Remarks from his retirement press conference today. Tell it, Fritz. http://hollings.senate.gov/~hollings/statements/2003804B32.html TRANSCRIPT: Sen. Hollings' Comments from Press Conference Monday, August 4, 2003 COLUMBIA, SC "With all of this attention, radio, tv and press, I'm constrained from changing my mind. I want to confirm what you have all suspected, that I will not be opting for re-election this next year. I say what you all suspected in that I indicated that last year, and we haven't had any fundraisers in this state for four years. It's not that we are quitting; we have a good year and a half worth of work. "I'm truly worried about the country's direction. And a friend just mentioned you never hold back, but 'now you're leaving and not running, you're going to say anything and everything.' "I said no I can tell you this categorically, we've got the weakest president and weakest government in the history of my 50 years of public service. I say weak president in that the poor boy campaigns all the time and pays no attention to what's going on in the Congress. Karl Rove tells him to do this or do that or whatever it is, but he's out campaigning. And I really don't think our friend Mark Sanford likes the job. As a result the state and the country – your state, my state, our country – is headed in the wrong direction with respect to our finances. "You can see it at the state level. They are firing a thousand teachers. "And at the national level, we've got Enron accounting galore. The President said two weeks ago on page one of his budget report that we have a $455 billion deficit at the end of next month; that's when the end of the fiscal year terminates. The truth of the matter is, you turn to page 57 of the report and you'll see it's $698 billion. And he admits to a $700 billion deficit, so you can see why the market goes down. Everyone sees who invests that there's no reason to invest because the interest rates are going up and you can't carry your investments. "Otherwise, riding up here, I saw this state could care less. I just saw Carolina license plates, Tiger paw license plates, they just can't wait for the kick-offs here at the end of the month. They just don't worry about the 60,100 textile jobs alone we have lost since NAFTA. We always brag on BMW in Spartanburg County. Ten years ago we were down to 3.2 percent unemployment there, and now we're at 8.5 percent unemployment. And in the country this is endemic. In the country itself, we don't make anything any more. "I had to make a talk on trade last week, and I looked it up and found out that at the end of World War II we had 40 percent of our workforce in manufacturing. And now we're down to 10 percent. We've got 10 percent of the country working and producing, and we've got the other 90 percent talking and eating. That's all they're doing. "And we're eliminating jobs – hard manufacture, service, high-tech – all except the press and the politicians. They don't import us. If they'd imported us, they'd get rid of us, too. I can tell you that right now, because we're not making anything any more. "I'm still working around the clock for the next year and a half, and of course after that I'll be looking for a job. But you can see it's not easy to get one, by the time I go out and work and make a living. "Let me answer some of y'alls questions. Y'all have been courteous and considerate, and everything else of that kind. I argued all last week -- I got the best staff and my staff is my best friends. And they wanted to have a more formal occasion, and have all kinds of crowds around me, to see if a thousand people would be there. But you see there's a thousand on the other side, y'all are so happy that I'm getting out. "We're going to put out a list of accomplishments. The people of this state have been unusually good to me since I started up in 1948, and I've been elected seven times to the United States Senate. Now it's time for someone else to take over."
Scary stuff indeed. Funny thing is he mentions "worried about the country's direction." This country has NO direction at this time. Thanks for posting this BJ.
Would that that were true, Bob*. Looking at the trends of unemployment, the deficit, costs of the Iraq war, et cetera, I'd LOVE it if the country had no direction. The direction of the country is plain though, and it is not good.
Yawn. The sky is falling, blah blah blah, it's all W's fault, blah blah blah. Enron, scandal, bogged down in Iraq, Gore won the election, no blood for oil, we've heard it all before, chicken little. It's getting mighty old, hoss. The stock market is up big this year, and last month's unemployment report showed a decrease in unemployment. You're right, there is a direction -- a good one.
The stock market is up big this year, and last month's unemployment report showed a decrease in unemployment. You're right, there is a direction -- a good one. Why on earth would you look at one trend for a year and the other for a month? Are you that desperate to find trends that fit what you want to say? If you're going to look at the stock market for the year, unemployment is also up for the year. If you're going to look at unemployment for the last month, the stock market is down for the last month. Hmm. Besides which, unemployment actually went UP in the last month - net jobs decreased and population increased. A fluke of the counting method - lots of people quit looking for jobs - caused the "unemployment rate" counter to fall, but more people lost jobs last month than gained.... continuing a trend over the past two years or so.
Major, your economic amateurism is rearing its ugly head again. You should really get your economic news from other sources other than the headlines at CNN.com. People stop looking for jobs in each and every reporting session. You have bought into the liberal spin machine, hook, line and sinker. This is not some non-recurring event, it is a natural part of the unemployment figure. A figure which fell last month, thus reversing the upward trend. That's right, *reversing*. There are many reasons why people stop looking for jobs, many of which have nothing to do with a poor labor market. It is not inherently conflictual to use both yearly and monthly data to successfully refute Batman Jones' wild assertion. One is short term, one is longer term, there need not be time frame consistency to objectively prove that a trend is being broken. Nice try though. It is truly amazing the job that the American people, including the help of the Bush Administration, have accomplished. They have gotten the economy growing a a respectable pace (closing in on 3% annualized), reversed the unemployment trend, and boosted the stock market to strong gains for 2003. All of this was accomplished in the aftermath of one of the largest speculative bubbles of all time crashing (crash beginning in March 2000), corporate fraud from the late 90's, a tragic terrorist strike, and a war fought in Iraq. I applaud the citizens of the U.S. for standing tall, and I applaud President Bush for providing necessary leadership in this time of economic uncertainty. Their combined efforts are leading us out of the inevitable slump that followed the irrational boom.
Wow, Jorge. That's great news. I'd never have known how great the economy was doing (or how great the Iraq thing was going or how great the stock market was doing or how any able bodied person who wanted a job could get one) if it wasn't for you. They NEVER show this stuff on the news! Damn lunatic fringe left wing liberal media! It must be really great to be with a party that never ever does anything wrong (even when most of the world and even our own damn liberal propogandist media says so). It must be great to get to applaud so much and to be against the guys who always do all the hateful, anti-American stuff. I really really really really envy your clarity. My moral relativism is really wearing me out and also I'm just tired of being so evil. And also your guys keep telling me I'm gonna go to hell and I don't WANT to go to hell! And since they're right about everything else, I'm really scared they're right about that too, even though they never talk about hell on the news. But then, I should know better than to listen to those communists at CNN and ABC and CBS and NBC and the BBC and Time and Newsweek, cause they're hellbound lunatic fringe liberals too and they WANT me to believe them just cause misery loves company and sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace. Also, I'm tired of being for peace! It makes me feel gay (and not gay happy - which I know is bad too - but gay homosexual - you know, like a girl or something) to be for peace when all the really good Americans are for war. And also I wanna be rich. So where do I sign up, Jorge? Do you guys take converts? I wanna be rich and angry and not care about the poor or the suffering (since they brought it on themselves and all they deserve is scorn!). I wanna beat up the poor! I wanna measure a person's value by the size of his bank account, like you do, Jorge. I want to racial profile! I want to drive a big gas guzzling luxury SUV and run over anyone who talks about what it's doing to the environment! I'm tired of thinking and caring and worrying about anyone besides myself and you and the president. I wanna applaud him too. Where do I sign up? And how do I make up for all these wrongheaded years?
As a playwright and thespian, you should know that sarcasm is a form of humor that is rarely accepted by the audience. Embedded in sarcasm is a level of hostility and bitterness which lessens the appeal of the attempted humor. And another thing I've noticed with you -- you rely on cursing and vulgarity too much for humor. Let your wit be judged on its own merits.
Jorge, i have a feeling that if things were currently as is - only instead we had a Democratic administration instead of a republican one - you'd be complaining about the exact same things you're currently defending. in fact, i guarantee it.
That was great, Batman... a very visual scene on the stage, in my opinion. You should use it. I'm glad Fritz spoke his mind. And I worry that the Democratic Party might lose his seat, even if he is a cantankerous and conservative son of a bit*h. It was a pleasure to read what he said as well.
Meanwhile, back in reality-ville... Job Cut Announcements Up 43% T_J, you ought to stick to something you know about, like surfing personal ads from men on the internet.
TJ, perhaps your economic expertise can explain this. I heard on the radio the other day that the Child poverty rate in the U.S. is over 20%. Germany was 10%, Canada was something like 7& and England was around 6%. What a huge difference there was. This isn't really about the direction of the country now, because this has been in the making for a long time, I do know that not enough is being done to correct this difference though. I'm curious how TJ or some staunch bashers of welfare programs in these other countries would explain the huge difference.
For just a second, forget the messenger and look at the message. The economy is picking up. Ask people who work in the finance industry. Corporate bankruptcies are falling. The high-yield and credit markets are finally opening back up. Don't underestimate the impact of the stock market bubble. Financial institutions were basically throwing money at companies in the late 90s. It was ridiculous. Companies were using cheap financing to enter into speculative projects and markets with low returns. They went on acquisition sprees and never bothered to think about the implications. Eventually, reality had to catch up and a lot of these new projects had to be wound down. Companies that grew (unwisely) through acquisitions had to shrink back down. As those endeavors failed, the credit markets shrank. Financial institutions didn't want to suffer more losses, so they became much more hesitant to place new debt (and equity). With bad projects unwinding and companies denied access to credit markets to enter into new worthwhile projects, the economy was bound to enter a slow down. Things are finally starting to turn - look at the earnings reports. Not all industries, obviously, but it is happening. The economy took a few unexpected hits, including 9-11 and a war that increased overall uncertainty. The slow down isn't Bush's fault. The pending recovery probably isn't mostly Bush's doing. There are a lot more factors that come into play than politics. T_J, I'm surprised you pointed out unemployment as a relevant statistic. There is too much noise in such a measurement to use one month as a trend. Not to mention that unemployment is a lagging indicator. And for the record, anyone who is against free trade policies (Hollings) automatically loses credibility as an economic expert. Trade restrictions have done wonders for protected industries in the US like textiles and steel, haven't they?
TL, I have provided them the economic picture and financial landscape of our economy more times that I can count. They don't listen. They don't understand how the credit spreads and lower interest rates impact the ability to raise money. They don't understand how a rising stock market lowers the cost of capital at a firm. They don't understand the effects of fiscal policy (tax cuts), nor do they understand the effects of monetary policy (interest rate cuts). They don't understand how economic data can impact the stock market. They are far from being able to piece together any type of coherent economic and financial picture. Their typical retort is "then why do I not have a job" or the famous one-liner, "ENRON". It's a bit frustrating, teaching calculus to third graders, but hopefully if they hear enough of it, they will start to understand. btw -- the high yield markets have been on *fire* in the past few months. You are seeing public high yield deals done at ridiculous rates (beneath 7% in some cases) and even non-investment grade (i.e. beneath NAIC-1) private placements getting done in the 5% range. It will be great for the economic future once this capital is deployed and starts earning returns. I'm a huge proponent of economic success following increases in money supply, and I believe with the current interest rate environment (despite the last couple of weeks) and the Administration's fiscal and monetary policy efforts, we are poised for strong growth over the next year.
Amen. This quote is possibly the single dumbest thing I've heard in a looooooong time: "We've got 10 percent of the country working and producing, and we've got the other 90 percent talking and eating. That's all they're doing."
