|
|
Post by cardcounter on Feb 12, 2009 16:27:46 GMT -5
OTOH, without the stimuli that have been sent out, who knows what your grandchildren would be doing. For example, a collapse of the US economy also has big repurcussions on future generations. I completely agree. My comment was suppose to be rhetorical in nature. I do not even know if I will have grandchildren, let alone know what they will be doing. Can we agree with my statement that I hope the experiment works? |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2009 19:28:43 GMT -5
It sure doesn't help that the GOP (aka the Limbos) have no interest WHATSOEVER in working with the Dems. See Gregg's withdrawal for the latest example.
|
|
|
|
Post by hammer on Feb 13, 2009 15:38:14 GMT -5
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Those who do learn from history, and learn their lessons well, can avert catastrophe, and even profit on the margin.
Although this quote is not directly attributable to John Pierpont Morgan (JP Morgan), it does seem appropriate relative to our current financial mess, or disaster.
JP Morgan was an American Financier and Banker who was largely credited with saving the US Economy twice. The key components of his financial success were to identify toxic assets, round them up, then value them.
As Rome burned, Nero fiddled on. As our Government fiddles, TARP I and II, the MEGA stimulus bill, our economy burns up. The lesson is clear and precise, remove toxic assets from the banks and floor their value ASAP. Bush didn't get this, and Obama hasn't figured it out yet either.
Tiny bubbles make me happy, big bubbles make me sad. The tech bubble, the oil bubble, the real estate bubble, the no-news bubble. One doesn't fit exactly, but we know BIG bubbles usually lead to financial problems. The rise of a left wing press that skewered Bush and lapped up Obama; the rise of a right wing radio presence that skewered Obama, and loved (or at least tolerated) Bush. The job of the media is to serve as a watchdog to keep the political class in line. We have that responsibility too as citizens, but lately most of our trusted news sources have let us down.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2009 18:22:37 GMT -5
I still don't understand what they are doing with these "assets". That was the _original_ plan, right? To buy 'em up, get 'em off the books.
I agree about the news, especially cable news. Although left-wing media still seems more fact-based than the right-wing side (while the middle is just pure fluff). Maybe that's because the right-wing was in power, but I just don't see any out and out lies from MSNBC, Air America or Media Matters, to name just 3. Meanwhile, Fox and Rush just continue to shovel s*** at us.
|
|
|
|
Post by hammer on Feb 13, 2009 19:43:30 GMT -5
We all know that special interest groups court both the left and right hoping to win favor from both sides (or buy votes) when needed. I suspect that is the reason that no good toxic asset plan has been put in place. The other obvious issue is the expense, which now, after TARP I and II, and the MEGA stimulus, will seem prohibitive. The brilliance of JP Morgan is that he knew exactly what to do, and he was able to pull it off.
The fact that almost all of our news organizations have failed us and attempted to sell us an agenda-based sensationalized view of the world has left us common folk without the necessary ammunition to understand the ineptness of our elected officials. We need journalists/reporters/analysts/editors that sincerely don't trust politicians and ask the biting questions that reveal the true state of the nation.
|
|
|
|
Post by cardcounter on Feb 13, 2009 20:03:52 GMT -5
I still don't understand what they are doing with these "assets". That was the _original_ plan, right? To buy 'em up, get 'em off the books. but I just don't see any out and out lies from MSNBC I really like your volleyball comments, Ruffda..... But if you don't see any lies or distortions coming from Keith Olbermann, there is nothing I could say that would be of value to you on political matters. I am not a Republican; far from it. I was against almost everything President Bush did for eight years, but I do recognize that MSNBC on the left along with Fox on the right greatly distort facts to the point where they are no longer facts. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2009 21:37:07 GMT -5
Distortions, I can see. Bile, I can see. Lies? I don't see Olbermann as a liar. And I do see him and Maddow as a necessary counterbalance to Rush et al. Comparing the two groups, there's no question in my mind who speaks something closer to truth.
As to the broader issue, just look at the latest from FOX. Once again, they are caught presenting GOP talking points as their own journalism. When does MSNBC do that?
I just can't write MSNBC off as the left-wing equivalent of FOX. They aren't. Hell, the right-wing wants to write the Times and the Post off as left-wing lackeys. What a joke.
What everyone needs to realize is hammer's broader point: the PURPOSE of journalists is to dig for the truth, especially if the ruling powers are claiming to speak the truth. They are our representatives. We need to count on them to dig. That's why their complicity in the Irag fiasco is so damning.
|
|
|
|
Post by bucky415 on Feb 14, 2009 0:34:19 GMT -5
I agree that journalists need to work harder to produce real news about what is actually happening. It is too bad that so many "news" shows these days seem to be people yelling louder than others to promote some type of ideological agenda.
I am reminded of the NY Times coverage of Vietnam, especially prior to the major commitment of US forces. Page one would have McNamara or another administration official saying something about Vietnam, because he was a major figure and what he said was news. The strange thing was that on page 7, or on the editorial page, there would be Times reporters on the ground writing something that often differed from what McNamara was saying. Because of the misrepresentations by policy makers in that era, journalists went away from giving so much credence to "official" sources. It would be too bad if they went away from that, because they did present a clearer picture what was happening most of the time.
The other thing is that I wish that people would to credible sources for straight news, not commentary. I keep hearing NRA supporters say Obama is going to take their guns or tax ammunition excessively. My point that the Supreme Court backed individual gun ownership in a ruling last year, preventing Obama from threatening gun ownership directly, falls on deaf ears. I doubt that even if he appointed new justices that the Court would want to rehear that type of case anytime soon. Also, I doubt that Obama has actually said that he wants to take away people's guns. If the Chicago Tribune, for example, reported that he said that, I would believe it, but no one has shown me that citation, if it in fact exists.
|
|
|
|
Post by OverAndUnder on Feb 16, 2009 0:51:53 GMT -5
Government is "broke" because people are broken.
No system can solve all the problems of imperfect humanity.
In the last fifty years this country has become very self-righteously evangelistic about being "the leader of the free world" and "a country whose most important export is democracy", but in fact freedom and democracy are not mutually inclusive situations. The governments of Hugo Chavez, Robert Mugabe, Adolf Hitler, and recently Hamas in Palestine, were all democratically elected.
breaking like dolls
singing like birds
we always get what we deserve
|
|
