I'm a new Du'er... ask me anything

[mcerise]

Hi everyone! b:hi: I just realized after posting something on GD 2004 that I need to build up some posts before I can be taken seriously without suspicion (which is understandable btw). I also want to introduce myself. I'm also majoring in economics, so I may be able to answer something along that topic too. Anyways, ask away!

[swag]

1. Do you eat the cow?

[mcerise]

8. Medium rare please

Hehe :) I'm not a vegetarian if that's what you're asking, but I'm trying to stay away from red meat as much as possible. However, if you put a plate of Kobe Beef steak in front of me, I'd say bring it (it being high blood pressure, cholesterol, and early death) on!

[ProudToBeLiberal]

2. welocme to DU :)

I have a question. Does the trickle down theory really work?

[mcerise]

11. No is my short answer.

Basically, what trickle down theory says is that lowering taxes will stimulate the economy because it will give companies more capital to produce more. This could be true work if we assume that the government dumps what it collects into the Pacific Ocean.

Growth is definitely stimulated by investment by both private corporations and the government. That's why WWII was what effectively got us out of the Great Depression. Also, it forgets that corporations only seeks to optimize its own Marginal Benefits and not the Social Marginal Benefit. Therefore, taxation allows the government to control for externalities (where an action of one party affects another party without full compensation). For example, taxing corporations that produce too much pollution.

There's actually a lot more but that's what two arguments against it that I could come up with from the top of my head. Please add/subtract whatever from what I said :) I love discussing economics. Admittedly I'm not too familiar with taxation and its effects so I will try to update this post when I find out more.

[AlamoDemoc]

3. Welcome

[flowomo]

4. (sniff)..... (sniff)..... hmmmmmmmmmm

you seem ok. What's your favorite color?

[mcerise]

9. Lavender

My boyfriend's favorite color is actually purple. I think we're match made in crayola heaven!

[qnr]

5. Why are ogres green?

Too much copper in their diet or something?

Welcome to DU.

[mcerise]

27. Too much copper would turn the ogres blue!

They must be adding too much BROMOCRESOL GREEN SODIUM SALT to their food.

[qnr]

28. That was a red herring of course :) n/t

[joeybee12]

6. Welcome! How'd you find out about DU? And aren't you just thrilled

about the Red Sox?

[mcerise]

Believe it or not

howardstern.com. I just watched F911 in June and decided to do some research on * & Co., and I found out that Howard Stern had a lot of info on his site. That led me to the 10 Conservative Idiots list, and the rest is history.

Red Sox- I'm not a huge baseball fan, but I'm so glad they won this year. Not superstitious, but hope that the NE momentum would carry JK/JE to the White House!

[qnr]

7. Why aren't you answering yet?

We can be an impatient lot sometimes. :hi:

Edit: a semicolon does not an apostrophe make.... a.k.a fixed a typo

[mcerise]

30. Sorry

Cellphone rang, and I answered :)

[dr.strangelove]

69. I love the semicolon

I have nerve damage to my right pinkie (due to a bad cut as a child). I have a very hard time with the apostrophe key. I use the semicolon in its place all the time. I try to correct it, but I don;t have time to get them all.

[baldguy]

10. Mmmm... 27 posts...

You must've been accused of being a freeper at least...um, about 7000 times by now, right?

Welcome :hi:

[mcerise]

34. Not yet :)

But I do have a question for you though... I really thought I posted an innocent thread of funny and unflattering * pictures, but I was implicitly called a freeper. Can you tell why that was suspicious, so that I can avoid that in the future?

[realisticphish]

70. no idea

maybe something about the presentation was wierd, or maybe the accuser was just an asshole. welcome to du!

:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[JudyM]

12. I'm new too...

That's a nice idea to intro yourself. I'm just so psyched about having found this place that I jumped right in. Hope I'm welcome! I've been volunteering for J&J for a couple months and it's so great to find a forum of 'tribespeople' -

I also put up a website that I'm trying to get around that lists easy ways to help the campaign, and lots of useful links and fun stuff:
www.helpkerrywin.com. Check it out and pass it on!

[JimmyJazz]

wow

:hi: and welcome :toast:

[miss_kitty]

14. read mine!

[JudyM]

17. Hmm?

Read your what? (mind?) ;->

[JimmyJazz]

19. Oh pleeze - there is so much going on behind the scenes - it's

tough to jump into the fray and feel a part of things, but try to anyway. :hi: :toast: Welcome!!!

[Kenneth ken]

48. profile, I'd guess

mlle chatte is striving mightily to win the Chatty Cathy award at DU.

:)

:hi: mlle chatte :D

[qnr]

18. .

:hi:

[JudyM]

22. Backatcha!

[mcerise]

38. Thanks!

I'm so happy that I found this place too. Unfortunately, I'm now hopelessly addicted. I seriously can't stop myself from clicking the refresh button every few minutes if I'm on the computer. I'm trying my best to get everyone I know to 1. vote and 2. vote for Jk/JE, and I'm feeling really good about this election.

[miss_kitty]

13. oh HORRORS!

ZombyWoof just put you on ignore.

:evilgrin:

Welcome to DU!
:hi:

[JimmyJazz]

15. lol - is that any way to treat a newbie? It's probably true, but

again, I ask, is that anyway...

[miss_kitty]

25. oh you know...in that thread he has tonight he says the quickest

way to get on his ignore list was to post 'ask me anything' threads. It was such a LONG rant :eyes: if you missed it, you are excused.

:evilgrin:

[spatlese]

16. How do you find out...

if someone has put you on their ignore list?

:shrug:

[GingerSnaps]

20. When you click on one of their messages

Your computer screen will be all black.

Welcome to DU.

[miss_kitty]

26. heh heh heh

I am laughing outloud!

[JimmyJazz]

21. I'm sorry, did you say something?

Just kidding!

:hi:

[miss_kitty]

24. it's a joke. he says anyone that starts 'ask me anything' threads

go on his ignore list. And you can't tell. Usually if you post a comment that asks "DO you have me on ignore?" If they answer, they don't. If they don't answer, well you still won't know...
:)

[mcerise]

42. I see

That's lovely.:P

[JimmyJazz]

23. BTW - I'm still afraid to post in GD 2004! Anyone else???

[qnr]

29. Post? Not really. Start a thread? I think long and hard

Though I don't know why, 94.3675% of my posts are ignored anyway.

[JimmyJazz]

33. wow - Is that an accurate scientific study or are you guessing?

BTW - welcome to the lounge where we don't give a shit...can I offer you a drink? A martini perhaps (chocolate - I've heard that's your favorite)

[qnr]

35. I was afraid someone would ask that.

In reply, I refer you to Dookus' signature line.

Chocolate martini? May I say, as a former bartender, that I am appalled! :)

[JimmyJazz]

36. Don't be apalled - be a-petered....

[qnr]

39. Unless I'm letting my feminine side out, in which case

I'm a-maryed

[JimmyJazz]

40. ack - I acutally a-stevened, but don't tell

:P

[qnr]

43. heheh -- anyway, you don't generally get much of a chance

to make a Peter, Paul & Mary reference in day-to-day life. :)

[JimmyJazz]

46. leavin' on a jet plane, don't know if I'll be back again....

[qnr]

52. oh babe; I hate to goooo... n/t

[JimmyJazz]

55. So kiss me and smile for me

Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe I hate to go

[qnr]

60. Technically, I didn't wait... walked the dogs - screwed the song

all up

[JimmyJazz]

41. BTW - I am a huge Bloom County fan - so the more I can

get you to post, the better!

[qnr]

45. Same here - sure does get distracting seeing all of those

giant Opus images as you're scrolling through the thead though, even for me :shrug:

[JimmyJazz]

47. my favourite:

[qnr]

51. hah! I love that one. n/t

[mcerise]

44. Are there different standards in GD 2004?

n/t

[qnr]

53. Come now, we don't want to spoil "all" the surprises

:evilgrin:

[BUSHOUT]

31. WTF?!?

Just kidding! Welcome to DU!

:pals:

[qnr]

32. Oh yeah... 20 something posts (at the start) and you have a "hot" icon

I think I've had one thread with more than 20 replies, forget the bit

Just kidding with you.

[Kire]

37. Why don't you...

...ask me something?

[mcerise]

50. Sure

The number 9 has many mysterious properties. Did you know that 9 is hidden inside the birthdate of every famous person?

Take George Washington's B-Day. He was born February 22, 1732. Write that as the single number 2221732. Now rearrange these digits to make any different number. For example, we pick 1232272. Subtract the smaller from the larger. 2221732-1232272=989460 Add all the digits in the difference. 9+8+9+4+6+0=36. 3+6-9!

If you do this with John Kennedy's birthday (May 29, 1917) or Charles De Gaulle's (November 22, 1890) or any famous man or woman, you always get 9. Is there some curious connection between 9 and the birthdates of famous people? Does this work with your birtdate?

[WildEyedLiberal]

57. OMG, it worked for me

It's an omen I tell you. AN OMEN!

:D Welcome to DU! I'm fairly new myself. Enjoy your stay. :hi:

[mcerise]

61. It worked for me too

We're going to be famous! (unless of course you're already famous :))

[Kenneth ken]

49. Welcome to DU

mcerise

:hi:

I have no questions, why is that?

[mcerise]

56. Because...

Great minds think alike? j/k :)

[Kenneth ken]

63. maybe, but probably not

you're an Economix major, and I can barely spell that word, much less grasp the concepts, so clearly we don't think alike.

a) I know too much
b) I know nothing
c) I'm shy around strangers
d) I'm as incurious as George
e) None of the above
f) All of the Above

- pick one (or more) :D

[mcerise]

79. I still say...

great minds think a like :hi: So that would be choice e.

[CanuckAmok]

54. did you know gold is extraterrestrial in origin?

Welcome, by the way.

[mcerise]

59. Thank you!

I did not know that. But, did you know that the weight of sun's light on earth's surface has been determined to be two pounds per square mile?

[CanuckAmok]

64. I did not know that!

neat.

[realisticphish]

71. ah, but is that adjusted for altitude

since the pull of gravity on the photons would vary...:)


:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[mcerise]

73. Most likey it would be the average of

n/t

[Maiden England]

58. welcome to the DU

have you been banned yet - its like a rite around here!

[mcerise]

62. not been banned yet

Hopefully, I won't be because I like my username too much :)

[pagerbear]

65. The most important question of all!

Puppies or kitties?

[mcerise]

72. good question

While both are very cute, neither can beat the cuteness of an overgrown bunny:



Edit: grammar mistake

[pagerbear]

76. Very diplomatic!

You have Pager approval to loiter in the Lounge.

[Beer Snob-50]

66. first off, welcome!

now my question, "If you are reelected, what good will additional tax cuts to the upper 2% do for the economy?" You are actually Shrub aren't you? If not answer anyway, I have always wondered.

[mcerise]

74. Channeling shrubaduba.....

Tax cut to the upper 2%? Why that would give money back to my top contributors and they would contribute even more in the future!

- Okay that's as much of a shrub as I can handle

A tax cut might make sense in the beginning of 2000 because CBO was projecting a surplus of over $6 trillion over the next ten years. But the problem as we all know is that the surplus of 6 trillion never appeared. And of course bush*'s pre-emptive war.

No sound economist would advice increase in spending along with while lowering government revenue (taxes) unless the government is spending the taxes on investment in the economy. Right now, the government is reducing current taxes by less than it is reducing future expenditures, and the deficit and debt are rising. But why do we care about the deficit and debt?

The reason why continuous deficits are bad for our country is because federal government's borrowing might compete with the borrowing of private firms. (Ask me if this doesn't make sense) This would lead to a lower level of capital accumulation, and one of the driving causes of economic growth is capital to do make things with.

Bottom line- someone either has to quit spending or raise the taxes.

[Beer Snob-50]

77. thank you, but now,

i believe that tax cuts for those in the middle would make sense. putting cash in the hands of those who would shovel that back into the economy makes sense to me. Person gets tax cut, spends money on new tv (High Def, 52 inch!!!), electronic store has to hire more people to handle more traffic, lower unemployment.

[mcerise]

81. Tax cuts

Well, the same argument could be made for the top 2%. They get lots and lots and lots of money back (since they make the most), they spend all that money on lavish parties, expensive cars, and big fat diamond rings. I think what you're asking here is really an equity vs. efficiency question. I think JK when he proposed a tax cut for the middle class yet a tax hike for top 2% was addressing the issue of making America more equitable.

Really, source of economic growth comes from two factors:

1. Capital Accumulation, since production is a function of Capital and Labor

and

2. Technological progress

However, capital accumulation can't be a source of growth forever because to increase capital, savings rate (i know sounds confusing but saving and investment are actually the same thing) has to rise, but savings rate can't go up forever.

The only way to sustain growth in the long run is technological progress because it actually increases output per capita. JK shows he really know what he's doing because he always points out that as president he's going to support funding for research in new technologies.

[Magrittes Pipe]

67. Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?

[mcerise]

82. Depends

Are you a starving artist/musician/writer/philosopher/professor trying to survive in a consumption-driven materialistic world?

If yes, then you're my kind of sexy.
:loveya:

[Magrittes Pipe]

88. Well, I'm a musician, and I did major in philosophy.

Not starving, although I'm not rich, either!

[da_chimperor]

68. So what do you think of milton friedman?

I like some of his ideas on the de-criminalizing of drugs and the like but I'm not so fond of his other ideas.

[mcerise]

85. I'm only familiar with his views on health insurance

The school of thought from where I am right now postulates that people who are insured in the US generally have too much coverage. What they say is basically every dollar doctors/hospitals spend on treatment only has on average $.10 benefit.

Friedman's (and according to my professor economist's) ideal Health Insurance would be everyone has to pay 50% of medical expenses until they spend 10% of their income on medical expenses. Then the insurance should cover the rest.

I actually agree with this plan because it discourages people from going to the doctor for no good reason, but it also protects people from being devastated by medical expenses.

[kick-ass-bob]

75. When would you use a LOGITor a PROBIT model?

that's what I remember from Econ at this point...

[mcerise]

78. Honestly, no idea

I'm taking econometrics next term. Maybe this site would help?

"Log-linear, logit, and probit models extend the principles of generalized linear models (ex., regression) to better treat the case of dichotomous and polytomous dependent variables. It focuses on association of grouped data, looking at all levels of possible interaction effects. Log-linear analysis is a type of multi-way frequency analysis (MFA) and sometimes log-linear analysis is labeled MFA. These methods differ from standard regression in substituting maximum likelihood estimation of a link function of the dependent for regression's use of least squares estimation of the dependent itself. The function used in log-linear analysis is the log of the dependent, y. The function used in logit is the natural log of the odds ratio. The function used in probit is the inverse of the standard normal cumulative distribution function.

There are several possible purposes to undertake log-linear modeling, the primary being to determine the most parsimonious model which is not significantly different from the saturated model which fully but trivially accounts for the distribution of data in a table. Log-linear analysis is used to determine if variables are related, to predict the expected frequencies (table cell values) of a dependent variable, the understand the relative importance of different independent variables in predicting a dependent, and to confirm models using a goodness of fit test (the likelihood ratio). Residual analysis can also determine where the model is working best and worst.

Log-linear models were developed to analyze the conditional relationship of two or more categorical values. Log-linear analysis is different from logistic regression in four ways:

1. The dependent is categorical (nominal or ordinal), unlike binomial logistic regression
2. The expected distribution of the categorical variables is Poisson, not binomial.
3. The link function is the log, not the logit.
4. Predictions are estimates of the cell counts in a contingency table, not the logit of y."

http://www2.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/pa765/logit.htm

[ronnykmarshall]

80. Hmmmmm?

Let me think of a question that might prove you loyality.

What does the phrase "It's Friday, ya bastards" mean?

[mcerise]

83. Hmmmmmmm

It means "Friends, today is Friday."?

Does it have something to do with the Majority Report Radio?

[ronnykmarshall]

84. Noooooooo

Hmmmmmmmmm?

Try again. It DOES have to do with AIR AMERICA however.

[mcerise]

86. Noooooooooooo?

That's too bad. I give up though....

TELL ME TELL ME TELL ME TELL ME TELL ME

:+

[ronnykmarshall]

87. OK.

Every friday Randi Rhodes starts her show by saying "It's Friday ya Bastards" and plays "Bounce Your Boobies" by Rusty Warren (a great comedian from the 60's).