Glenn Beck = greatness

[Blake]

Wed May 19, 5:21 pm ET


Fox News host and conservative talker Glenn Beck is firing back after New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner issued a report critical of Goldline International, a gold retailer and one sponsor of Beck's cable show. Goldline is among several gold concerns that advertise with Beck while Beck offers testimonials about gold — an arrangement that's sparked some conflict-of-interest complaints about the pundit.

For the past two days, Beck has hit back at the congressman, claiming on the air that Weiner's tactics evoke the late red-baiting Sen. Joe McCarthy. "Now we have a congressman actually trying on the shoes of McCarthy," Beck said Wednesday morning. On Tuesday he railed that "we are in full-fledged McCarthy Land now." Beck requested Wednesday that his radio listeners submit photos showing Weiner with "his nose as a weiner," possibly to prepare for a segment devoted to the congressman's charges on a Fox television broadcast later Wednesday.

The congressman is returning Beck's rhetorical fire. "It is not surprising that Glenn Beck is attempting to deflect from his behavior in promoting Goldline," Weiner told Yahoo! News in a statement. "But the facts are clear. Goldline rips off consumers and Glenn Beck helps."

In the report (on Weiner's House website as a PDF), Weiner charges that Goldline "grossly overcharges" for coins and makes false claims about gold being a good investment. Goldline touts gold as a more solid investment in this economic climate.

The report says the gold retailer has entered "an unholy alliance with conservative pundits" — among them Beck, Fred Thompson, Dennis Miller, Mark Levin and Laura Ingraham — to "promote Goldline by playing off the fear of inflation."

"What we have found, by looking through the public records, is that very often they use their public programs to advocate purchasing gold, and then immediately, advertisements begin for Goldline," Weiner said in a news conference Tuesday.

The company says Weiner is using the gold issue to push his own agenda. Goldline President and CEO Mark Albarian told Politico that he believes the Democrat's investigation is "politically motivated" and driven by "our relationship with Glenn Beck."

Beck has had problems with sponsors in the past. Online groups including Stop Beck and ColorOfChange have urged boycotts that they claim have influenced more than 100 companies either to pull advertisements from Beck's show or to make sure their ads don't run during the show.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100519/pl_ynews/ynews_pl2136

"Instead of me attempting to squash these claims, let's photoshop weiners to Weiner's face."

fucking moron.

[DMX7]

Would you expect anything else from a self-professed rodeo clown?

[angrydude]

right now gold is a good investment--a LONG term investment. So goldline "over-charges" for gold coins.......actual physically delivered gold coins are in huge demand all over the world right now. If you want to buy at the "gold price" all you're going to get is a claim for gold sold through the comex or whatever, not actual gold bullion.

If these people don't understand what or why they bought what they bought, that's hardly anyone's fault but their own.

[word]

The one thing about Glenn Beck, his sillyness takes away from his message. While he's telling you ....xyz...which is often harrowing...he does the clown act which ...lessens the message be it right or wrong. I've never liked his delivery. or that of the msnbc group or what's his name on HBO...Hannity is pure filth...what is that midgets name on HBO..his name eludes me...whatever...

I pretty much feel the same way about all of 'em. Honestly, as far as all the pundits go...love him or hate him...Limbaugh is the master. I swear, that man could sell ice to eskimos. Love him or hate him...that dude is good at what he does.....

[Stringer_Bell]

I like how his program is set up as a college lecture, with Beck giving his audience daily lessons that they can take to work, school, Church with them the next day. It's really cool how he starts to cry whenever he tells stories about George Washington, it makes you feel like he's got a genuine connection with the founding fathers. The best moment of his show by far is when he asked Sarah Palin to the the new George Washington. The 9/12 Movement, wow, I wish I would have thought of that. Oh, and the restoration of our Sacred Honor too.

This guy is for real!!:greedy

[word]

I like how his program is set up as a college lecture, with Beck giving his audience daily lessons that they can take to work, school, Church with them the next day. It's really cool how he starts to cry whenever he tells stories about George Washington, it makes you feel like he's got a genuine connection with the founding fathers. The best moment of his show by far is when he asked Sarah Palin to the the new George Washington. The 9/12 Movement, wow, I wish I would have thought of that. Oh, and the restoration of our Sacred Honor too.

This guy is for real!!:greedy

ouch...I'm as republican as you'll find but...sorry man, I think he's a goof. Apparently this is what the world has come to. As much as the left hated Nixon...I miss that man. As a side bar, only three presidents have had their IQ tested that we know of. Kennedy, Nixon, and Clinton and Nixon was far and away more intelligent than the other two. Nixon was a true genius. Kennedy and Clinton were not. I can't recall the numbers, but JFK was shockingly low...a buffoon.I thought of Chancey Gardner when I read it.

[ChumpDumper]

I pretty much feel the same way about all of 'em. Honestly, as far as all the pundits go...love him or hate him...Limbaugh is the master. I swear, that man could sell ice to eskimos. Love him or hate him...that dude is good at what he does.....Sure, if you are stupid enough to believe what he is saying.

[exstatic]

right now gold is a good investment--a LONG term investment. So goldline "over-charges" for gold coins.......actual physically delivered gold coins are in huge demand all over the world right now. If you want to buy at the "gold price" all you're going to get is a claim for gold sold through the comex or whatever, not actual gold bullion.

If these people don't understand what or why they bought what they bought, that's hardly anyone's fault but their own.

Actually, right now, if you're not already in, gold is a dreadful investment. Only suckers buy at the top.

It costs about $485 to mine and process an oz of gold, so when it's this high, the mines are producing in overdrive. People are also selling gold back now at record rates. Those two combined factors are going to wreak havoc on the supply, inflating it quickly and driving down the price. I've seen projections of gold back to $800 within one to two years.

[EmptyMan]

lol @ crying about gold-sellers

Gots to wipe da ass of the idiot consumer for their own good, yessa

[DarrinS]

I actually used to like Beck up until he started getting all conspiratorial and using a chalkboard. Also, WTF with all the crying?


He's a bit nutty.

[Blake]

Advertisements for Goldline are also featured prominently on Beck's own website, where he recently promoted gold in an audio clip warning of an apocalyptic future:

When the system eventually collapses, and the government comes with guns and confiscates, you know, everything in your home and all your possessions, and then you fight off the raving mad cannibalistic crowds that Ted Turner talked about, don't come crying to me. I told you: get gold.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts1022


so the government will come in with guns and confiscate everything.... except for your gold.....

what a fear mongering jackass.

[Blake]

Also, WTF with all the crying?


I don't really know why Beck is crying about the poking around by Weiner.

[Kermit]

I don't really know why Beck is crying about the poking around by Weiner.

:lmao

[boutons_deux]

The Truth About Glenn Beck's TV Ratings

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-boehlert/the-truth-about-glenn-bec_b_583096.html?view=print

Beckkk and mamma grizzly, two cartoon jerks indicating how frickin stupid America has become.

[Wild Cobra]

I don't really know why Beck is crying about the poking around by Weiner.
LOL...

Weiner is flat out lying. Goldline only has a 5% markup on gold bullion.

[DMX7]

Goldline President and CEO Mark Albarian denies Weiner's charges.

"It feels like it's politically motivated in that neither the congressman nor anybody from his office ever contacted executives form the company to really ask the important questions that they need to ask to understand this business," Albarian told Politico.

Beck, too, has fired back at Weiner.

"This is again another arm of this administration coming out to try to shut me down," he said on his radio show on Tuesday.

The congressman's report based its findings on a study of 18 gold coins offered for sale on Goldline's Web site. When it compared the sale price with the value of the gold if it were melted, it found an average markup of 90 percent. Coins sold as collector items were even higher, with a markup of 152 percent, Weiner's report said.

Albarian defended gold as an investment and said his markup was 35 percent.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/05/19/2010-05-19_conservative_pundit_glenn_beck_should_be_ashame d_of_goldline_endorsement_rep_ant.html#ixzz0oUdUF4 81

[boutons_deux]

"again another arm of this administration coming out to try to shut me down,"

what other "arms" have been coming to shut BecKKK down?

[DMX7]

"again another arm of this administration coming out to try to shut me down,"

what other "arms" have been coming to shut BecKKK down?

The ones in his head.

[angrydude]

Actually, right now, if you're not already in, gold is a dreadful investment. Only suckers buy at the top.

It costs about $485 to mine and process an oz of gold, so when it's this high, the mines are producing in overdrive. People are also selling gold back now at record rates. Those two combined factors are going to wreak havoc on the supply, inflating it quickly and driving down the price. I've seen projections of gold back to $800 within one to two years.

I remember people making that very same argument last year when gold was 800$ an ounce.

[ChumpDumper]

I remember people making that very same argument last year when gold was 800$ an ounce.I remember folks' thinking that real estate prices would never go down a couple of years ago.

[Wild Cobra]

Goldline President and CEO Mark Albarian denies Weiner's charges.

"It feels like it's politically motivated in that neither the congressman nor anybody from his office ever contacted executives form the company to really ask the important questions that they need to ask to understand this business," Albarian told Politico.

Beck, too, has fired back at Weiner.

"This is again another arm of this administration coming out to try to shut me down," he said on his radio show on Tuesday.

The congressman's report based its findings on a study of 18 gold coins offered for sale on Goldline's Web site. When it compared the sale price with the value of the gold if it were melted, it found an average markup of 90 percent. Coins sold as collector items were even higher, with a markup of 152 percent, Weiner's report said.

Albarian defended gold as an investment and said his markup was 35 percent.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/05/19/2010-05-19_conservative_pundit_glenn_beck_should_be_ashame d_of_goldline_endorsement_rep_ant.html#ixzz0oUdUF4 81
Yes, these are all collectible coins. They sell rare coins too. I have some 40's dimes that are all silver. They are worth a great deal more than the value of the melted silver.

Their bullion coins, they sell at 5% over the gold value. They probably sell their collectibles at 35% over suggested value. these however, are worth what someone is willing to pay.

Distinction of the facts are important. I notice the article doesn't mention the word "bullion" anywhere.

Do you know how much a 1933 gold coin auctioned for in 2002? $7,590,020 for a 1933 Double Eagle. It is under on ounce of gold, and only 90%.

I really wish you liberals would understand the articles you post.

[Wild Cobra]

I remember people making that very same argument last year when gold was 800$ an ounce.
Some people will be wrong about it. There will be a top at some point, and a very high chance the gold bubble will burst, with a serious drop in value. Where the top is, is hard to determine. I didn't think it would get this high myself, but that's one reason I'm not a professional investor. I'm not good at the timing.

Expect the bubble to pop people.

[DMX7]

Their bullion coins, they sell at 5% over the gold value.

What bullion coins are you talking about? You mean common bullion coins? Not even Goldline claims they sell those at only 5% over the gold value. They say they sell those with a markup STARTING AT 5% and ranging to 20%. However, no one has presented any empirical evidence to suggest these are the actual markups at all.

http://www.goldline.com/buygold-investmentriskdisclosure

In fact, Congressman Weiner included in his study coins classified as common bullion by Goldine (e.g., Canadian Maple Leaf and South African Krugerrand). According to his study's findings, those bullion coins had an average markup of 28% above the melt value.

http://www.politico.com/static/PPM116_report.html



They probably sell their collectibles at 35% over suggested value. these however, are worth what someone is willing to pay.


They sell their collectable coins at 152% markup according to actual sample data and claim just a 30% to 35% markup.


I notice the article doesn't mention the word "bullion" anywhere.

Do you know how much a 1933 gold coin auctioned for in 2002? $7,590,020 for a 1933 Double Eagle. It is under on ounce of gold, and only 90%.

I really wish you liberals would understand the articles you post.

Hmm.... My original post wasn't rebuking your 5% gold bullion markup claim, so I don't know why you have your panties in a bunch. However, this post is rebuking it so feel free to respond.

[Wild Cobra]

DMX... Do you even read and comprehend what you link?

The 5% to 20% you listed is not the markup of bullion, but the spread.

The 18 coins listed in the comparison says 9 bullion, but 5 of the 9 Eagles are collector proofs. Only 4 are plain bullion coins.

I stand by the 5% markup for non collectible, common, bullion coins. If you wish to disagree, please show me specifics. Not someone elses propaganda.

The Canadian coins are considered bullion, but they are made of the highest purity. More than any other bullion coin in the world, and are sold for more than the gold value by Canada, because of purity. Don't expect an exchange to sell them for less than what they purchase them for.

Maybe if you invested and researched investments, you would stop being a liberal lemming.

[clambake]

if gold becomes the hard currency, you won't have your precious little auctions for those cute coins.

[DMX7]

I stand by the 5% markup for non collectible, common, bullion coins. If you wish to disagree, please show me specifics. Not someone elses propaganda.


Oh man, I have a lot of gold I'd like to sell you. Where are you getting this 5% from? Wikipedia? Is that what Goldline told you? 5% markup claim is based on no empirical evidence whatsoever. Boy, you must be an uber sucker if you believe that.

[Agloco]

Actually, right now, if you're not already in, gold is a dreadful investment. Only suckers buy at the top.

It costs about $485 to mine and process an oz of gold, so when it's this high, the mines are producing in overdrive. People are also selling gold back now at record rates. Those two combined factors are going to wreak havoc on the supply, inflating it quickly and driving down the price. I've seen projections of gold back to $800 within one to two years.

Yeah, and I've seen just as many that say the opposite. The real question is whether or not the fed can time it's monetary pullback correctly. If inflation takes hold that's more than likely the death knell for the dollars' hegemony.

[Winehole23]

Premature. Core inflation is at its lowest level since the 1960's (http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9FPRL000.htm).

The bigger concern for the moment would seem to be deflation. A panic in Europe could send us on another leg down, causing higher unemployment, leading to weaker demand, leading in turn to declining capital investment, prolonged low interest rates and even tighter credit.

From the vantage of the present, a Japan style "lost decade" looks much likelier than hyperinflation, IFF we can manage to avoid another debt-deflation (http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/docs/meltzer/fisdeb33.pdf) spiral.

[Agloco]

Premature. Core inflation is at its lowest level since the 1960's (http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9FPRL000.htm).

The bigger concern for the moment would seem to be deflation. A panic in Europe could send us on another leg down, causing higher unemployment, leading to weaker demand, leading in turn to declining capital investment, prolonged low interest rates and even tighter credit.

From the vantage of the present, a Japan style "lost decade" looks much likelier than hyperinflation, IFF we can manage to avoid another debt-deflation spiral.

:tu

None of which necessarily equates to significantly lower gold prices though, which was the point I was responding to. The dollars weakness might be masked temporarily by the goings on in Europe, but I doubt the printing presses will stop anytime soon. Obama is hellbent on spending his way out of this. The tab just got started so to speak.

I don't think hyperinflation is an eventual reality either...... inflation yes. There's simply no one out there to foot this bill.

[Winehole23]

Obama is hellbent on spending his way out of this. The tab just got started so to speak. We'll see. The political will for more stimulus seems not to be there and fiscal worries seem to be more pronounced both inside and outside the Obama Administration, and in the broader market.

I hope you're wrong, but you could be right.

[Winehole23]

I'm more troubled by the Fed's countercyclical measures than Obama, but that's me.

[EVAY]

WH, you are right, I fear, about the L shaped reaction to the recession, and the fears of European-based debt debacles has the market going nuts again.

Deflation is once again rearing its head.

People are talking past one another in this forum ( not unusual I know) about the price of gold relative to the value of coins as investment that also happen to be made of gold, but the underlying issue of the economic recovery (or lack thereof) is pretty frightening.

I just want to find that Chinese guy who cursed us all with the "May you live in interesting Times" toast and sock him in the nose.

[Winehole23]

the underlying issue of the economic recovery (or lack thereof) is pretty frightening.Yeah, it is. People still act like we're immune, but we're not.

[Winehole23]

That said, if we start WWIV (or is it WWV?) in Iran, all bets are off.

[Winehole23]

From the vantage of the present, a Japan style "lost decade" looks much likelier than hyperinflation, IFF we can manage to avoid another debt-deflation (http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/docs/meltzer/fisdeb33.pdf) spiral.If another debt-deflation spiral threatens, the political will to pawn our future again to avert disaster will be even harder to resist, because we have already done it once.

[Winehole23]

If necessary, we gonna roll the dice again.

[Winehole23]

The mistake was rollin em the first time. JMO.

[Winehole23]

We fuckin gambling with our chilluns and grandchilrens money now.

[Winehole23]

If Europe and/or China succumb, we'll go double or nothing, right?

[boutons_deux]

Lost Decade Looming?



May 20, 2010
By PAUL KRUGMAN

Despite a chorus of voices claiming otherwise, we aren’t Greece. We are, however, looking more and more like Japan.

For the past few months, much commentary on the economy — some of it posing as reporting — has had one central theme: policy makers are doing too much. Governments need to stop spending, we’re told. Greece is held up as a cautionary tale, and every uptick in the interest rate on U.S. government bonds is treated as an indication that markets are turning on America over its deficits. Meanwhile, there are continual warnings that inflation is just around the corner, and that the Fed needs to pull back from its efforts to support the economy and get started on its “exit strategy,” tightening credit by selling off assets and raising interest rates.

And what about near-record unemployment, with long-term unemployment worse than at any time since the 1930s? What about the fact that the employment gains of the past few months, although welcome, have, so far, brought back fewer than 500,000 of the more than 8 million jobs lost in the wake of the financial crisis? Hey, worrying about the unemployed is just so 2009.

But the truth is that policy makers aren’t doing too much; they’re doing too little. Recent data don’t suggest that America is heading for a Greece-style collapse of investor confidence. Instead, they suggest that we may be heading for a Japan-style lost decade, trapped in a prolonged era of high unemployment and slow growth.

Let’s talk first about those interest rates. On several occasions over the past year, we’ve been told, after some modest rise in rates, that the bond vigilantes had arrived, that America had better slash its deficit right away or else. Each time, rates soon slid back down. Most recently, in March, there was much ado about the interest rate on U.S. 10-year bonds, which had risen from 3.6 percent to almost 4 percent. “Debt fears send rates up” was the headline at The Wall Street Journal, although there wasn’t actually any evidence that debt fears were responsible.

Since then, however, rates have retraced that rise and then some. As of Thursday, the 10-year rate was below 3.3 percent. I wish I could say that falling interest rates reflect a surge of optimism about U.S. federal finances. What they actually reflect, however, is a surge of pessimism about the prospects for economic recovery, pessimism that has sent investors fleeing out of anything that looks risky — hence, the plunge in the stock market — into the perceived safety of U.S. government debt.

What’s behind this new pessimism? It partly reflects the troubles in Europe, which have less to do with government debt than you’ve heard; the real problem is that by creating the euro, Europe’s leaders imposed a single currency on economies that weren’t ready for such a move. But there are also warning signs at home, most recently Wednesday’s report on consumer prices, which showed a key measure of inflation falling below 1 percent, bringing it to a 44-year low.

This isn’t really surprising: you expect inflation to fall in the face of mass unemployment and excess capacity. But it is nonetheless really bad news. Low inflation, or worse yet deflation, tends to perpetuate an economic slump, because it encourages people to hoard cash rather than spend, which keeps the economy depressed, which leads to more deflation. That vicious circle isn’t hypothetical: just ask the Japanese, who entered a deflationary trap in the 1990s and, despite occasional episodes of growth, still can’t get out. And it could happen here.

So what we should really be asking right now isn’t whether we’re about to turn into Greece. We should, instead, be asking what we’re doing to avoid turning Japanese. And the answer is, nothing.

It’s not that nobody understands the risk. I strongly suspect that some officials at the Fed see the Japan parallels all too clearly and wish they could do more to support the economy. But in practice it’s all they can do to contain the tightening impulses of their colleagues, who (like central bankers in the 1930s) remain desperately afraid of inflation despite the absence of any evidence of rising prices. I also suspect that Obama administration economists would very much like to see another stimulus plan. But they know that such a plan would have no chance of getting through a Congress that has been spooked by the deficit hawks.

In short, fear of imaginary threats has prevented any effective response to the real danger facing our economy.

Will the worst happen? Not necessarily. Maybe the economic measures already taken will end up doing the trick, jump-starting a self-sustaining recovery. Certainly, that’s what we’re all hoping. But hope is not a plan.

===============

The Repugs and conservatives, as articulated by RL, want the Dems to fail at stimulating the economy and jobs, knowing that in a bad economy, people vote out the incumbents. So their deficits hawks have been creating a paranoid hysteria, much like the gun-nut dumbfucks creating a guns'n'ammo hysteria, about the dubya's-wars-stoked/tax-cuts-for-wealthy deficit, to stop the counter-cyclical investing that could get the (non-banker) real economy going again, with an increase in consumption (even it's mostly greedy, unsustainable consumption of unneeded shit that ends up rotting in storage) and velocity of money, both of which would increase tax revenues to pay down the deficit (as Clinton did in the 90s economic expansion).

[EVAY]

But the bottom line is that we don't HAVE a plan. Not really.

[EVAY]

It is arguably the best thing that ever happened to the Republican party that Democrats took this debacle off their hands.

Reality is that no matter who wins in November, this is not gonna get better any time soon.

[Wild Cobra]

Reality is that no matter who wins in November, this is not gonna get better any time soon.
I agree. It will be bad if the Republicans take control, but worse if the Democrats maintain control.

[Wild Cobra]

Oh man, I have a lot of gold I'd like to sell you. Where are you getting this 5% from? Wikipedia? Is that what Goldline told you? 5% markup claim is based on no empirical evidence whatsoever. Boy, you must be an uber sucker if you believe that.
It's simple. Look at the selling price and compare it to the daily gold price. Use non-collector 1 oz American Eagles. It is the most common used, and part of their pricing is by availability.

I almost didn't bother responding, because all the good points I brought up were completely ignored by you. If you are going to dismiss facts, then you will never believe the truth. My God. I point out their bullion list form the 18 coins included collector proofs. Of course that's going to increase the average % markup.

Why didn't the article give a breakdown by coin? Could it be you would see the Eagles at a 5% markup?

[Winehole23]

I agree. It will be bad if the Republicans take control, but worse if the Democrats maintain control.Looking at the last ten years -- hell, the last thirty! -- I see no good reason to think that.

[Winehole23]

With the possible exception of GHWB, but he's a loser, right? Not a real conservative.

[Winehole23]

But the bottom line is that we don't HAVE a plan. Not really.The plan is to muddle through somehow.

[Winehole23]

But yeah, I agree.

[Winehole23]

It is arguably the best thing that ever happened to the Republican party that Democrats took this debacle off their hands.That's a very good point, but it presupposes a level of political stability that might not be warranted by the circumstances.

[Winehole23]

I hope I'm wrong about that.

[EVAY]

I agree. It will be bad if the Republicans take control, but worse if the Democrats maintain control.

I heard this mantra quite a bit from Republicans when W. was President, and I would point out that Republicans were acting no better than Democrats by spending money we didn't have, all the while saying they were so different than Democrats. They would always tell me "Yeah, but it would have been worse under a Democrat."

The best case you can make for that position is that the difference is only one of degrees, not direction.

I always thought that if Republicans got in control of government, especially with an MBA President, that they would propose and run balanced budgets and reduced deficits...but the reverse happened. That is when I just got mad at the Republican Party for proving themselves to be no more than theocratic spendthrifts.

Now, Republicans on this board call me a 'libtard'. It is a riot.

[Wild Cobra]

WH, You many of your posts are impossible to understand for those of us not in threaded mode.