Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (516379)	12/27/2003 4:59:34 PM
From: Oeconomicus	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

This retail disaster ... This one? ...unlike last year, luxury chains appeared to be thriving, helped by a recovering U.S. economy and stock market... The International Council of Shopping Centers trade group estimated that gift card demand doubled to roughly 10 percent of all holiday dollars spent this year ... Luxury chains continued to shine, and analysts said many were able to sell merchandise at full price, which should protect profits. Sharper Image Corp. (NasdaqNM:SHRP - News), which sells pricey gadgets, said on Friday that sales at stores open at least a year were up 21 percent through Christmas Eve, and raised its earnings forecast. Analysts expect upbeat reports from other high-end retailers in the next few weeks. biz.yahoo.com

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (516379)	12/27/2003 5:50:51 PM
From: Raymond Duray	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Bush is either in denial or too stupid to realize it. I think they actually believe the economy is on fire at the white house. This retail disaster took them by surprise, I am sure of it. I see it completely differently. Hopefully you have read about Grover Norquist, his group, Americans for Tax Reform and their agenda. In a nutshell, what Norquist has strategized, and what Bush seems to be co-conspiring in is the manufacturing of a massive fiscal crisis for the federal government. It is an open secret. Norquist has said that he wants to shrink the government so he can "take it in the bathroom and drown it in the tub." The way to shrink the government is to starve it of income. That is the "genius" of the tax cuts. It makes a fiscal crisis a certainty. I am certain that Bush is a fraud. That there is absolutely no surprise in the White House about the sickly retail sales figures. I don't agree with you that Bush is "in denial or too stupid". I am certain that, to the contrary, he is a bald-faced liar and completely cynical about the lives he's going to ruin with his messianic and ideologically bankrupt effort to destroy the social safety net aspects of the federal government. I simply see Bush as a callous and rude dude.