AMERICAblog: White House serves $500 wine for economic crisis meeting
DCinDC
· 1 year ago
When did the 2008 recession start?
Below are ECRI’s official recession calls in the past: Feb. 6, 1990 by Geoffrey Moore. Lead-time = 6 months. Mar. 26, 2001 by Anirvan Banerji. Lead-time = 0 months. Mar. 21, 2008 by Lakshman Achuthan. Lead-time =?
My own speculation is that ECRI’s recession call is late this time around. There was solid evidence for a recession call in January 2008. Unfortunately, ECRI was hoping that rapid rate cuts by the Fed could help avert a recession. They did not realize that this particular recession, driven by a deflating credit bubble, would increase the time needed for monetary stimulus to work itself into the economy.
Hence, until NBER announces the official recession dates for this cycle, I will assume that it began in January 2008.
Wow. I used to be able to buy $5 bottles of merlot...even the $5 bottle of zinfandel is hard to find now. Oh well, at least I'm not drinking Roma Rocket.
The recession started around this neighborhood 3 years ago...and the depression is settling in now.
P.S. The comments on that article blew me away...so many defenders of the pricey wine. Let them serve water, I'm sure for those readers, Bush could turn it into wine.
smallhandff
· 1 year ago
Paid, most likely, by the taxpayers of the U S of A. Bush is evidently purging the wine cellar rather than leave it for the next administration. What next, missing silverware?
vkobaya
· 1 year ago
What next, missing silverware?
Not only the silverware, the plastic stuff too. Anything that isn't nailed down, welded, bolted and glued to the floor won't be left behind for Obama. But, of course, the biggest theft will be the empty Treasury. No the biggest loss will the the lives of sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, even friends and neighbors who won't be coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan. He stole those lives too.
Indigo
· 1 year ago
When it's all about the comfort of the few and not about the good of the nation, that's what happens. The White House most likely has bins of high end wines in the $1,000.00+ range. Serving a mere $500.00 bottle shows solidarity with the suffering of the $1M + set that are W's base. Whatta guy!
vkobaya
· 1 year ago
At the AIG management shindigs, they only serve the high end wines in the $1,000.00+ range. Only the best for those AIG execs.
vkobaya
· 1 year ago
I don't believe it. Bush serving wine? Who is kidding who? Give me a break. Now I would believe he paid $500 a can for a case of Budweiser, plus, shipping and handling, tip for the truck driver, and bribe to Budweiser. This is the same dope who served Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth barbecued hot dogs. In fact, I'd think that $500 wine is a very poor choice to go with Oscar Meyer Chicken Franks. Give me a break. Bush getting smashed on wine? Besides, he's supposed to be on the wagon, no alcohol, only cocaine, heroin, opium, mephamphetamines, and, of course, pot.
Shafer Cabernet “Hillside Select” 2003. Ha! Makes me wonder how my $5.99 for 4 liters Carlo Rossi would go over at that dinner. To my plebian tastes it is passable with hot dogs and cheese, but the Burgundy is better with chili dogs. <g>
Indigo
· 1 year ago
Burgers and burgundry used to be a very stylish presentation for those outdoor semi-formal moments. Oh, wait . . . that was in the 70s! Gaud how time flies!
Dave of the Jungle
· 1 year ago
NINCOMPOOPASAURAS REX
triple7s
· 1 year ago
Judging form the looks of Bush's skin, it looks to me like he IS drinking again.
Bubbles
· 1 year ago
You know, three or four years ago my brother turned me on to Yellow Tail from Australia. I was buying this stuff for $5 a bottle (maybe less). You open the bottle, let it breath a little and its a great wine. I started bargaining hunting, and I found even better wines for similar prices. Soon all my friends were doing the same thing. If you read the book "the seeds of wealth" by Henry Hobson, you realize that the making of wine has become a fairly manageable science. And great wines are being grown all over the world now at incredibly low prices.
I've been in Korean now for going on 3 years because I couldn't get a job back home. I can't remember any of the other names of any of the other wines I used to drink. I'm too poor now to drink any. Maybe once a month I drink a couple of beers. For me the recession started in 2001, and the depression began in late 2003. I used to be a systems analyst and data base designer and worked as a consultant - usually for Fortune 500 type of firms. Even in down markets I had a good network and could normally get a job. However Bush kept bumping up the number of H1B visas - my age and my over education (degree in law) kept me from getting jobs in my old field ( I never passed the bar but never intended to.) First I went through my savings, then unemployment, then borrowed money. So now I live on about $2400 a month of which $1600 goes to service my debts. My life IS a depression. By the time things get better, if they ever get better, it looks like it will be too late for me in my life. If I bumped into Bush in an empty corridor, I'm not sure how I would react. Could be quite violent. Of course any one that simply survives Bush administration alive is fortunate. Hundreds of thousands have died because of him. So I shouldn't complain. Still the ruin and suffering that man has caused for almost no reason at all will stagger the imagination of historians.
anarchy
· 1 year ago
ahhh.. let them eat cake, right?
the shrub really looks like shit these days doesn't he!
I'll bet the bastard sleeps quite soundly, proud of his many "accomplishments"
I can't wait until he's trapped at his compound in Peru, unable to travel for fear of being picked up and sent to the Hague for a nice Nuremburg- style trial for his war crimes.
that goes double for the monster Dick Cheney!!
sullivan
· 1 year ago
I agree, he has been looking really bad lately! Do you think he is drinking or not sleeping? Oh hell,I don't care,I just want him out of there, NOW!!!
vkobaya
· 1 year ago
Do you think he is drinking or not sleeping?
Oh he's boozing alright, but it's not from a guilty conscience. As for sleeping, we've heard him say he sleeps well. One of the few times he isn't lying. Haven't you watched him smirking, sneering, laughing. He has no conscience.
Had a friend who raised dogs. Had one, Corey, that was a very nasty dog. Her daughter gave her a cockatiel and the damn dog was jealous. One day she came home and there were feathers and blood on the floor, no cockatiel. Corey was hiding under the kitchen table and wouldn't come out. That dog had a conscience despite its very vicious temperament. Bush would give himself away also, because he couldn't control his snearing, smirks and laughing. He doesn't have the morality of a dog.
cowboyneok
· 1 year ago
The Bu$h family is a prime example of why the estate tax should be STEEPER. All we ever hear from Republicans is the "estate tax" is oh, so unfair, and should be abolished and called the "death tax." Think about it. If the estate tax had been high enough, we wouldn't have had to worry about the likes of George Dubya Bush because his distant relative who made all the money would have been forced to give back to the system that made him successful. Instead, we got stuck with a schmuck who was born on third base, and thought he hit a homerun. Republicans are a prime example of why we need to maintain our system of progressive taxation, and the so-called estate or what Republicans hatefully call the "Death Tax." In fact, Dubya is a good reason for the so-called "death tax" to be even higher. Lets ensure ultra-wealthy families have to pay back into the system before their idiot children gain too much power and influence! Support higher estate taxes!
Older_Wiser
· 1 year ago
Evidently the same thing going on this country (the wealthy getting the lion's share) is going on in China and India, too, from what I've just heard on CSPAN.
The average poor person in China lives on $2/day; in India, it's $1/day. Both countries have over a billion population.
I couldn't even cook enough grits or rice, with seasoning of some type, to feed myself every day for $1. One thing I will not skimp on is food in this crisis; we're frugal, but it costs at least $75/wk to feed 2 people on a balanced diet, and I cook everything from scratch. And we have no debt, except for the mortgage, but nothing saved, either.
okojo
· 1 year ago
$500 for a Cabernet??!? It is still pretty young to price that high, and there are probably two dozen or more cabernets that are cheaper and probably much better..
Now if the wine was Pinot Noir, I can slightly understand the price..
Most Winemakers would give their left ovary/testicle to have their wine served at a White House dinner, so either they got a super discount, or they would give them a couple cases in return for the publicity...
Instead of hubris and ignorance, I see this more as tacky...
renegademom
· 1 year ago
what's the matter with two buck chuck?
nicho
· 1 year ago
Party like it's 1789!
EllaDisenchanted
· 1 year ago
I hope they serve domestic wine at the Inauguration. I've already gone to Change.gov to make a few "American" suggestions. ;o))
GrMtGirl3
· 1 year ago
More and constant proof that Dubya is and has been totally out of touch with what is really going on and the plight of the American working class people . . . Born with the silver spoon: hard work, earning your way, and being without are unknowns for this pResident which in turn reflect his poor judgment in leading the Nation.
freshpaint
· 1 year ago
Would love to see a list of what's in the White House wine cellar -- we the citizens presumably own its contents, unless this was from a private cellar in the residence.
There are so many fantastic American wines -- even Illinois has a wine growing region -- perhaps Obama would like to feature American wines from different states and regions at his dinners -- and the great micro brews too.
These leaders get so dinnered-out, I can't imagine whatever Bush served them impressed. Just get the job done, or at least do no more harm until Obama can get blamed.
I notice from the menu: no arugula.
vkobaya
· 1 year ago
I was never so proud as the day I read that Bush Senior said even his mother couldn't make him eat broccoli. I love, love, love broccoli. <g>
EdNSted
· 1 year ago
Holy cow. When I want splurge on a bottle of nice Cabernet Sauvignon, I'll spend $25 on a bottle of Kendall-Jackson Grand Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. It may not be "the best" but it is consistently better than Cabernets costing twice as much. The 2001 vintage was superb and can still be purchased for around $35 a bottle. I guess I live in a small world.
The symbolism and irony here is amazing.
ms elyse
· 1 year ago
This is ridic, but not surprising after the G8 summit had that 18 course meal talking about world hunger. Remember that?
Lordwhorfin
· 1 year ago
Hi all,
I understand the general sense of outrage, but this is silly. Major meetings of heads of state in any country are going to involve good wines, and I suspect that the wines the mayor of Paris auctioned were far more valuable than this one. It was domestic, btw, Shafer Hillsides cab 2003. Also, of course they got it at a steep discount, and $500 is the retail sucker price, not the real price. I bow to no one in my loathing of Bush and his slimy administration, but this is a bit of a non-issue. The main problem is that 2003 Shafer Hillsides is not yet in any way ready to drink.
Symbolically there is always a disconnect at these events, vs. how the 'rest of the world' lives. I saw a very good play at the National in the 1980s ('Map of the World') that focused on these issues: one of the central points of the play was that the delegates to an aid conference ate ONE MEAL that was a single bowl of rice (in the midst of their usual conference wining and dining) and in a sense, that was MORE offensive because it was just window-dressing.
On the wine front, there are a lot of good opportunities to buy expensive wine for much less than sticker price: CostCo, a good local wine merchant who buys distribution lots about to expire, buying pre-release (which of course the WH does as well as leveraging an economy of scale).
disintegrator
· 1 year ago
Hey guys, I hate Bush as much as everyone else, but that price tag is bullshit. I work in the wine industry, and if you're paying more than $250 for a bottle of Hillside Select, you're getting seriously ripped off. A quick web search found it for $193.00 on http://www.frw.co.uk/ . So yeah, sensationalism much?
All Comments
Below are ECRI’s official recession calls in the past:
Feb. 6, 1990 by Geoffrey Moore. Lead-time = 6 months.
Mar. 26, 2001 by Anirvan Banerji. Lead-time = 0 months.
Mar. 21, 2008 by Lakshman Achuthan. Lead-time =?
My own speculation is that ECRI’s recession call is late this time around. There was solid evidence for a recession call in January 2008. Unfortunately, ECRI was hoping that rapid rate cuts by the Fed could help avert a recession. They did not realize that this particular recession, driven by a deflating credit bubble, would increase the time needed for monetary stimulus to work itself into the economy.
Hence, until NBER announces the official recession dates for this cycle, I will assume that it began in January 2008.
http://pickyinvestor.blogspot.com/2008/03/when-...
The recession started around this neighborhood 3 years ago...and the depression is settling in now.
P.S. The comments on that article blew me away...so many defenders of the pricey wine. Let them serve water, I'm sure for those readers, Bush could turn it into wine.
Not only the silverware, the plastic stuff too. Anything that isn't nailed down, welded, bolted and glued to the floor won't be left behind for Obama. But, of course, the biggest theft will be the empty Treasury. No the biggest loss will the the lives of sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, even friends and neighbors who won't be coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan. He stole those lives too.
Shafer Cabernet “Hillside Select” 2003. Ha! Makes me wonder how my $5.99 for 4 liters Carlo Rossi would go over at that dinner. To my plebian tastes it is passable with hot dogs and cheese, but the Burgundy is better with chili dogs. <g>
I've been in Korean now for going on 3 years because I couldn't get a job back home. I can't remember any of the other names of any of the other wines I used to drink. I'm too poor now to drink any. Maybe once a month I drink a couple of beers. For me the recession started in 2001, and the depression began in late 2003. I used to be a systems analyst and data base designer and worked as a consultant - usually for Fortune 500 type of firms. Even in down markets I had a good network and could normally get a job. However Bush kept bumping up the number of H1B visas - my age and my over education (degree in law) kept me from getting jobs in my old field ( I never passed the bar but never intended to.) First I went through my savings, then unemployment, then borrowed money. So now I live on about $2400 a month of which $1600 goes to service my debts. My life IS a depression. By the time things get better, if they ever get better, it looks like it will be too late for me in my life. If I bumped into Bush in an empty corridor, I'm not sure how I would react. Could be quite violent. Of course any one that simply survives Bush administration alive is fortunate. Hundreds of thousands have died because of him. So I shouldn't complain. Still the ruin and suffering that man has caused for almost no reason at all will stagger the imagination of historians.
the shrub really looks like shit these days
doesn't he!
I'll bet the bastard sleeps quite soundly,
proud of his many "accomplishments"
I can't wait until he's trapped at his
compound in Peru, unable to travel
for fear of being picked up and sent
to the Hague for a nice Nuremburg-
style trial for his war crimes.
that goes double for the monster
Dick Cheney!!
Oh hell,I don't care,I just want him out of there, NOW!!!
Oh he's boozing alright, but it's not from a guilty conscience. As for sleeping, we've heard him say he sleeps well. One of the few times he isn't lying. Haven't you watched him smirking, sneering, laughing. He has no conscience.
Had a friend who raised dogs. Had one, Corey, that was a very nasty dog. Her daughter gave her a cockatiel and the damn dog was jealous. One day she came home and there were feathers and blood on the floor, no cockatiel. Corey was hiding under the kitchen table and wouldn't come out. That dog had a conscience despite its very vicious temperament. Bush would give himself away also, because he couldn't control his snearing, smirks and laughing. He doesn't have the morality of a dog.
The average poor person in China lives on $2/day; in India, it's $1/day. Both countries have over a billion population.
I couldn't even cook enough grits or rice, with seasoning of some type, to feed myself every day for $1. One thing I will not skimp on is food in this crisis; we're frugal, but it costs at least $75/wk to feed 2 people on a balanced diet, and I cook everything from scratch. And we have no debt, except for the mortgage, but nothing saved, either.
Now if the wine was Pinot Noir, I can slightly understand the price..
Most Winemakers would give their left ovary/testicle to have their wine served at a White House dinner, so either they got a super discount, or they would give them a couple cases in return for the publicity...
Instead of hubris and ignorance, I see this more as tacky...
There are so many fantastic American wines -- even Illinois has a wine growing region -- perhaps Obama would like to feature American wines from different states and regions at his dinners -- and the great micro brews too.
These leaders get so dinnered-out, I can't imagine whatever Bush served them impressed. Just get the job done, or at least do no more harm until Obama can get blamed.
I notice from the menu: no arugula.
The symbolism and irony here is amazing.
I understand the general sense of outrage, but this is silly. Major meetings of heads of state in any country are going to involve good wines, and I suspect that the wines the mayor of Paris auctioned were far more valuable than this one. It was domestic, btw, Shafer Hillsides cab 2003. Also, of course they got it at a steep discount, and $500 is the retail sucker price, not the real price. I bow to no one in my loathing of Bush and his slimy administration, but this is a bit of a non-issue. The main problem is that 2003 Shafer Hillsides is not yet in any way ready to drink.
Symbolically there is always a disconnect at these events, vs. how the 'rest of the world' lives. I saw a very good play at the National in the 1980s ('Map of the World') that focused on these issues: one of the central points of the play was that the delegates to an aid conference ate ONE MEAL that was a single bowl of rice (in the midst of their usual conference wining and dining) and in a sense, that was MORE offensive because it was just window-dressing.
On the wine front, there are a lot of good opportunities to buy expensive wine for much less than sticker price: CostCo, a good local wine merchant who buys distribution lots about to expire, buying pre-release (which of course the WH does as well as leveraging an economy of scale).