US economy contracted last quarter - uh-oh

[Deadvolcanoes]

Do you live in the area Sandy hit?

I live on the freaking ocean in NY that was one of hardest hit areas there was, no power 2 weeks... Ok the supermarket down on the east end is out of power and flooded, but you go to the one on the westend that is open.

What does that have to do with the fact that Sandy negatively effected the economy? It's not grasping at straws.

And yeah, I live in the area effected. New Haven CT. Not as bad as the city, but I still didn't have power for a week.

[Spectral]

After adjusting for Sandy and defense spending contractions (which I still maintain are a good thing, even if it causes some temporary shrinkage), we seem to be proceeding at the same pace as usual.

People put too much emphasis on GDP.

[Daelak]

First, a hat tip for finally coughing up the source of your misinformation. Now - on to the substance.

Your source says that the top ten are...
#10 Maryland (BLUE)
#9 Texas (RED)
#8 Delaware (BLUE)
#7 N. Dakota (RED)
#6 Mississippi (RED)
#5 Virginia (Toss up)
#4 Hawaii (BLUE)
#3 S. Carolina (RED)
#2 Louisiana (Toss up - leaning Blue)
#1 Florida (Toss up - leaning Blue)

This does not make your case. If your posit was correct then all 10 would be Red states with may be 1 'blueish' state. Nope. Three are 3 toss ups (two of which lean blue), 3 solidly Blue, and 4 solidly Red. In real terms, it is about 50/50. Hardly your painted picture of red states all toothless hicks all lazing around on free gummint cheese, sittin' on the porch (a cracked cinderblock), staring out at the trailer-park yard full of rusting pick-um-up truck parts.

How about welfare?

http://www.cnbc.com/id/31910310/page/15

Gee - its California, Maine, Tennesee, Massachusetts, Vermont, DC, New York, Minnesota, Washington, New Mexico, Indiana, and Rhode Island. Mostly Blue states there...

Who is getting the most bailout money?

http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/19/bai...out-money.html

More than half are the Blue states.

So the assertion that Red states siphoning off disproportionate amounts of Federal cash is bogus.

Now - please supply the links that you used to come to the conclusions about Red states are disproportionately high with people who are uneducated, unproductive, single-parents, poor-elderly, and welfare-kids. That sounds to me more like you are describing New York City, Detroit, New Orleans, Chicago, and other "Blue" enclaves.

http://www.statemaster.com/graph/edu...educated-index

http://www.statemaster.com/graph/eco...-poverty-level

http://www.statemaster.com/graph/hea...d-health-index

http://www.statemaster.com/graph/eco...-poverty-level

Go back to sleep.

[Rukentuts]

http://www.statemaster.com/graph/edu...educated-index

http://www.statemaster.com/graph/eco...-poverty-level

http://www.statemaster.com/graph/hea...d-health-index

http://www.statemaster.com/graph/eco...-poverty-level

Go back to sleep.

Wow, Minnesota is better than I would have guessed. Maybe I'll have to learn to like the winters here after all. O_O

[Reeve]

Wow, I grew up in #46 for education (horrible), #20 for poverty (not bad), #18 for health (not bad), and #21 for Child Poverty (not bad). I'm surprised the education system in CA is supposedly so horrible. I feel reasonably well educated.

[Kujako]

I'm surprised the education system in CA is supposedly so horrible. I feel reasonably well educated.

As do I, but I grew up around San Francisco. There is a lot of CA that is dirt poor and underfunded. Then again, there is a phenomenon where people always feel like they are smarter, better educated and better off financially then they actually are. Something like 60+% say they are in the top 10%. So perhaps we're both just delusional....

[Reeve]

As do I, but I grew up around San Francisco. There is a lot of CA that is dirt poor and underfunded. Then again, there is a phenomenon where people always feel like they are smarter, better educated and better off financially then they actually are. Something like 60+% say they are in the top 10%. So perhaps we're both just delusional....

It could be. My team did get second to last place at bar trivia last night.

"Name the term that describes the rate of flow of a liquid or gas through a porous material"

"Name the Democratic Presidential candidate who lost the elections of 1896, 1900, and 1908, and shared a common first name with Taft and McKinley."

"Put the following songs in order of their release, from oldest to newest: Butterfly by Crazy Town, Take a Bow, by Madonna, With Arms Wide Open, by Creed, and Four Seasons of Loneliness by Boys 2 Men."

[Rukentuts]

"Name the Democratic Presidential candidate who lost the elections of 1896, 1900, and 1908, and shared a common first name with Taft and McKinley."

William Jennings Bryan?

I should probably know #1, but I haven't a clue on #3.

EDIT: I cheated and looked up #1. I was way off.

[Reeve]

William Jennings Bryan?

I should probably know #1, but I haven't a clue on #3.

EDIT: I cheated and looked up #1. I was way off.

Well you got the presidential candidate right. The closest we got was William. The. We were stuck with "of Orange" "the conqueror" "Wallace?" We couldn't think of any good turn of the century Williams. The moment the answer was given we all groaned.

We actually considered the word that would have been right for #1, but discarded it because we figured the word was talking about the property of the material and not the flow rate of the substance.

[Rukentuts]

We actually considered the word that would have been right for #1, but discarded it because we figured the word was talking about the property of the material and not the flow rate of the substance.

There's one word? What I found said it was volumetric flow rate.

I was thinking like viscosity or something.

[Kujako]

There's one word? What I found said it was volumetric flow rate.

I was thinking like viscosity or something.

I would have gone with "permittivity".

[Reeve]

There's one word? What I found said it was volumetric flow rate.

I was thinking like viscosity or something.

Yeah, it was just a bad question. The answer they were looking for was "permeability," which to me doesn't descibe a flow rate of a liquid or a gas, but rather the potential for flow of the medium.

[Rukentuts]

Yeah, it was just a bad question. The answer they were looking for was "permeability," which to me doesn't descibe a flow rate of a liquid or a gas, but rather the potential for flow of the medium.

Yeah that's a terrible question.