Photoshoot: Rally to Restore Sanity

Olsen

Olsen

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I am sure that a lot of you did attend. Could we see some pictures from the event? Particularly of some of the funny posters. (Hum, I better click on spell check).
 
Olsen said:
I am sure that a lot of you did attend. Could we see some pictures from the event? Particularly of some of the funny posters. (Hum, I better click on spell check).
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From the news reports only a few 10's of thousands of people showed up.
 
Oh, that's good to hear. I thought for a minute that this rally might kill off the Tea Party Movement. What do these Tea Party Folks have in their tea? Do you know, Mister..?

(Click spell check again...)
 
I wish I could attend! But it's too far away from New Zealand! Erm, should say I wish I could have.
 
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Mister E said:
From the news reports only a few 10's of thousands of people showed up.
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From news reports on FOX only a few 10's of thousands showed up. The actual number was more like 150K. Metro stations were jammed to the parking lots, public transit was overwhelmed, and the Mall was packed. At one point there was a spontaneous march up Pennsylvania Ave.
 
Proteus617 said:
From news reports on FOX only a few 10's of thousands showed up. The actual number was more like 150K. Metro stations were jammed to the parking lots, public transit was overwhelmed, and the Mall was packed. At one point there was a spontaneous march up Pennsylvania Ave.
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I've been to rallies on the Mall, and no way was it 150K. I was guessing it at the high end between 200 and 300K; I'm seeing a semi-agreed upon count of 215K showing up here and there. Still think that was low.

Never had a harder time walking off the Mall. Never had a harder time catching the Metro, either.
 
Proteus617 said:
From news reports on FOX only a few 10's of thousands showed up. The actual number was more like 150K. Metro stations were jammed to the parking lots, public transit was overwhelmed, and the Mall was packed. At one point there was a spontaneous march up Pennsylvania Ave.
Click to expand...
Funny, I don't get Fox News in Japan. I'm used to reporting on protests here where no more than 15,000 people show up and the news reports it as over 100,000. It's nice to hear your first hand account. I'm glad Olsen and the rest of you can turn this into yet another political thread. Olsen, do you even take photos?
 
I just checked and found this report:

"According to CBS, the estimated crowd at Saturday’s Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, hosted by Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert, was 215,000. CBS revealed that the network commissioned the crowd estimate from AirPhotosLive.com, which determined the size of the rally through aerial photos."
 
Hmmm.Now we have THREE sets of hard-to-believe figures for rallies: police (always low), organizers (always high) and Fox (Fox). Thanks Rob and others who posted shots. Looked like immense fun. I especially like the "I don't agree with you but I suspect you're not Hitler" argument apparently adduced by left and right alike.

Cheers,

R.
 
I saw one sign on flickr that said "Stop Justin Beiber."

Probably the only sensible thing heard from that crowd the entire day.

5129896712_1331d5b344.jpg
 
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In all his truthiness, Mr. Colbert said "six billion." He said it on television, so it must be true. I'm going with that number.

hteasley said:
I've been to rallies on the Mall, and no way was it 150K. I was guessing it at the high end between 200 and 300K; I'm seeing a semi-agreed upon count of 215K showing up here and there. Still think that was low.

Never had a harder time walking off the Mall. Never had a harder time catching the Metro, either.
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Regardless of how many did attend; this will not turn the tide of 'conservative' wave that now might create a political deadlock situation. Which in turn will make the dollar tumble. Etc. etc. Those of you who get their pay in dollars; run for cover. Or hedging.
 
Olsen said:
Regardless of how many did attend; this will not turn the tide of 'conservative' wave that now might create a political deadlock situation. Which in turn will make the dollar tumble. Etc. etc. Those of you who get their pay in dollars; run for cover. Or hedging.
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Thanks for worrying about our dollar! If you've not realized it's already tumbled. I'm paid in US dollars by my US based company here in Japan and my money is worthless already. Fiscal discipline or even a legislative deadlock, which is basically where we've been at for years anyway, will hardly make things worse.
 
Mister E said:
Thanks for worrying about our dollar! If you've not realized it's already tumbled. I'm paid in US dollars by my US based company here in Japan and my money is worthless already. Fiscal discipline or even a legislative deadlock, which is basically where we've been at for years anyway, will hardly make things worse.
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Sure.

The dollar has fallen from the high NOK 6,60 earlier this year when the Wall Street Journal managed to 'talk the Euro down' earlier this year, Greece and all that, to the NOK 5,85 of today - some 12% in just a few months. Many had reckoned that the dollar would collapse this autumn, talking of a scaring level of NOK 2,50 - 3,00, possibly on the background of a 'bad' midterm election. To what I know, the democrats have held the majority in all the houses. Which means 'smooth business' for the president's proposals.

If he looses that grip on things, he can't do anything. That will makes things a lot worse. The federal budget in particular, but also the budgets of certain US states (like California), is only realistic if the treasury can convince nations like Russia, Norway, Singapore and China to buy (even) more treasury bills. A bad political climate will be a very bad signal to foreign creditors. To meet budget obligations there have to be printed (even) more dollars 'out of thin air'.

Receiving a salary in dollars in Japan must be a though proposition. Like myself when I lived & worked in Singapore a few years back. Receiving a Norwegian salary in Singapore. The S$ went from NOK 2,85 to 4,20 in just a year or two. I had some pitch voiced phone conversations with my boss back in Oslo, who finally gave in and compensated me somewhat.
 
They did. The dip of the Euro - and the rise of the dollar, was in all due a US campaign to 'talk the Euro down'. In this campaign WSJ was a very important media. Now we are back to the situation before this smear campaign. There is little doubt that the market trusts the Euro far more than the dollar. - Particularly if the US political system ends up in deadlock. Heed my warning.
 
There's almost always a weak currency in advance of an election, because the markets hate uncertainty. I'd not be too surprised to the the dollar recover somewhat in the next day or two, regardess of the electoral outcome. This is not politics: it's simple observation of the market, and a STRONG personal interest in exchange rates (my income is in pounds and dollars, and most of my expenses are in euros).

I also know that 'sky is falling' scenarios are often short-termist. In 20 years I've seen variations in the £/$ exchange rate of almost 2:1, from near parity to around $2/£. The current $1.60 or so is at the high end of the $1.40-$1.60 range I have come to regard, on historical grounds, as normal.

And Olsen: the US political system is DESIGNED for something very close to deadlock. That's why the framers of the constitution wrote in the 'checks and balances', to avoid too much power being concetrated in one place.

Cheers,

R.
 
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