9/10/2001? \_ Gary Condit all day and night. \_ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/09/10/ED226834.DTL \_ http://tinyurl.com/6olqm (sfgate.com) \_ Remembering what I was doing when Kennedy was shot. \_ yes I do and I feel sad just thinking about it. I don't want to talk about it. \_ No, I don't particularly recall the day before 9/11, but I do vividly recall the morning of. I remember waking up to NPR on the clock radio next to my then girlfriend's bed, hearing something about the World Trade Center being attacked, and thinking to myself ``Oh, it must be the anniversary of the World Trade Center bombing.'' I think the relationship was beginning to come to a close, though I didn't realize it at the time. What's a little strange to me is that much of my memory that time period hazy, but I vivdly remember many of the little details from that morning, e.g. the smell of the sheets, the light coming through the window. -dans \_ WOW that's exactly how I felt! The little things... Also... my gf and I were woken up by a call, my gf's mom in Taiwan was on the other side telling us that both WTC towers had been attacked. I turned on CNN and it said only 1 tower was on fire. I thought it was just an accident, like the Empire State Building accident they had many decades ago and given that Taiwanese news were mostly trashy sensationalist news I thought they were just exaggerating. 30 min later CNN finally broadcasted the 2nd tower footage. A while later her mom called again and said one of the towers collapsed. I didn't believe it because I had never heard such a thing in my life, and because CNN didn't broadcast it. Surely enough 30 min later, CNN finally broadcasted the collapse. Then she called again about the 2nd tower collapse, and 30 min later, CNN broadcasted that. It's weird how we get our own news later than people outside the US. \_ I first heard about the first plane a couple minutes after it happened when Cmndr. Taco posted it to slashdot. Slashdot was pretty much the closest thing to real time all morning. There were posts on slashdot from people who could see what was happening outside their windows the whole time. \_ Same here. My dad called me from Hong Kong to tell me to turn on the TV when I was getting ready to go to work without realizing that something was happening. \_ I was getting a demo system prep'ed for a customer were were \_ I was getting a demo system prep'ed for a customer we were visiting the next day. I was on a plane 1/2 way to my destination when the first wtc attack happened on 9/11. --ranga \_ Busting my ass to put together a report for City Council. Stayed up all night, went to sleep just as the first plane hit, then got told the report wasn't necessary. \_ Clearly Sodans have reading comprehension issues. As for me, I have no idea what I was doing on 9/10. \_ Quite a few got it right. Read above. \_ Why is 9/10 interesting? It was a day like any other day. May as well ask about 9/9, 9/1, and 7/29. \_ Do you really need this explained to you, or are you just being willfully obtuse? \_ I remember I was sitting at home, unemployed, feeling sorry for myself because I couldn't find a job. I spent most of the day playing WoW and applying for jobs. |
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www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/09/10/ED226834.DTL Sunday Insight IT'S THE STUPID ECONOMY, to borrow a delicate phrase, and only a war will rescue Republicans if it doesn't turn around soon. Small surprise that Capitol Hill Republicans held an emergency soiree wit h President Bush Friday afternoon, after the unemployment rate hit a fou r-year high of 49 percent. The great tech boom of the late '90s b rought a tidal wave of revenue into Washington. Politicians posed as fis cal wizards, prosperity creators, populist kings ready to bestow bounty on a waiting populace -- free drugs, tax rebates, whatever. The boom turned Silicon Valley magnates into Midas-touch geniuses. As mar kets soared, the rest of us bragged of our stock-picking acumen and tall ied the rising value of our modest homes. In a curious twist of fate, the boom was fueled rather than moderated at a pivotal point -- the 1997 Asian financial crisis, when the Federal Res erve was forced to cut interest rates to prevent the crisis from spreadi ng. The stock market has been a disaster for a y ear and a half. The economy began slowing sharply almost a year ago and the rebound has yet to appear, despite seven interest rate cuts. The investment-led boom became a gigantic investment g lut, and Silicon Valley profits collapsed. Now jobs are disappearing, the surplus is shrinking rapidly, and with it, political options. Watch the two parties try to score political points while figuring out what to do. Bush is counting on the tax rebates now going out, a classic Keynesian st imulus to consumer spending. Despite the dubious reputation of Keynesian stimuli, economists just a couple of months ago were predicting the reb ates would boost growth 1 percent. The rebates would help only if consumers spen t them, which would happen only if job prospects remained bright. Back in early July, Anirvan Banerji, director of research at the Economic Cycle Research Institute in New York, issued a rather chilling warning: The first synchronized global downturn since 1975 -- with the United St ates, Europe and Japan entering simultaneous recessions -- appeared to b e underway. "To us, it looks like a recession, and in fact to us it look s like a global recession," Banerji warned. Frantic Capitol Hill Republican s are pressing Bush to cut capital gains taxes to boost the economy and raise revenues before next year's elections. But Bush feels boxed in by the vanishing surplus and his repeated vows no t to touch Social Security revenue. Problem is, rebates aside, the tax cut was designed during the campaign w ith a very different aim, which was to return the surplus to taxpayers. It was tailored to fit into surplus projections, which showed the surplu s rising in the out years. As a result, growth-boosting cuts in tax rate s are phased in so slowly as to offer only negligible results. Democrats are gleeful, accusing Bush of depleting the surplus with his ta x cut and getting ready to pounce if he touches the Social Security surp lus. In fact, not only is there no money for all the new spending programs tha t both parties want without dipping into the Social Security surplus, bu t Republicans are now contemplating across-the-board spending cuts. Despite their virtuous talk, they would love to tap Social Security revenues for the new spending programs they were counting on for their own elections. Moreover, as Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent C onrad, D-ND, acknowledged Wednesday, even though Democrats blame the t ax cut for eating up the surplus, they surely don't want to repeal it. A s Conrad said, it would be insane to raise taxes during a recession. Democrats control the Senate, so may eventually feel obliged to offer the ir own remedy. Don't be surprised if the two sides reach a deal that pic ks the Social Security lock box. |
tinyurl.com/6olqm -> www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/09/10/ED226834.DTL Sunday Insight IT'S THE STUPID ECONOMY, to borrow a delicate phrase, and only a war will rescue Republicans if it doesn't turn around soon. Small surprise that Capitol Hill Republicans held an emergency soiree wit h President Bush Friday afternoon, after the unemployment rate hit a fou r-year high of 49 percent. The great tech boom of the late '90s b rought a tidal wave of revenue into Washington. Politicians posed as fis cal wizards, prosperity creators, populist kings ready to bestow bounty on a waiting populace -- free drugs, tax rebates, whatever. The boom turned Silicon Valley magnates into Midas-touch geniuses. As mar kets soared, the rest of us bragged of our stock-picking acumen and tall ied the rising value of our modest homes. In a curious twist of fate, the boom was fueled rather than moderated at a pivotal point -- the 1997 Asian financial crisis, when the Federal Res erve was forced to cut interest rates to prevent the crisis from spreadi ng. The stock market has been a disaster for a y ear and a half. The economy began slowing sharply almost a year ago and the rebound has yet to appear, despite seven interest rate cuts. The investment-led boom became a gigantic investment g lut, and Silicon Valley profits collapsed. Now jobs are disappearing, the surplus is shrinking rapidly, and with it, political options. Watch the two parties try to score political points while figuring out what to do. Bush is counting on the tax rebates now going out, a classic Keynesian st imulus to consumer spending. Despite the dubious reputation of Keynesian stimuli, economists just a couple of months ago were predicting the reb ates would boost growth 1 percent. The rebates would help only if consumers spen t them, which would happen only if job prospects remained bright. Back in early July, Anirvan Banerji, director of research at the Economic Cycle Research Institute in New York, issued a rather chilling warning: The first synchronized global downturn since 1975 -- with the United St ates, Europe and Japan entering simultaneous recessions -- appeared to b e underway. "To us, it looks like a recession, and in fact to us it look s like a global recession," Banerji warned. Frantic Capitol Hill Republican s are pressing Bush to cut capital gains taxes to boost the economy and raise revenues before next year's elections. But Bush feels boxed in by the vanishing surplus and his repeated vows no t to touch Social Security revenue. Problem is, rebates aside, the tax cut was designed during the campaign w ith a very different aim, which was to return the surplus to taxpayers. It was tailored to fit into surplus projections, which showed the surplu s rising in the out years. As a result, growth-boosting cuts in tax rate s are phased in so slowly as to offer only negligible results. Democrats are gleeful, accusing Bush of depleting the surplus with his ta x cut and getting ready to pounce if he touches the Social Security surp lus. In fact, not only is there no money for all the new spending programs tha t both parties want without dipping into the Social Security surplus, bu t Republicans are now contemplating across-the-board spending cuts. Despite their virtuous talk, they would love to tap Social Security revenues for the new spending programs they were counting on for their own elections. Moreover, as Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent C onrad, D-ND, acknowledged Wednesday, even though Democrats blame the t ax cut for eating up the surplus, they surely don't want to repeal it. A s Conrad said, it would be insane to raise taxes during a recession. Democrats control the Senate, so may eventually feel obliged to offer the ir own remedy. Don't be surprised if the two sides reach a deal that pic ks the Social Security lock box. |
sfgate.com Friday, May 14, 2004 Updated: 12:07 AM PDT ' I'm guessing that the best way to hail a cab or a bartender in Athens will not be by waving an American flag." Sorensen Capital group He's already got more money than god, but that isn't stopping Steve Young (above, right) from embarking on a second career in business. Gov's Balancing Act Schwarzenegger unveils revised budget containing spending cuts and (as promised) no new taxes. Wedding Date's Still On Same-sex marriage opponents lose bid to halt gay nuptials, scheduled to begin Monday in Massachusetts. Researchers say they've found evidence of impact greater than the one that probably caused the dinosaurs' extinction. Wars' $50 Bil Price Tag "It's a big bill," says Wolfowitz, who estimates the cost of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. No Plea From Anderson Using a wheelchair, the haggard-looking suspect is arraigned in the murder of Xiana Fairchild. Giants Left Stranded G-men leave 12 men on base, including two in the bottom of the 9th, and drop series to Philly. Sex, Drugs, And Then 5 Deaths Playboy Playmate tells how she got involved with 2 suspects, but left in just the nick of time. Pixar Growth Plan Wins Fans 20-year proposal for Emeryville site gets flak from activists, but city says go for it. |