Wise Words on our Economic Situation
….“Screw you, I’ve got mine” only works when you really have got yours, and very, very few Americans do. I sure as hell don’t, and that’s why I’m not willing to buy into your revenge fantasy at the possible expense of the very same economy which allows me to have shelter and food. The funniest thing is, many of these very same rich assholes do have theirs, and would love nothing more than for your kind of self-centered nonsense to wreck the economy so that they can come ‘round to pocket all of the pieces.“
– vorfeed (metafilter)
Is this complicated?
I think we could also do a better job of explaining that it’s not $700 billion just being given away. We may make money on he deal. Or, at the very least, the financial industry can be made to reinburse the taxpayers via legislation that “recoups from the financial industry an amount equal to the shortfall in order to ensure that the Troubled Asset Relief Program does not add to the deficit or national debt.”
It is not perfect, but the amount of demagoguery against the plan is not justified given the alternative, in my opinion.
Quite right.
You’re right, there does need to be a better explanation of what exactly Wall Street needs. But I’ve got another good idea, Wall Street and the Fed should show a little gratitude for the money. All I’ve heard so far are »
Is this complicated?
I think we could also do a better job of explaining that it’s not $700 billion just being given away. We may make money on he deal. Or, at the very least, the financial industry can be made to reinburse the taxpayers via legislation that “recoups from the financial industry an amount equal to the shortfall in order to ensure that the Troubled Asset Relief Program does not add to the deficit or national debt.”
It is not perfect, but the amount of demagoguery against the plan is not justified given the alternative, in my opinion.
Quite right.
You’re right, there does need to be a better explanation of what exactly Wall Street needs. But I’ve got another good idea, Wall Street and the Fed should show a little gratitude for the money. All I’ve heard so far are veiled threats »
Is unemployment high? Yes.
Are people losing their homes? Yes.
Does that mean the entire economy will crash, if we can keep our wits about us and not engage in bank-running among other illogical and impractical activities?
I’m not convinced.
(via brianconley)
You forgot retirement funds, 401ks and the like have been damaged quite a bit in this whole mess. I’m no economist but I’d say people loosing their homes, jobs, and retirement funds says pretty clearly that the country is going through a rough spot right now.
May you live in interesting times.
Reputed to be the English translation of an ancient Chinese proverb and curse.
(wiki)
(wiki)
Letterman hammers McCain for canceling.
This is what happens McCain, when you cross a comedian.
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
What are you going to do if you’re elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We’ve got a guy like that now!
David Letterman (via claytoncubitt)
Breaking News: John McCain suspends campaigning to work on economy, requests postponing Friday debate; asks Obama do the same.
No, dickwad. How about you go head to head with Obama and explain why you are more suited to run this country, including your plan for the economy, instead.
This is such a bullshit political grandstanding move it makes me want to vomit.
Obama should just debate an empty podium, pausing often to talk about how punctuality is one of the most important Presidential qualities. (jon_kill)
Good ol’ reliable MetaFilter.
Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1
“Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to let the National Guard come home and do this, isn’t it what they were trained for?
Bush at Sheraton
Tons of police block frozen and the police here have no sense of humor
Are you surprised? Did you expect them to have a sense of humor? More to the point, how did you find out that they have no sense of humor?
That’s just one of jeff’s many talents!
Indecision
The worst part about being in the opening stages of a financial meltdown is not knowing whether you should be buying gold, or shotguns and canned food.
uhmmm duh, both!
PS you don’t already have your shotgun? you don’t need more than a couple. And you forgot stocking up on ammo.
Shotgun? WTF. You should be buying an M16-A2 with attached M203 grenade launcher.
You should be getting people long before they get close enough for a shotgun to be effective. If you must have a shotgun, pick up an M1014 combat shotgun.
Shotgun was angus’ choice. I’ prefer the kalashnikov personally. Sure it has some aiming problems, but 1. you can get over that and 2. i doubt it will be an issue except against folks with military training, and i don’t »
David Lean waited for a year for the right storm to show up for this scene from Ryan’s Daughter. Motion Fucking Pictures.
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
Bailouts, whether water or currency…
Continuing the domestic metaphors, how many times do you bail your kid out before (s)he has to deal with the world on his/her own?
De-regulate or extricate, but not both. Or if we do extricate the banks from their financial crisis, let’s not give them the car keys without oversight again.
Oversight? Wall Street didn’t just have a little fender bender, that’s what they tried to tell us with the Bear Sterns deal. No, Wall Street is calling us in the middle of the night after totalling his new car, drunk and expecting us to post bail. Well, I say this is a time for tough love, leave Wall Street in the drunk tank, we’ll be down to pick him up in the morning.
Let Wall Street ride his bike to school for the rest of the year, he’s proven that he »
Stephen Chow to Direct, Star as Kato in The Green Hornet with Seth Rogen!
Stephen Chow to Direct, Star as Kato in The Green Hornet with Seth Rogen!
Holy crap! How did I miss this news over the weekend? This movie just went from being potentially awful to be potentially amazing. Seth Rogan working with ‘Kung fu Hustle’ director Stephen Cho is a pairing I’m truly excited to see on screen together. This will make ‘The Green Hornet’ Chow’s American directing debut. I have so much more faith in this movie now knowing Stephen Chow is directing and not someone from the Apatow camp.
(via:slashfilm)
The script is written by Rogen, but directed by Chow, who’s also staring!? as Kato?! Forget the watchmen, The Green Hornet is going to be the next great comic film.
‘Revolutionary Road’ Trailer
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, plus it’s directed by Sam Mendes, this looks incredible.
This really reminds me of Mad Men, visually and thematically. While I mean that in a good way, I hope Mendes can tackle the subject of conformity without repeating himself. Has anyone read this book? I’d be curious to hear peoples thoughts.
We’ve Socialized Risk, Why Not Profit?
Are you notified every year how to claim your pro rata share of the US Treasury’s income? I didn’t think so. You pay into it, and you get your share back via services and stability. Same deal here.
What Mike said, but also, of all these deals (Bear Stearns, Fanny/Freddie, AIG), the only one where the entity has been actually taken over by the government is Fannie and Freddie, and that was always a quasi-public entity anyway. (Though if you want to talk scandal, we could talk about the fact that Fannie and Freddie’s debts are not being counted against the deficit!) The others are like, as Rachel put it, a student loan—we’re giving money to someone who wouldn’t be able to get a loan otherwise in order to accomplish a social good, »