In the final days of the election many Republicans seem to have given up the fight for power. But don't be fooled: that doesn't mean they are relaxing. If you want to see real Republican elbow grease, check out the energy going into chucking great chunks of the $700bn bail-out out the door. At a recent Senate banking committee hearing, the Republican Bob Corker was fixated on this task, and with a clear deadline in mind: inauguration. "How much of it do you think may be actually spent by January 20 or so?" Corker asked Neel Kashkari, the 35-year-old former banker in charge of the bail-out.
When European colonialists realised that they had no choice but to hand over power to the indigenous citizens, they would often turn their attention to stripping the local treasury of its gold and grabbing valuable livestock. If they were really nasty, like the Portuguese in Mozambique in the mid-1970s, they poured concrete down the elevator shafts.
Nothing so barbaric for the Bush gang. Rather than open plunder, it prefers bureaucratic instruments, such as "distressed asset" auctions and the "equity purchase program". But make no mistake: the goal is the same as it was for the defeated Portuguese - a final, frantic looting of the public wealth before they hand over the keys to the safe.
How else to make sense of the bizarre decisions that have governed the allocation of the bail-out money? When the Bush administration announced it would be injecting $250bn into US banks in exchange for equity, the plan was widely referred to as "partial nationalisation" - a radical measure required to get banks lending again. Henry Paulson, the treasury secretary, had seen the light, we were told, and was following the lead of Gordon Brown.
In fact, there has been no nationalisation, partial or otherwise. American taxpayers have gained no meaningful control over the banks, which is why the banks are free to spend the new money as they wish. At Morgan Stanley, it looks as if much of the windfall will cover this year's bonuses. Citigroup has been hinting it will use its $25bn buying other banks, while John Thain, the chief executive of Merrill Lynch, told analysts: "At least for the next quarter, it's just going to be a cushion." The US government, meanwhile, is reduced to pleading with the banks that they at least spend a portion of the taxpayer windfall for loans - officially, the reason for the entire programme.
What, then, is the real purpose of the bail-out? My fear is this rush of dealmaking is something much more ambitious than a one-off gift to big business: that the Bush version of "partial nationalisation" is rigged to turn the US treasury into a bottomless cash machine for the banks for years to come. Remember, the main concern among the big market players, particularly banks, is not the lack of credit but their battered share prices. Investors have lost confidence in the honesty of the big financial players, and with good reason.
This is where the treasury's equity pays off big time. By purchasing stakes in these financial institutions, the treasury is sending a signal to the market that they are a safe bet. Why safe? Not because their level of risk has been accurately assessed at last. Not because they have renounced the kind of exotic instruments and outrageous leverage rates that created the crisis. But because the market will now be banking on the fact that the US government won't let these particular companies fail. If they get themselves into trouble, investors will now assume that the government will keep finding more cash to bail them out, since allowing them to go down would mean losing the initial equity investments, many of them in the billions. (Just look at the insurance giant AIG, which has already gone back to taxpayers for a top-up, and seems likely to ask for a third.)
This tethering of the public interest to private companies is the real purpose of the bail-out plan: Paulson is handing all the companies admitted to the programme - a number potentially in the thousands - an implicit treasury department guarantee. To skittish investors looking for safe places to park their money, these equity deals will be even more comforting than a triple-A from Moody's rating agency.
Insurance like that is priceless. But for the banks, the best part is that the government is paying them to accept its seal of approval. For taxpayers, on the other hand, this entire plan is extremely risky, and may well cost significantly more than Paulson's original idea of buying up $700bn in toxic debts. Now taxpayers aren't just on the hook for the debts but, arguably, for the fate of every corporation that sells them equity.
Interestingly, mortgage fund giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both enjoyed this kind of unspoken guarantee before they were nationalised at the start of this crisis. For decades the market understood that, since these private players were enmeshed with the government, Uncle Sam could be counted on to always save the day. It was, as many have pointed out, the worst of all worlds. Not only were profits privatised while risks were socialised, but the implicit government backing created powerful incentives for reckless business practices.
With the new equity purchase programme Paulson has taken the discredited Fannie and Freddie model and applied it to a huge swath of the private banking industry. Again, there is no reason to shy away from risky bets, especially since the treasury has made no such demands of the banks (apparently it doesn't want to "micromanage".)
To further boost market confidence, the federal government has also unveiled unlimited public guarantees for many bank deposit accounts. Oh, and as if this were not enough, the treasury has been encouraging the banks to merge, ensuring that the only institutions left will be "too big to fail", thereby guaranteed a bail-out. In three ways, the market is being told loud and clear that Washington will not allow the financial institutions to bear the consequences of their behaviour. This may be Bush's most creative innovation: no-risk capitalism.
There is a glimmer of hope. In answer to Senator Corker's question, the treasury is indeed having trouble dispersing the bail-out funds. So far it has requested about $350bn of the $700bn, but most of this hasn't yet made it out the door. Meanwhile, every day it becomes clearer that the bail-out was sold to the public on false pretences. Clearly, it was never really about getting loans flowing. It was always about doing what it is doing: turning the state into a giant insurance agency for Wall Street, a safety net for the people who need it least, subsidised by the people who will most need state protections in the economic storms ahead.
This duplicity is a political opportunity. Whoever wins on November 4 will have enormous moral authority. It should be used to call for a freeze on the dispersal of bail-out funds, not after the inauguration but right away. All deals should be renegotiated, this time with the public getting the guarantees.
It is risky, of course, to interrupt the bail-out process. Nothing could be riskier, however, than allowing the Bush gang their parting gift to big business - the gift that will keep on taking.
"On the revenue side, both the parties agreed that Islamabad would collect taxes equal to 10.2 per cent of the total size of the economy"
Inflation in Pakistan is hovering around 25 per cent and the interest rate is 13 per cent. The IMF sought from Pakistan to jack up the rate to curtail inflation and give better return to depositors to encourage saving culture"
What KILLs me is this:
"curtail inflation and give better return to depositors to encourage saving culture"
wtf
"The United States enjoys the majority voting rights on the IMF Board of Directors."
So you have a condition of pushing credit in the US but asking others to live within their means.
God I can't wait until this election is over and CalculatedRisk can be rid of the deep, intellectual political discourse that its been blessed with lately.
Anyone know anything more about the KSE stock floor? as in when it is going to be listed or their next scheme they have planned?
I am absolutely amazed the implemented that price floor; I can't see how it can do anything but crash once it's lifted; I assume they will roll it back in steps' so the headlines will be muted. But going from 400 million shares a day, now down to 223 thousand or something.....there must be some angst and pent up demand. Can't wait to see how this chapter ends and the next one begins. So post up if you know of anything or if you have level 2 market access, I would love to know the bid/ask ratio.
"And the Chinese, who are now building a coal plant every week to keep pace with energy demand -- are looking for every way possible to produce more power."
"Grimy? Tell that to our European friends who are inking long-term, lucrative, contracts with US coal producers right now. Since energy-hungry China snatched Europes coal out from under them, Europe is scrambling for our "grimy" coal. US coal is a good deal despite the high transport coats of shipping tons of it across the Atlantic. And our US coal producers are shipping coal out of our Pacific ports to you guessed it China. Our cheap, high-grade, abundant coal is more than a national treasure our coal exports are a cash machine for astute energy investors."
Pakistan's gross domestic product, as measured by purchasing power parity (PPP), is estimated to be US$475.4 billion while its per capita income (PCI) stands at $2,942.
By any standard this is a huge injection.
This is how it might play out:
IMF send three installments to total 9B.
Central Bank takes 25% exchange fee. and government takes 25% admin fee. Banks which need money pay stated exchange rates set by the Central Bank which reduces the amount a further 10%. Banks cover off the handeling and distibution and take a 20% fee.
There 20% of the 9B makes it way into the economy. Thirty percent of which has already been slated for military and police.
10 months later a dozen or so officials fly to London and buy a very nice house and live happy ever after.
As long as Israel has hundreds of nukes, there's no reason Pakistan, Iran, or any other Western/Central Asian country shouldn't. The region should be a nuclear free zone, as has been proposed at the U.N. and rejected by the U.S. & Israel for decades.
"Due to the world Financial crisis of 20072008, Pakistan could be the next nation after Iceland which stands at the brink of bankruptcy. Pakistan needs $100 bill. of support from outside to withstand this crisis"
-"DENMARK. Copenhagen-based low-cost carrier Sterling Airways has filed for bankruptcy and cancelled all of its operations, leaving thousands of passengers stranded across Europe. The company is owned by Northern Travel Holdings of Iceland, which blamed the meltdown of Icelands financial system for its collapse."
-"Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, accused Iceland's Trade Minister of misleading him about the health of the country's banks in a telephone conversation at the height of Iceland's financial crisis. But a transcript of the conversation, revealed last night on Iceland's state-owned television channel RUV, undermined Mr Darling's claim that Iceland had refused to honour its commitment to protect British savers."...flaming weasel...these Brit officials are as bad as Paulson
-"It would be surprising if Iceland did not explore EU membership when the worst uncertainty has passed. Two thirds of Icelanders now want that, and even more business people want the euro. At a Reykjavik conference this week on whether small countries could maintain their own currency (resounding answer "No"), many economists argued that euro membership would not have prevented the crisis. But it would remove the risk and expense of trying to stabilise a vulnerable currency.
Haarde has argued that the benefits of joining the EU are less than the costs, such as the possible sacrifice of the 200-mile fishing zone. Iceland has managed its stocks well, where the EU Common Fisheries Policy has failed. But some officials quietly suggest that fishing (now only several per cent of the economy) might be negotiable, if the EU could make concessions."
If Pakistan ever uses a nuke, it will be against other Pakistanis. They are too valuable to waste on outside enemies.
Tom Bombadil | 10.31.08 - 5:21 pm | #
Nope, they will use it on India, and India will use their nukes on Pakista
My guess is Mexico is next or soon. Their oil production is dropping and so is the price. Double whammy with the third strike being dropping remittences.
"General Motors Corp. told its U.S. dealers that the company was only halfway to its October goal for sales to consumers, with just one day left in the month.
The so-called retail sales totaled 89,961 vehicles through yesterday, compared with a target of 175,989, the Detroit-based company said in charts sent to dealers today. With one day left in September, the largest U.S. automaker had reached 80 percent of its goal, according to the charts."
How many people buy cars on Halloween? I'm thinking not many...
Brains Way
B:Pinky, are you pondering what Im pondering?
P:Wuh, I think so, Brain, but how will we get both Pakistan and India into one pair of Capri pants?
Pakistan should peel off a few thousand and go to LLBean and buy some tents for those earthquake victims who are now homeless in the cold.
Hungary and Poland are in big trouble...but Switzerland is said to have major mortgage exposure to Eastern Europe.
Could Switzerland be in trouble too?
Iceland, Hungary, Ukraine and Pakistan ... the list is growing.
Of course we all realize that the only reason the US isn't on that list is that we've convinced others that our money is better than anyone else's and that we can print as much of it as we need.
After serious high level consultation with my top economic level advisors in ACORN and the community organizers from the south side of Chicago the new tax increase floor is $24k.
Don't be silly. Obama understands that the Republicans got their tax cuts through by giving sops to the middle class while the rich got fortunes. When the tax increases Bush committed us to finally happen, they'll be just like Obama's current changes - increases for the top 5% and decreases for everybody else.
The long term outcome of the tax class war the Republicans started up will be essentially no taxes for 70% of the population and high taxes for the top 5%.
"October 31, 2008 (Computerworld) WASHINGTON -- A Virginia-based IT company will pay nearly $1.7 million to 343 employees holding H-1B visas under a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor.
The Labor Department, in an announcement yesterday, said that Globalcynex Inc. in Sterling, Va., had not paid the employees their required wages from March 2005 through March 2007. Moreover, the Labor Department said H-1B workers were charged training fees of $1,000 to $2,500 in violation of the law.
If the settlement were split evenly among all 343 employees, they would get nearly $5,000 each.
The settlement is one of the largest of its kind involving the H-1B program. A recent internal study by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) suggests that problems with the visa program are widespread. The study, based on an examination of about 250 H-1B users, concluded that as many as one in five H-1B applications involve fraud or the use of inaccurate data that is in technical violation."
I missed Dr Greedspuns lecture on how to clean up an asset bubble after it pops rather than letting the air out at the beginning. This mess only happened after he left the FED so lets get him back to fix this up chop chop. Everyone says he is a genius so he should have the world economy back up and humming in no time. Why hasn't anyone suggested this before?
[curious writes:
I hope i don't need to explain the term 'racism']
No sir. I think it's more like skepticism.
However, if you happened to get the opportunity to enjoy first hand up close the first day of the early '90s LA riots, I don't think you would be too surprised how quickly an opening can be exploited.
CSC, I am afraid you are being a little myopic. We live in an era of instant gratification.
Even in event that there's not a McCain win, that won't diminish the desire for FREE 50INCH PLASMA TVS. No one will want to wait for 2009 for free stuff.
Fifth Third agreed to assume all the deposits for a premium of 1.16 percent. In addition to assuming the failed bank's deposits, Fifth Third will purchase approximately $36 million of assets.
Some people choose to seek their favorite -ism everywhere. So if a woman is involved, the only motivation is sexism, Israel, anti-semitism, etc...
It neuters the terms and makes it appear as if there is no real problem, since most of it is simply name-calling.
It is you who makes these things about race. Some people disagree with Obama for entirely different reasons. I guess you can't comprehend getting beyond it, eh?
The paid posters for McCain are out in force today. The missing billions to AIG? A few million diverted to pro republican activism? Why not?
Pssssssst The anti Obama handles are a little over the top. Use something ordinary like you are a regular person and your message is much more palatable.
"CSC, you want anti-Semites, just wait until Obama brings his Farrakhan buddies in."
Atleast you're a bit more subtle than most of the right-wing zealots with the whole Obama is a Muslim in drag insinuations.
In the future I would drop the Farrakhan reference though as most of the knuckle-dragging, pabst swilling, god-fearing, "real" Americans you hang with probably have no idea who Farrakhan is.
Just replace Farrakhan with "them" or "those terrorists".
This emerging country debt issue may do to European banks what mortgage debt has done to American ones.
Iceland, Hungary, Pakistan, the Baltic
states are small beer though.What happens if the big Enchiladas start to go bust? Mexico, Turkey, Brazil and South Korea are far further up on the geo-political-financial Richter scale.
With the national authorities in the developed world fully involved in saving their own economies there will probably be inadequate resources left
to cope with collapsing economies in the Third World.
I recall a Russian proverb that went like this- When you live next to the graveyard you can't weep for everyone-however, like the 'Living Dead' of that low budget horror movie, the cadavers of failed third world countries are unlikely to remain in their graves.
As a white guy I never fully understood this whole fear of being screwed by the Black man. How is it any different from being screwed by the White man.
I'm already getting screwed by the Man. Why does his color make any difference. Worst comes to worst I'm still gonna get screwed, and maybe things will turn out better than what I'm getting right now.
Funny how the enlightened social elite here so keenly spotted a heist by the banksters early, are so naive as to believe a hustler even when there are more contradictions than accomplishments.
He's pretty good. There no telling how much re can accomplish, as he dazzles the dupes.
"Funny how the enlightened social elite here so keenly spotted a heist by the banksters early, are so naive as to believe a hustler even when there are more contradictions than accomplishments."
What makes you think that people don't see Obama as a hustler and yet are STILL willing to vote for him?
I've had 8 years of being bent over a barrel and I'm willing to take a chance.
I recall many 'white racist' Republicans being for Alan Keyes. Unfortunately for Keyes, not many Illinois blacks were for him otherwise we might be talking about Keyes being the first genuine black president instead of the half caste from Indonesia.
Pissed Off In California writes:
As a white guy I never fully understood this whole fear of being screwed by the Black man. How is it any different from being screwed by the White man.
Well it's true that The Man screws us, and it doesn't really matter White Man or Black Man. They're all the man.
But I would feel less violated if Ron Paul were The Man. He'd still screw me, because that's what The Man does. But Paul would screw me gently and he would stop as soon as he got his nut.
The other Men seem like they would try to prolong things and savagely work over my orifices until they were useless before humiliating me in the end.
I'm gonna be someone's bitch dude. I want someone with a slow hand.
Damn Swiss, I sure hope that they don't seize my gold to buck up UBS and CS.
Comrade-Dope jg
JG,
if you're serious, I will try to find more Swiss info.
My nephew married in Poland and owns an apartment in Cracow. His stories of the RE madness there, mainly by Brits and Germans, sounds like the Inland Empire redux. The Swiss let folks borrow mortgage money denominated in yen, among other things. Very nutsy.
Oh, and beachfront on the Dalmation Coast...bid skyhigh by the usual suspects...Scandos, Germans and Brits. Will be a mess. Guaranteed.
You are wrong. I'd be ecstatic to see Michael Steele as President (as long as he is a true small government guy). Or, Thomas Sowell.
I have no stomach for socialists, though.
And, I have now learned that, down under, the Rockefeller Republican crowd -- Bush, McCain -- are socialists. Moderate socialists, but socialists nonetheless.
I already expected Obama to be a very effective president based on his resources coming in. But seeing the opposition makes me even more confident. The opposition is accusing him of being or associating with "bad guys" - blacks, socialists, Muslims, Palestinians, etc. What they don't understand is that in a monster crisis - which is what we're heading into - group affiliations change. The stereotypes of the ancien regime are changing as we speak. The invective they hurl today will be compliments tomorrow. They don't understand why their invective worked and they will be shocked and defenseless when it fails.
"No need for real or created Muslim intimations when you have Reverend Wright for your spiritual advisor and Bill Ayers as your friend.
The south side of Chicago is DIFFERENT. Big chips on their shoulders, amongst many of the blacks there. What a whiner Michelle Obama is."
Where's the socialism aspect? All I see is Black and Muslim.
Then you follow-up with it's actually socialism you're against.
If it's socialism you're against then why wasn't that what you were talking about at the beginning?
"I have no stomach for socialists, though.
And, I have now learned that, down under, the Rockefeller Republican crowd -- Bush, McCain -- are socialists. Moderate socialists, but socialists nonetheless.
Obama is a hardcore socialist."
So which is it you're against. Socialists or Blacks?
Well the good news for either McCain or Obama people is that world is on speed these days.
As I recall Obama began his quest for the White House as the 'anti-war' in Iraq candidate though he never mentions that issue anymore.
McCain, in true GOP fashion, just figured it was his turn to run and was also speaking about Iraq in those long ago days.
Speaks volumes about both candidates lack of qualifications for the office that neither saw the freight train coming down the tracks as they fought for the nomination, though McCain turns out to have been 'right' about Iraq and Obama wrong.
The question now is who can best manage a world heading towards a real precipice. Don't think for a minute that the rest of the world is going to stop and let the next president 'concentrate' on the economy. Reality isn't like that and events are in the driver's seat now.
Obama might become the first real 'war' president since Roosevelt and it will be interesting to see, should he become president, how his 'base' reacts to the real commitment of US military power, not some third world police actions.
If the posters here represent investors sentiments, then I wanna see a riot...on Wall Street. Let them white boys do it the manly way...tank the market.
Suits me...I'm ready to reload my shorts.
Yes, fried, I just read this morning that the Hungarians used CHF-denominated mortgages to save on interest expense. I had no idea.
I took an international mortgage finance class a few years ago. The run-up in eastern European markets is crazy. The same is true with Spain and Ireland. Totally off the charts, a true rocket.
What everyone in the class was pretty astounded at was the different currencies that these were being denominated in vs where the cash was coming from.
Some times the interest rate was based of libor, some times off something from Switzerland. (not many floating rate notes tho)
As mentioned above usually a guy from France would get a loan in Prague that he had to pay for with euros.
Everyone was like is that guy nuts? They did offer loans in France for places in Prague but the rates werent nearly as good because the banks were concerned.
Now a days everyone is a currency expert and can predict macro cycles and make money /end snark
Geopolitically, the issue in the Persian Gulf is Iran, always has been.
We have been faced with a war in the region ever since the Shah fell and that was on Jimmy Carter's watch. We won't have stability in the Gulf until
the US and Iran re-establish a strategic partnership.
Iraq was 'right' to the extent you believe, as the 'left' once did, that the use of American military power to remove criminal regimes was justified.
I didn't hear anyone in the Democrat
party weeping over the removal of Raul
Cedras in Haiti or Milosevic in Serbia. Why they were so upset over Bush II going after Saddam is confusing but in geopolitical terms the US does have powerful ground forces now in both Iraq and Afghanistan which is not an unimportant factor in a 'world on speed'.
Unit,
Our forces are now worn thin...we need them home for R and R for a couple of years at least. Plus, reports in MSM that if the agreement with Iraq isn't done by Jan 1, US troops in Iraq could be prosecuted under war crimes law. We need to get our forces out of Iraq and Afghanistan and let them handle their own problems for a while.
I wish Obama were a Muslim. Maybe we'd get some good old fashioned polygamy here in the repressive, unfree US of A. I'd be down with a few more wives in my Harem.
The last thing I'd want is a Fundy. Doors locked, lights out, missionary procreative sex only is worse than being stoned to death for drawing God.
The Chinese are going to be hungry. What happens when your stock market collapses and your food supply is poison and you're already on political thin-ice?
"Our forces are worn thin" is political sloganeering. Ask the world's generals if they would like to send their troops up against the only army in the world with REAL combat experience with the caveat that both British and Canadian military forces have also been tried under fire.
If the US military can be 'worn out' by what is, in historical terms, a small colonial war, then heaven help us. The world's generals remember 'two
weeks to Baghdad' the military illiterates invent 'worn out' military. Was the German Army 'worn out' by D-Day? The Japanese on Iwo or Okinawa?
Now, lets get back to thread which is the imminent meltdown of a number of third world nations. The war is in the future and if it happens how it happens and where will largely be determined by how this economic meltdown shakes out.
Look folks, it doesn't matter what candidate wins because events are in the driver's seat not men.
There isn't a snowball's chance in hades that we will have a traditional
US presidency in which the new president presents to the Congress a spending plan for the people's money.
We are in the process of unraveling the post WW2 world everyone of us has grown up in. It's over!
Economically, demographically and politically that world is as dead as the world of pre August 1914. We are in the midst of a cataclysm now and the next American president will react
to events, not shape them.
[Like, what is his real track record?
... You have actually given a decent, logical explanation of why one wouldn't vote for Obama]
He has a real background.
It includes community orgaizing on the South side of Chicago, 20 years in Rev Wright's anarchist racist church and a close association with a PLO leader.
Well I gotta go. My communist sympathizer Chinese wife (everyone knows Chinese are secret commies no matter how long ago they left the motherland) is on her way home.
Time to break out the little red book to do a bit of light reading.
My Mao cap and jacket or a bit dirty. I'll ask her to drop them off at the local dry-cleaner (run of course by a Chinese family).
Obama's record? Harvard Law School graduate. Voted (after much political wrangling) editor of the Harvard Law Review. This in itself is quite an achievement. Illinois State Senate. United States Senator. Brains? He's got'em. What's the problem?
No serious minded person is going to dispute that he's sharp. So are Milken, Ebers... Jeff Skilling & Ken Lay were "the smartest guys in the room". Then we should elect them, right ?
It's his character that's under scrutiny, for very good reasons.
No, Obama has credentials. Brains. Unlikely. He won't release his academic record and dimes to donuts he listed himself as black on his college applications despite being raised white ( or Muslim Indonesian) take your pick. I doubt you would give Bush credit for being brainy, despite his having a Harvard MBA and being a pilot of supersonic fighter interceptors.
My guess is Obama's SAT and LSAT scores might have been good enough to get into a mediocre state U and law
school were he to have applied as white rather than black.
To me this makes him a phony with a baritone voice. Why should the daughter of a middleclass white woman and a Kenyan of some standing be entitled to affirmative action? If he wasn't then why won't he release his academic records? Most Columbia grads would have very impressive admission tests scores. Better than the lousy 1290 I got in the pre pre SAT testing days.
RR- sorry, he doesn't strike me as a shyster. Maybe I'm naive. I'm always willing to admit to that. Whatev- link doesn't work. However, as your moniker suggests, I'm not sure anything I had to say would change your mind.
Why won't Sarah Palin? I'm sure those are mighty impressive. Also, her medical records.
McCain was at the bottom of the Naval Academy...needed his old man the Admiral to pull strings to get him into flight school.
Just like the shrub he relied on white affirmative action..having an old man with clout.
The comments should be shut down till after the election. This is painful stuff. Makes you lose whatever faith you may have had left in the civility and rationality of the American public.
Like anyone knew jack shit about Bush before 2000.
Not really true. Generally known that he was a business failure...and his Arlington stadium deal involved a real land grab under the guise of eminent domain to build adjacent retail.
Plenty of folks knew he was a party animal and that as governor of Texas, he was the happy executioner.
Course that last probably got him a lot of votes.
Palin is a Pentecostal in a church known to be strongly anti-semitic. And her hubby is a happy member of the secessionist party of Alaska.
Is that treason?
"We are in the process of unraveling the post WW2 world everyone of us has grown up in. It's over!
Economically, demographically and politically that world is as dead as the world of pre August 1914. We are in the midst of a cataclysm now and the next American president will react
to events, not shape them."
This is the most astute post I've read in this venue in some time. Add a bit of genetic engineering, nano-technology, robotics and you've hit the spot.
I think that the election, coming as a later chapter in the events of the past few months, is shaking everyone up. Over on another site, which happens to be Catholic and very conservative, some posters are saying that Obama is probably the anti-Christ, and that we are about to witness a Marxist take-over of the U.S.
Personally, I doubt that Obama is the anti-Christ, because then he'd be so plausible that these same conservatives would vote for him. At least twice.
Also, there's never been a mixed-race presidential candidate before (although people had their doubts about Harding), which is enough to give many of us half a nervous breakdown.
"Also, there's never been a mixed-race presidential candidate before (although people had their doubts about Harding), which is enough to give many of us half a nervous breakdown."
If mixed-race includes part Christian part Satan then I think we've already had a couple of mixed-race Presidents.
In regards to academic credentials. I'm not sure that Palin has released her academic records for all 6 Universities she went to. I could be wrong though, perhaps she released 1 or 2.
I'm still here Pavel. I think you're dead on about technology being as much a part, if not more, than politics.
In fact politics and politicians seem quite old fashioned.
I have been of the opinion that biotech would be to the 21st century what electronics were to the 20th.
While the biotech revolution in medicine has not yet happened ( and it may not as nature is not stupid and will not be fooled) it can still be used socially ( think IQ modification) or militarily ( and try not to think about that!) but it will happen.
I have to say, I listened to the Wright speech in it's entirety (might be still available on C-SPAN) and I found myself agreeing with his sentiments. Listen for yourself. The Muskegee (sp?) tests? The history of prejudice? Put yourself in their shoes. The blacks of this country have a legitimate grievance. That doesn't excuse their behavior in L.A. during the Rodney King riots. I was as sickened as anybody. But I also think times have changed. The last O.J. Simpson trial never raised an eyebrow.
Pissed off, there is a long and distinguished history of Vice Presidential dullards in American history.
Al Gore, e.g., flunked out of Divinity School! Dan Quayle was not known for his wit. George Bush Sr. was, like, Obama, all resume and know substance.
Spiro Agnew, seems to have had the highest verified IQ of all our modern
VP's, his being verified at 135. He was also a crook.
I think we actually no more about Sarah Palin's academic record than Obama's because the press made it their business to find out. I must say, I would be more comfortable with Sarah as president than either Obama or McCain because I subscribe to the W.F. Buckley theorem that it is better
to be governed by the first 2000 names in the Boston Telephone directory than the faculty of Harvard.
"I have been of the opinion that biotech would be to the 21st century what electronics were to the 20th."
It certainly looks that way now. Engineering the human germ line would result in a world we can hardly imagine. I can't believe it won't happen, though perhaps not in the US to start with. However, as they used to say about another technology, nature is the same everywhere.
If anything is holding it up besides the natural tempo of r&d, it's probably that no one has figured out how to make money out of it yet.
"...militarily ( and try not to think about that!) but it will happen."
Yes.
I spoke with the Director of the Institute for Human Morphology in Moscow years ago, then some years later had a chance to ask a question or two of Francis Collins of the Human Genome Project at a lecture.
They were trying to think about it. The Russian chuckled. Collins looked worried.
Pavel, what has me worried is that the adventures of biotech are not the sole adventures of governments.
Gaining a nuclear weapon is quite beyond the reach of any individual no matter what his wealth might be. It requires the active assistance of a government, or a least a clandestine organization, easily penetrated by or detected by traditional intelligence agencies.
That is not so with biotechnology. A man of quite modest means with the know-how or a man of great means with the desire could fund their own bio project and do so with little risk of detection.
"Pavel - please post a poem, old or new. Anything. Break the spell."
Almost anything I write would be off-topic here. This poem means peace in my own idiom:
THE KEY
Lady, the good ones were on their knees
They know you and adore you
Those with bones not steel who bend
Came forward
I saw you with a shopping cart
Wire and small wheels
Your clothing in the square pink bag
You kept your Babys diapers in
You wore a surplus wind-proof jacket
Deck shoes, and a billed blue hat
You wondered why the tilma was so small
When Juan Diegos covered to his knees
It covered him, and when the roses spilled
They saw your image there, and it was you
Beautiful Azteca woman
Not so worn out then
Your Son has risen from the tomb,
But since that day youve slept on many sidewalks
You come down from the hill of roses
Live poorly in the house of summer
The crèche He slept in has been folded up,
Such is your timid power,
In a little plastic bag you carry
Lady, good ones know it
The simple see you, magnificent your softness
Your summoned mercy, quick to answer anguish
For they can bend and have no pride
No keys but one
And with this key, one key
They open every door that leads to Him
You could walk through and though you wear a crown
You wait until the last have entered
I am not so poetic or smitten, having served in the US military in Panama and I apologize if my ancient poetry from those days offends but it went something like this:
I've beaten you and flayed you,
by the livin God that made you.
No, that was Rudyard though mine was equally self acusatory if less charitable to the maiden. I'll hold my tongue.
"Give them $1b for every nuke they turn over. What? No deal? Fine you obviously don't need the money then"
How about act of good will, like say the US cuts its 10,000 nuke arsenal in half? Oh yeah, and we could close a few of our 750+ military bases around the globe?
Though I've flogged you and I've flayed you, by the livin' God that made you, you're a better man than I am, Gunga Din! Rudyard Kipling -- Pavel's reference is to Our Lady, Mary, Queen of Heave
okay
Are you the only one here Barley?
turd.
Nostrovia,
Don't they eat ponies in Pakistan?
"Pakistan needs at least $4bn to avoid defaulting on its foreign debts"
So the solution is to give them $9 billion to send them deepter into debt?
"Iceland, Hungary, Ukraine and Pakistan ... the list is growing."
Pretty soon they're gonna use up all the money.
Knurd!
Nostrovia,
Why doesn't Pakistan just pass a bailout bill to bail itself out?
Give them $1b for every nuke they turn over. What? No deal? Fine you obviously don't need the money then.
Free money. But, if it is always free, don't that make it worthless?
I like that plan, Rob Dawg. A billion for each nuke.
Paulson had a bazooka. Pakistan has nuclear tipped LRM's.
That and a meeting in Dubai nets you nine billion.
Knurd!
Nostrovia,
NEWS news ALERT:
Fox News calls it for Obama
Greata to do election night voice over of honored rerun of the One infomercial.
ORielly names Obama patriot of the year.
Hannity and Colmes to be renamed Fantasy and Colmes.
"Rob Dawg writes:
Give them $1b for every nuke they turn over. What? No deal? Fine you obviously don't need the money then."
Um yeah, and throw in Bin Laden too.
OT, but a good article:
Naomi Klein The Guardian, Friday October 31 2008
In the final days of the election many Republicans seem to have given up the fight for power. But don't be fooled: that doesn't mean they are relaxing. If you want to see real Republican elbow grease, check out the energy going into chucking great chunks of the $700bn bail-out out the door. At a recent Senate banking committee hearing, the Republican Bob Corker was fixated on this task, and with a clear deadline in mind: inauguration. "How much of it do you think may be actually spent by January 20 or so?" Corker asked Neel Kashkari, the 35-year-old former banker in charge of the bail-out.
When European colonialists realised that they had no choice but to hand over power to the indigenous citizens, they would often turn their attention to stripping the local treasury of its gold and grabbing valuable livestock. If they were really nasty, like the Portuguese in Mozambique in the mid-1970s, they poured concrete down the elevator shafts.
Nothing so barbaric for the Bush gang. Rather than open plunder, it prefers bureaucratic instruments, such as "distressed asset" auctions and the "equity purchase program". But make no mistake: the goal is the same as it was for the defeated Portuguese - a final, frantic looting of the public wealth before they hand over the keys to the safe.
How else to make sense of the bizarre decisions that have governed the allocation of the bail-out money? When the Bush administration announced it would be injecting $250bn into US banks in exchange for equity, the plan was widely referred to as "partial nationalisation" - a radical measure required to get banks lending again. Henry Paulson, the treasury secretary, had seen the light, we were told, and was following the lead of Gordon Brown.
In fact, there has been no nationalisation, partial or otherwise. American taxpayers have gained no meaningful control over the banks, which is why the banks are free to spend the new money as they wish. At Morgan Stanley, it looks as if much of the windfall will cover this year's bonuses. Citigroup has been hinting it will use its $25bn buying other banks, while John Thain, the chief executive of Merrill Lynch, told analysts: "At least for the next quarter, it's just going to be a cushion." The US government, meanwhile, is reduced to pleading with the banks that they at least spend a portion of the taxpayer windfall for loans - officially, the reason for the entire programme.
What, then, is the real purpose of the bail-out? My fear is this rush of dealmaking is something much more ambitious than a one-off gift to big business: that the Bush version of "partial nationalisation" is rigged to turn the US treasury into a bottomless cash machine for the banks for years to come. Remember, the main concern among the big market players, particularly banks, is not the lack of credit but their battered share prices. Investors have lost confidence in the honesty of the big financial players, and with good reason.
This is where the treasury's equity pays off big time. By purchasing stakes in these financial institutions, the treasury is sending a signal to the market that they are a safe bet. Why safe? Not because their level of risk has been accurately assessed at last. Not because they have renounced the kind of exotic instruments and outrageous leverage rates that created the crisis. But because the market will now be banking on the fact that the US government won't let these particular companies fail. If they get themselves into trouble, investors will now assume that the government will keep finding more cash to bail them out, since allowing them to go down would mean losing the initial equity investments, many of them in the billions. (Just look at the insurance giant AIG, which has already gone back to taxpayers for a top-up, and seems likely to ask for a third.)
This tethering of the public interest to private companies is the real purpose of the bail-out plan: Paulson is handing all the companies admitted to the programme - a number potentially in the thousands - an implicit treasury department guarantee. To skittish investors looking for safe places to park their money, these equity deals will be even more comforting than a triple-A from Moody's rating agency.
Insurance like that is priceless. But for the banks, the best part is that the government is paying them to accept its seal of approval. For taxpayers, on the other hand, this entire plan is extremely risky, and may well cost significantly more than Paulson's original idea of buying up $700bn in toxic debts. Now taxpayers aren't just on the hook for the debts but, arguably, for the fate of every corporation that sells them equity.
Interestingly, mortgage fund giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both enjoyed this kind of unspoken guarantee before they were nationalised at the start of this crisis. For decades the market understood that, since these private players were enmeshed with the government, Uncle Sam could be counted on to always save the day. It was, as many have pointed out, the worst of all worlds. Not only were profits privatised while risks were socialised, but the implicit government backing created powerful incentives for reckless business practices.
With the new equity purchase programme Paulson has taken the discredited Fannie and Freddie model and applied it to a huge swath of the private banking industry. Again, there is no reason to shy away from risky bets, especially since the treasury has made no such demands of the banks (apparently it doesn't want to "micromanage".)
To further boost market confidence, the federal government has also unveiled unlimited public guarantees for many bank deposit accounts. Oh, and as if this were not enough, the treasury has been encouraging the banks to merge, ensuring that the only institutions left will be "too big to fail", thereby guaranteed a bail-out. In three ways, the market is being told loud and clear that Washington will not allow the financial institutions to bear the consequences of their behaviour. This may be Bush's most creative innovation: no-risk capitalism.
There is a glimmer of hope. In answer to Senator Corker's question, the treasury is indeed having trouble dispersing the bail-out funds. So far it has requested about $350bn of the $700bn, but most of this hasn't yet made it out the door. Meanwhile, every day it becomes clearer that the bail-out was sold to the public on false pretences. Clearly, it was never really about getting loans flowing. It was always about doing what it is doing: turning the state into a giant insurance agency for Wall Street, a safety net for the people who need it least, subsidised by the people who will most need state protections in the economic storms ahead.
This duplicity is a political opportunity. Whoever wins on November 4 will have enormous moral authority. It should be used to call for a freeze on the dispersal of bail-out funds, not after the inauguration but right away. All deals should be renegotiated, this time with the public getting the guarantees.
It is risky, of course, to interrupt the bail-out process. Nothing could be riskier, however, than allowing the Bush gang their parting gift to big business - the gift that will keep on taking.
Eventually they (IMF) run out of money too, right?
Painfull conditions:
"On the revenue side, both the parties agreed that Islamabad would collect taxes equal to 10.2 per cent of the total size of the economy"
Inflation in Pakistan is hovering around 25 per cent and the interest rate is 13 per cent. The IMF sought from Pakistan to jack up the rate to curtail inflation and give better return to depositors to encourage saving culture"
What KILLs me is this:
"curtail inflation and give better return to depositors to encourage saving culture"
wtf
"The United States enjoys the majority voting rights on the IMF Board of Directors."
So you have a condition of pushing credit in the US but asking others to live within their means.
IMF Endorses Pakistan’s Home-Grown Economic Stabilisation Package
Make Pakistan the 52nd state, right after Kenya.
Rob Dawg writes:
Give them $1b for every nuke they turn over.
But Iran has offered $10b.
Dawg--excellent idea.
Dawg for President.
God I can't wait until this election is over and CalculatedRisk can be rid of the deep, intellectual political discourse that its been blessed with lately.
Tastes Great!
Less Filling!
Tastes Great!
Less Filling!
Hey thinkers! Professional wrestling is still on!
@Hey thinkers!
Who you calling a thinker, punk?
By my calculations, that means Mr. Ten Percent can stash a cool $900 mil in his Swiss bank account:)
Alternatively, Pakistan can use these funds to rebuild some of the stuff we're blowing up with our missiles:)
Currently Smoking Cannabis writes:
God I can't wait until this election is over .....
I will just switch to "I told you so mode"
CSC-
Hair on fire? lol
Dear IMF:
I've created my own country Troutania and have immediate need for U.S. $ 1,000,000,000.
Wire instructions to follow shortly.
Thank you for your philanthropy.
This is not a Nigeria scam.
When will it end?
Kilgore T.
strong arm dollar policy loves those camel cabals.
just wait till Central American donkey governments starts falling like dominos.
Anyone know anything more about the KSE stock floor? as in when it is going to be listed or their next scheme they have planned?
I am absolutely amazed the implemented that price floor; I can't see how it can do anything but crash once it's lifted; I assume they will roll it back in steps' so the headlines will be muted. But going from 400 million shares a day, now down to 223 thousand or something.....there must be some angst and pent up demand. Can't wait to see how this chapter ends and the next one begins. So post up if you know of anything or if you have level 2 market access, I would love to know the bid/ask ratio.
[Give them $1b for every nuke they turn over.
But Iran has offered $10b.
Wally Bollocks ]
Yes! Why not hold an auction on eBay?
IMF = bagholder of last resort.
by falling like dominos, regional warfare, kinda skirmishy in a hemispherical nonsensical kinda way...
ahhhh, the joy of the 21st century...
China's coal use cost it 7 percent of GDP
Forbes.com File Not Found
"And the Chinese, who are now building a coal plant every week to keep pace with energy demand -- are looking for every way possible to produce more power."
"Grimy? Tell that to our European friends who are inking long-term, lucrative, contracts with US coal producers right now. Since energy-hungry China snatched Europes coal out from under them, Europe is scrambling for our "grimy" coal. US coal is a good deal despite the high transport coats of shipping tons of it across the Atlantic. And our US coal producers are shipping coal out of our Pacific ports to you guessed it China. Our cheap, high-grade, abundant coal is more than a national treasure our coal exports are a cash machine for astute energy investors."
Now, $17 billion in US-backed energy bargains | IBT Commodities & Futures
China to invest $445bn in rail system
Page not found | News.com.au
China is running out of coal.
They are investing in rail systems to tap coal reserves in foreign
countries.
Coal is the most damaging pollutant in producing energy.
Global warming will inevitably worsen with tremendous ramifications.
Let's keep worrying about the PPT and the VIX.
copied from wiki:
Pakistan's gross domestic product, as measured by purchasing power parity (PPP), is estimated to be US$475.4 billion while its per capita income (PCI) stands at $2,942.
By any standard this is a huge injection.
This is how it might play out:
IMF send three installments to total 9B.
Central Bank takes 25% exchange fee. and government takes 25% admin fee. Banks which need money pay stated exchange rates set by the Central Bank which reduces the amount a further 10%. Banks cover off the handeling and distibution and take a 20% fee.
There 20% of the 9B makes it way into the economy. Thirty percent of which has already been slated for military and police.
10 months later a dozen or so officials fly to London and buy a very nice house and live happy ever after.
As long as Israel has hundreds of nukes, there's no reason Pakistan, Iran, or any other Western/Central Asian country shouldn't. The region should be a nuclear free zone, as has been proposed at the U.N. and rejected by the U.S. & Israel for decades.
bearly,
"Yes! Why not hold an auction on eBay?"
I can haz nuke?
Seriouly though. It didn't cost Pak a billion for it's nukes. So they'd just use the money to make more.
Knurd!
Nostrovia,
Pakistan can even make their sunroofs safe. How are we to trust their nukes in a collapse?
I say give em the loot, take their rockets, and open the world's largest taxi service.
Interesting Times writes:
IMF = bagholder of last resort.
Where do you think the IMF gets its money?
Pakistan, which is also struggling .because of political wrangling that led to the resignation of the former military ruler, Pervez Musharraf.
Hey, they left out:
Big Bush Buddy
Bush, bringing Democracy to the middle east.
LMAO
The Great Decider created President Obama
Bond Girl writes:
Where do you think the IMF gets its money?
The same place as Israel - our back pockets.
"Due to the world Financial crisis of 20072008, Pakistan could be the next nation after Iceland which stands at the brink of bankruptcy. Pakistan needs $100 bill. of support from outside to withstand this crisis"
from another source
This is SO wrong.
It's Friday. Fridays have been designated for Bank Failures.
Country Failures cannot happen until Sundays.
Someone please get this straightened out.
I like that plan, Rob Dawg. A billion for each nuke.
Anoddamoose | 10.31.08 - 4:52 pm | #
Unless of course they give it to us at the end of an ICBM flight
Wait, reverse auction with no minimum bids on tax increase ceiling ?
Now $120k. Do I hear 100k?
YouTube - Richardson: Under Obama Those That Make 120K Get Tax Cut
Oops...maybe that EEV I bought at closing today wasn't such a great idea...
I've been away for a while, so if this has been played out I apologize. I only found it yesterday.
YouTube - Laid Off By Lehman: One Broker's Story
Laid Off by Lehman: One Broker's Story
I bet we all know at least one guy exactly like this.
bet we all know at least one guy exactly like this.
Currently Smoking Cannabis
I have two renting my basement.
I watched that for quite a while csc before I realized it was satire.
Sort of.
Pakistan has 35-90 nukes... with 60 being the meidan guess.
The bailout is more like 150 million/nuke.
If Pakistan ever uses a nuke, it will be against other Pakistanis. They are too valuable to waste on outside enemies.
t t t tax cuts writes:
Wait, reverse auction with no minimum bids on tax increase ceiling ?
Now $120k. Do I hear 100k?
It will be $109k. Bank.
Fallout from Iceland collapse:
-"DENMARK. Copenhagen-based low-cost carrier Sterling Airways has filed for bankruptcy and cancelled all of its operations, leaving thousands of passengers stranded across Europe. The company is owned by Northern Travel Holdings of Iceland, which blamed the meltdown of Icelands financial system for its collapse."
-"Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, accused Iceland's Trade Minister of misleading him about the health of the country's banks in a telephone conversation at the height of Iceland's financial crisis. But a transcript of the conversation, revealed last night on Iceland's state-owned television channel RUV, undermined Mr Darling's claim that Iceland had refused to honour its commitment to protect British savers."...flaming weasel...these Brit officials are as bad as Paulson
-"It would be surprising if Iceland did not explore EU membership when the worst uncertainty has passed. Two thirds of Icelanders now want that, and even more business people want the euro. At a Reykjavik conference this week on whether small countries could maintain their own currency (resounding answer "No"), many economists argued that euro membership would not have prevented the crisis. But it would remove the risk and expense of trying to stabilise a vulnerable currency.
Haarde has argued that the benefits of joining the EU are less than the costs, such as the possible sacrifice of the 200-mile fishing zone. Iceland has managed its stocks well, where the EU Common Fisheries Policy has failed. But some officials quietly suggest that fishing (now only several per cent of the economy) might be negotiable, if the EU could make concessions."
Didn't we "loan" Pakistan 10 billion a little while back? I guess that cash is gone?
Sigh...
I bet we all know at least one guy exactly like this.
Currently Smoking Cannabis
We put them on ice floes and set them adrift.
If Pakistan ever uses a nuke, it will be against other Pakistanis. They are too valuable to waste on outside enemies.
Tom Bombadil | 10.31.08 - 5:21 pm | #
Nope, they will use it on India, and India will use their nukes on Pakista
[Nope, they will use it on India, and India will use their nukes on Pakistan]
win/win ?
Pakistan to world: "We have nukes, give us money"
U.S.A.: "Hey, that's our line!"
Nope, they will use it on India, and India will use their nukes on Pakistan - Dirk van Dijk
Where it will remain contained. [ducks]
Can i get a bank failure to wash this down?
......
My guess is Mexico is next or soon. Their oil production is dropping and so is the price. Double whammy with the third strike being dropping remittences.
Bail us out or we send even more illegals north.
"General Motors Corp. told its U.S. dealers that the company was only halfway to its October goal for sales to consumers, with just one day left in the month.
The so-called retail sales totaled 89,961 vehicles through yesterday, compared with a target of 175,989, the Detroit-based company said in charts sent to dealers today. With one day left in September, the largest U.S. automaker had reached 80 percent of its goal, according to the charts."
How many people buy cars on Halloween? I'm thinking not many...
Who needs tiny bank failures when we can have country failures.
Laid Off by Lehman: One Broker's Story
Currently Smoking Cannabis
LOL!!!
Why didn't they just call Ben he could have sent them 30B for free.
My guess is Mexico is next or soon.
Wait a minute. They have Carlos Slim. That trumps IMF.
Does anybody on Earth think Pakistan can/will pay back $9 billion?
Give them $1b for every nuke they turn over. What? No deal? Fine you obviously don't need the money then.
QFT
Brains Way
B:Pinky, are you pondering what Im pondering?
P:Wuh, I think so, Brain, but how will we get both Pakistan and India into one pair of Capri pants?
How many people buy cars on Halloween? I'm thinking not many...
Zombie Kung Fu Panda
Pakistanis dressed like Ice Landers.
I have reconsidered my tax positions and now feel in the interests of fairness I will be increasing taxes for everyone.
Pakistan? Isn't this the lovely land where peace loving investors demolished the stock exchange?
wally writes:
Does anybody on Earth think Pakistan can/will pay back $9 billion?
wally | 10.31.08 - 5:34 pm | #
They can always sell some assets, I hear Iran is in the market.
The IMF will soon need to sell a portion of their glod holdings.
This is actually a good thing.
Pakistan should peel off a few thousand and go to LLBean and buy some tents for those earthquake victims who are now homeless in the cold.
Hungary and Poland are in big trouble...but Switzerland is said to have major mortgage exposure to Eastern Europe.
Could Switzerland be in trouble too?
I have been counting the early voters standing in line in the news videos.
Didn't anybody tell the white guy about this option?
I have been counting the early voters standing in line in the news videos.
Didn't anybody tell the white guy about this option?
White guys don't need this option. No one is trying to supress their votes.
Iceland, Hungary, Ukraine and Pakistan ... the list is growing.
Of course we all realize that the only reason the US isn't on that list is that we've convinced others that our money is better than anyone else's and that we can print as much of it as we need.
Outsider writes:
This is SO wrong.
It's Friday. Fridays have been designated for Bank Failures.
Country Failures cannot happen until Sundays.
Someone please get this straightened out.
Ha! You fell for it. Pakistan is just dressed up like a little bank from Alpharetta, GA for Halloween.
I'll see your Carlos Slim and raise you the ghost of Ernesto "Che" Guevara
The mood here is getting pretty ugly.
For Immediate Release -
After serious high level consultation with my top economic level advisors in ACORN and the community organizers from the south side of Chicago the new tax increase floor is $24k.
CSC,
Funny, I just paid two of those Lehman brokers to pleasure each other in the park.
Are the Obama people going to start burning our cities late election night or will they stew for a few days and have a weekend riot?
It sucks having to try to schedule flights around the beginning of a civil war.
A little restraint please for CR's sake.
Elvis: I don't know if you're in to it, but you can get a handjob in a Lambo for $35 now. Ping me for details.
"Elvis: I don't know if you're in to it, but you can get a handjob in a Lambo for $35 now. Ping me for details."
I didn't know you drove a Lambo CSC. Trading must have been good lately (:
CSC,
I don't need to pay, but you sound like you've found quite a deal. Maybe you could pass the info to Jaswant.
send 50lb bags of dope, tequila, and whores...so nobody will have the need for lawers, guns, or money.
gotta hit the beach.
Don't be silly. Obama understands that the Republicans got their tax cuts through by giving sops to the middle class while the rich got fortunes. When the tax increases Bush committed us to finally happen, they'll be just like Obama's current changes - increases for the top 5% and decreases for everybody else.
The long term outcome of the tax class war the Republicans started up will be essentially no taxes for 70% of the population and high taxes for the top 5%.
"Are the Obama people going to start burning our cities late election night or will they stew for a few days and have a weekend riot?"
I'm an Obama people and I'm willing to sell you this info.
Got cash?
There's more than enough heroin money I'm Pakistan to pay this off.
As a Pakistani, thanks guys. We'll do our best to ship enough smack to your foreclosure hit neighborhoods.
Thanks, fried.
Damn Swiss, I sure hope that they don't seize my gold to buck up UBS and CS.
[Fair Economist writes:
Don't be silly. Obama understands]
Fair economist, sir, Are you a teenager or just screwing with us ?
I hope the Obama mobs hit La Jolla. I'm looking forward to trying out my short-barreled 20 gauge.
Nah, the Obama mobs won't get past my brethren, ex-military Mexicans. There are more of us, and we really like to fight and shoot.
People, people. Your racism is showing.
"October 31, 2008 (Computerworld) WASHINGTON -- A Virginia-based IT company will pay nearly $1.7 million to 343 employees holding H-1B visas under a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor.
The Labor Department, in an announcement yesterday, said that Globalcynex Inc. in Sterling, Va., had not paid the employees their required wages from March 2005 through March 2007. Moreover, the Labor Department said H-1B workers were charged training fees of $1,000 to $2,500 in violation of the law.
If the settlement were split evenly among all 343 employees, they would get nearly $5,000 each.
The settlement is one of the largest of its kind involving the H-1B program. A recent internal study by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) suggests that problems with the visa program are widespread. The study, based on an examination of about 250 H-1B users, concluded that as many as one in five H-1B applications involve fraud or the use of inaccurate data that is in technical violation."
Surprise, surprise....
I hope i don't need to explain the term 'racism
"Iceland, Hungary, Ukraine and Pakistan ... the list is growing.
"Of course we all realize that the only reason the US isn't on that
list......"
is the US is TOO BIG TO BE ALLOWED TO FAIL.
B-52's baby way up in the sky.
come dropin you lovin on me..
peace is a dirty word.
I missed Dr Greedspuns lecture on how to clean up an asset bubble after it pops rather than letting the air out at the beginning. This mess only happened after he left the FED so lets get him back to fix this up chop chop. Everyone says he is a genius so he should have the world economy back up and humming in no time. Why hasn't anyone suggested this before?
Fair economist, sir, Are you a teenager or just screwing with us ?
No.
[curious writes:
I hope i don't need to explain the term 'racism']
No sir. I think it's more like skepticism.
However, if you happened to get the opportunity to enjoy first hand up close the first day of the early '90s LA riots, I don't think you would be too surprised how quickly an opening can be exploited.
Racist? There may be civil unrest in the event of a McCain 'win.' Is that a racist statement?
When it looks like a landslide and there is a belief that two elections were stolen, you don't have to be a racist to think people might get upset.
You anti-semite.
CR I'm sure you meant Pokistan
"Fair Economist writes:
Fair economist, sir, Are you a teenager or just screwing with us ?
No."
Answering an either or question with a simple no begs a reask of the original question.
True- racism cuts both ways. Just don't be a part of it.
FDIC: Enforcement Decisions and Orders - Recent Orders and Decisions
FDIC Enforcement Decisions and Orders
(7 new C&Ds including Lehman Brothers Commercial Bank)
CSC, you want anti-Semites, just wait until Obama brings his Farrakhan buddies in.
I lived in Hyde Park for two years. Lots of bow-tie wearing Fruit of Islam folks around.
They are not your friends, sir.
It is going to be a VERY interesting four years under Obama.
It has nothing to do with race.
It has to do with hundreds of thousands of screaming, crying, yelling supporters in one rally...
And 43 old men falling asleep at another...
And the 43 men win.
The big group my smell bullshit.
It has nothing to do with race, it has to do with politics.
If Hillary were the nominee, would it be sexist?
CSC, I am afraid you are being a little myopic. We live in an era of instant gratification.
Even in event that there's not a McCain win, that won't diminish the desire for FREE 50INCH PLASMA TVS. No one will want to wait for 2009 for free stuff.
Failed bank alert: Freedom Bank, Bradenton, FL
FDIC: Failed Bank List
Gawd, you are right, O-T-. It IS going to be a zoo on Tuesday night.
Thanks for the warning. Honestly.
$280 million:
FDIC: Press Releases - PR-109-2008 10/31/2008
No, we must not allow Freedom Bank to fail! Otherwise the terrists win!
Max - why must you always be first???
Everything in modern American politics has to do with race. Don't kid yourself.
Nice to see Bradenton pull into a dead heat with Alpharetta, GA in the FDIC's 2008 FBC (effed bank challenge). I loves me some good competition.
Hell, Max, why do they publish the cost anymore? Geez, it really is chump change, now, with all this trillions for Wall Street business.
Terrible, socialism for Wall Street.
Fifth Third agreed to assume all the deposits for a premium of 1.16 percent. In addition to assuming the failed bank's deposits, Fifth Third will purchase approximately $36 million of assets.
Isn't FITB itself a candidate for BFF?
We have our BFF!
Now everyone can get unknurd.
When was the name of this blog changed to "Calcluated Risk - politics and racism"?
Some people choose to seek their favorite -ism everywhere. So if a woman is involved, the only motivation is sexism, Israel, anti-semitism, etc...
It neuters the terms and makes it appear as if there is no real problem, since most of it is simply name-calling.
It is you who makes these things about race. Some people disagree with Obama for entirely different reasons. I guess you can't comprehend getting beyond it, eh?
The paid posters for McCain are out in force today. The missing billions to AIG? A few million diverted to pro republican activism? Why not?
Pssssssst The anti Obama handles are a little over the top. Use something ordinary like you are a regular person and your message is much more palatable.
GO BANKSTAS!!!!!
FDIC just closed the bank cuz the thread was gettin downright harsh.
I never knew how a half black HLS grad who was raised by the white side of his family scares the shit out of white people.
Either you guys are a bunch of pussies or you think you sort of deserve whatever you think is coming to you.
"CSC, you want anti-Semites, just wait until Obama brings his Farrakhan buddies in."
Atleast you're a bit more subtle than most of the right-wing zealots with the whole Obama is a Muslim in drag insinuations.
In the future I would drop the Farrakhan reference though as most of the knuckle-dragging, pabst swilling, god-fearing, "real" Americans you hang with probably have no idea who Farrakhan is.
Just replace Farrakhan with "them" or "those terrorists".
Just go back and read this thread over again and see what I'm saying
I think John McCain is a crazy asshole. So, in addition to being a racist, go ahead and pencil me in as hating old people too.
Oh, and Palin is a dunce. I'm a sexist as well.
I'm an alien and xenophobic.
This emerging country debt issue may do to European banks what mortgage debt has done to American ones.
Iceland, Hungary, Pakistan, the Baltic
states are small beer though.What happens if the big Enchiladas start to go bust? Mexico, Turkey, Brazil and South Korea are far further up on the geo-political-financial Richter scale.
With the national authorities in the developed world fully involved in saving their own economies there will probably be inadequate resources left
to cope with collapsing economies in the Third World.
I recall a Russian proverb that went like this- When you live next to the graveyard you can't weep for everyone-however, like the 'Living Dead' of that low budget horror movie, the cadavers of failed third world countries are unlikely to remain in their graves.
No need for real or created Muslim intimations when you have Reverend Wright for your spiritual advisor and Bill Ayers as your friend.
The south side of Chicago is DIFFERENT. Big chips on their shoulders, amongst many of the blacks there. What a whiner Michelle Obama is.
It is going to be a very interesting four years under Obama.
136 visitors and dropping. Make that 135.
As a white guy I never fully understood this whole fear of being screwed by the Black man. How is it any different from being screwed by the White man.
I'm already getting screwed by the Man. Why does his color make any difference. Worst comes to worst I'm still gonna get screwed, and maybe things will turn out better than what I'm getting right now.
o new thread yet
Pissed Off,
whole Obama is a Muslim in drag insinuations
Ah contraire, Mr. PO.
Obama is a Christian in drag.
Funny how the enlightened social elite here so keenly spotted a heist by the banksters early, are so naive as to believe a hustler even when there are more contradictions than accomplishments.
He's pretty good. There no telling how much re can accomplish, as he dazzles the dupes.
"The south side of Chicago is DIFFERENT. Big chips on their shoulders, amongst many of the blacks there. What a whiner Michelle Obama is."
And if Obama came from Alabama you'd be writing about how the North side of Alabama is different.
Or if he came from California you'd be writing about how Central California is different.
Face it, you're a racist a-hole that doesn't want to see a non-white in power.
I would get screwed by Ron Paul.
And I didn't mind Clinton screwing me until after he left office and I realized the extent of my raping.
Currently Smoking Cannabis> "I would get screwed by Ron Paul. " Elaborate please?
jg do you really live in La Jolla and have a shotgun? I'd figure they'd have ordinances against that....
I live in PB where switch blades and broken bottles are king...
"Funny how the enlightened social elite here so keenly spotted a heist by the banksters early, are so naive as to believe a hustler even when there are more contradictions than accomplishments."
What makes you think that people don't see Obama as a hustler and yet are STILL willing to vote for him?
I've had 8 years of being bent over a barrel and I'm willing to take a chance.
the halloween thread is gonna be a riot...
lets riot, right here on CR.
Calculated Riot.
knurds, indeed.
Give the IMF a f'n priniting press and ask them not to bother us.
I recall many 'white racist' Republicans being for Alan Keyes. Unfortunately for Keyes, not many Illinois blacks were for him otherwise we might be talking about Keyes being the first genuine black president instead of the half caste from Indonesia.
"paid posters for McCain are out in force today"
No kidding. Someone's bright idea to fill blogs with McBullshit.
Pissed Off In California writes:
As a white guy I never fully understood this whole fear of being screwed by the Black man. How is it any different from being screwed by the White man.
Clearly you dont watch enough pron....
Elaborate please?
briwerk
Well it's true that The Man screws us, and it doesn't really matter White Man or Black Man. They're all the man.
But I would feel less violated if Ron Paul were The Man. He'd still screw me, because that's what The Man does. But Paul would screw me gently and he would stop as soon as he got his nut.
The other Men seem like they would try to prolong things and savagely work over my orifices until they were useless before humiliating me in the end.
I'm gonna be someone's bitch dude. I want someone with a slow hand.
Perfect gift for anyone that lives in the CR haloscan page.
A model of things to come: Mad Max diorama — Autoblog
Damn Swiss, I sure hope that they don't seize my gold to buck up UBS and CS.
Comrade-Dope jg
JG,
if you're serious, I will try to find more Swiss info.
My nephew married in Poland and owns an apartment in Cracow. His stories of the RE madness there, mainly by Brits and Germans, sounds like the Inland Empire redux. The Swiss let folks borrow mortgage money denominated in yen, among other things. Very nutsy.
Oh, and beachfront on the Dalmation Coast...bid skyhigh by the usual suspects...Scandos, Germans and Brits. Will be a mess. Guaranteed.
multiple terms in office and the joint:
three words,
Marion Crack Berry.
vote your conscience. unless you you dont vote. then just riot.
You are wrong. I'd be ecstatic to see Michael Steele as President (as long as he is a true small government guy). Or, Thomas Sowell.
I have no stomach for socialists, though.
And, I have now learned that, down under, the Rockefeller Republican crowd -- Bush, McCain -- are socialists. Moderate socialists, but socialists nonetheless.
Obama is a hardcore socialist.
It has nothing to do with skin color.
Nice try at projection, though, schmuck.
If we are going to get screwed anyways, why not elect a playmate or stud to office?
Builder Bob writes:
Perfect gift for anyone that lives in the CR haloscan page.
Rad. I want this.
"I'm gonna be someone's bitch dude"
There's no need to advertise your availability. This ain't match.com.
When they want you, they will find you.
I already expected Obama to be a very effective president based on his resources coming in. But seeing the opposition makes me even more confident. The opposition is accusing him of being or associating with "bad guys" - blacks, socialists, Muslims, Palestinians, etc. What they don't understand is that in a monster crisis - which is what we're heading into - group affiliations change. The stereotypes of the ancien regime are changing as we speak. The invective they hurl today will be compliments tomorrow. They don't understand why their invective worked and they will be shocked and defenseless when it fails.
"I'm gonna be someone's bitch dude"
Barney is watching....
Jg,
First you start with
"No need for real or created Muslim intimations when you have Reverend Wright for your spiritual advisor and Bill Ayers as your friend.
The south side of Chicago is DIFFERENT. Big chips on their shoulders, amongst many of the blacks there. What a whiner Michelle Obama is."
Where's the socialism aspect? All I see is Black and Muslim.
Then you follow-up with it's actually socialism you're against.
If it's socialism you're against then why wasn't that what you were talking about at the beginning?
"I have no stomach for socialists, though.
And, I have now learned that, down under, the Rockefeller Republican crowd -- Bush, McCain -- are socialists. Moderate socialists, but socialists nonetheless.
Obama is a hardcore socialist."
So which is it you're against. Socialists or Blacks?
Or both?
ades, you guys are tougher than us limp-wristed folks just up the road.
Yes, I live in La Jolla and keep a short barrel shotgun under the bed. As soon as the market crashes, I'm buying a 9mm pistol, too.
Yes, fried, I just read this morning that the Hungarians used CHF-denominated mortgages to save on interest expense. I had no idea.
I trust the Gnomes of Zurich/Rothschilds will protect my Swiss-based gold bars, as they will be sitting right next to theirs.
What a mess.
Well the good news for either McCain or Obama people is that world is on speed these days.
As I recall Obama began his quest for the White House as the 'anti-war' in Iraq candidate though he never mentions that issue anymore.
McCain, in true GOP fashion, just figured it was his turn to run and was also speaking about Iraq in those long ago days.
Speaks volumes about both candidates lack of qualifications for the office that neither saw the freight train coming down the tracks as they fought for the nomination, though McCain turns out to have been 'right' about Iraq and Obama wrong.
The question now is who can best manage a world heading towards a real precipice. Don't think for a minute that the rest of the world is going to stop and let the next president 'concentrate' on the economy. Reality isn't like that and events are in the driver's seat now.
Obama might become the first real 'war' president since Roosevelt and it will be interesting to see, should he become president, how his 'base' reacts to the real commitment of US military power, not some third world police actions.
If the posters here represent investors sentiments, then I wanna see a riot...on Wall Street. Let them white boys do it the manly way...tank the market.
Suits me...I'm ready to reload my shorts.
"though McCain turns out to have been 'right' about Iraq"
Right about going in, in the first place,or right about not pulling out and letting all hell break lose?
Big difference between those two.
These threads are going to be unreadable by election day.
that The Man screws us, and it doesn't really matter White Man or Black Man. They're all the man
CSC, if I'm going to be screwed by a man, I prefer the smaller penis.
With any luck, the Chinese guys will finally take over.
If Obama is a stock i would sell him now. People expect the next few years to be like 'clinton years'.
P.O'd in CA - Brother-man!
Yes, fried, I just read this morning that the Hungarians used CHF-denominated mortgages to save on interest expense. I had no idea.
I took an international mortgage finance class a few years ago. The run-up in eastern European markets is crazy. The same is true with Spain and Ireland. Totally off the charts, a true rocket.
What everyone in the class was pretty astounded at was the different currencies that these were being denominated in vs where the cash was coming from.
Some times the interest rate was based of libor, some times off something from Switzerland. (not many floating rate notes tho)
As mentioned above usually a guy from France would get a loan in Prague that he had to pay for with euros.
Everyone was like is that guy nuts? They did offer loans in France for places in Prague but the rates werent nearly as good because the banks were concerned.
Now a days everyone is a currency expert and can predict macro cycles and make money /end snark
I grew up in Texas, POIC. I had black friends. They were ordinary guys, like me.
The bitter Chicago crowd -- part white, nearly in power, affirmative action beneficiaries -- were different.
Just listen to Michelle. Or Reverend Wright.
Hey, that's just what I saw, whether you like it or not.
So which is it you're against. Socialists or Blacks?
Muslim Socialists inheriting the machinery of a facist police state.
I'm okay with socialism at this point as long as they send me a check and leave me alone.
I kind of think of it as my revenge on Capitalism for being a lie.
Don't feed the McTroll.
So what's easier? Start an insolvent bank or insolvent country to receive bailout?
I kind of think of it as my revenge on Capitalism for being a lie.
Broward Horne
The women would also be punished. But the pool halls would be subsidized, so Free Pony Keg! You'd be set.
That's mean, Broward!
Racist!
Barak, ju gonna hava lotta splainin to do! When the down-n-outs come callin for der free stuff and renumeration, how you gonna deliver yer promises ?
"Muslim Socialists inheriting the machinery of a facist police state."
That's pretty funny actually.
I wish someone would explain the peace symbol Obama stickers. The symbol used to be anti-war, but now it's 'different wars?'
That sucks. I'm taking mine down.
Geopolitically, the issue in the Persian Gulf is Iran, always has been.
We have been faced with a war in the region ever since the Shah fell and that was on Jimmy Carter's watch. We won't have stability in the Gulf until
the US and Iran re-establish a strategic partnership.
Iraq was 'right' to the extent you believe, as the 'left' once did, that the use of American military power to remove criminal regimes was justified.
I didn't hear anyone in the Democrat
party weeping over the removal of Raul
Cedras in Haiti or Milosevic in Serbia. Why they were so upset over Bush II going after Saddam is confusing but in geopolitical terms the US does have powerful ground forces now in both Iraq and Afghanistan which is not an unimportant factor in a 'world on speed'.
The women would also be punished.
I'd prefer for the women to punish me, thank you very much.
Unit,
Our forces are now worn thin...we need them home for R and R for a couple of years at least. Plus, reports in MSM that if the agreement with Iraq isn't done by Jan 1, US troops in Iraq could be prosecuted under war crimes law. We need to get our forces out of Iraq and Afghanistan and let them handle their own problems for a while.
ObamaTaxarama...
Can you wait until he takes office before blaming him for everything that happened since Clinton left office? Probably not.
So if I understand the logic behind Obama being a secret Muslim then:
It doesn't matter that part of his family is white, it doesn't matter that he spent 30 odd years going to a Catholic Church.
All that matters is that his middle name is Hussein, and he spent part of his life growing up in Indonesia.
What does the guy have to do to prove he's Christian? And why does it even matter?
please review history it is called FASCISM
PO'd wrote:
it doesn't matter that he spent 30 odd years going to a Catholic Church.
Then I change my vote, he is nuts and possibly a terrorist!
Broward Horne - crawl back into your hole and pull the dirt in on top of yourself. No wonder your wife left you.
I wish Obama were a Muslim. Maybe we'd get some good old fashioned polygamy here in the repressive, unfree US of A. I'd be down with a few more wives in my Harem.
The last thing I'd want is a Fundy. Doors locked, lights out, missionary procreative sex only is worse than being stoned to death for drawing God.
CSC you can draw god?
I'm not much of a drawer...
And from the international business front this just in
Yahoo! 404 - Page Not Found
Nestle sends experts for melamine tests in China
"We mobilized close to 45-50 people worldwide to be part of the solution and containment of this problem."
They've mobilized a HUMUNGOUS 50 people world-wide.
I just drew a picture of God, just don't know what to do about those big ears.
Some election humor, since the comments seem to be gravitating in that direction....
Struggling Lower-Class Still Unsure How Best To Fuck Selves With Vote | The Onion - America's Finest News Source
Iraq is being bribed NOT to fight. So much for this so-called surge success. Once the money flow stops the war resumes.
Stoned to death? Sure, I'm up for the challenge...
Wait, you mean with rocks? Nevermind.
The Chinese are going to be hungry. What happens when your stock market collapses and your food supply is poison and you're already on political thin-ice?
Green tech bubble?
"Our forces are worn thin" is political sloganeering. Ask the world's generals if they would like to send their troops up against the only army in the world with REAL combat experience with the caveat that both British and Canadian military forces have also been tried under fire.
If the US military can be 'worn out' by what is, in historical terms, a small colonial war, then heaven help us. The world's generals remember 'two
weeks to Baghdad' the military illiterates invent 'worn out' military. Was the German Army 'worn out' by D-Day? The Japanese on Iwo or Okinawa?
Now, lets get back to thread which is the imminent meltdown of a number of third world nations. The war is in the future and if it happens how it happens and where will largely be determined by how this economic meltdown shakes out.
"Erica Jong Tells Italians Obama Loss 'Will Spark the Second American Civil War. Blood Will Run in the Streets'"
Erica Jong Tells Italians Obama Loss 'Will Spark the Second American Civil War. Blood Will Run in the Streets' | The New York Observer
that matters is that his middle name is Hussein, and he spent part of his life growing up in Indonesia
I'm having a little trouble with his Kenyan citizenship and the fact that... for all intents and purposes he didn't even exist three years ago?
Like, what is his real track record?
At least with Fricking Clinton and Bush, they had verifiable track records of more than one year of "present" votes.
But you got ahead vote for Obama in hopes that the vagueness in front of you is what you think it is.
"We mobilized close to 45-50 people worldwide to be part of the solution and containment of this problem."
Lots of junk to eat. Gonna be tough for such a small crowd.
I always thought arguing with zealots was a waste of time. Still do.
Hazard, LOL!
FDIC takes over Freedom Bank, 17th failure this year - MarketWatch
Hey, I was so preoccupied with Halloween preparations I forgot it's FDIC Friday!!!
"Erica Jong Tells Italians Obama Loss 'Will Spark the Second American Civil War. Blood Will Run in the Streets'"
Erica hasn't been to the local gun store lately. The people buying guns and ammo yesterday were most certainly are not Obama fans.
I'm thinking the Second American Civil War is baked in the cake, regardless of who wins.
"I'm having a little trouble with his Kenyan citizenship and the fact that... for all intents and purposes he didn't even exist three years ago?
Like, what is his real track record?
At least with Fricking Clinton and Bush, they had verifiable track records of more than one year of "present" votes."
You have actually given a decent, logical explanation of why one wouldn't vote for Obama.
I can't argue with that. Unfortunately you are in the minority with your cogent explanation.
Most of what one gets in regards to Obama is he's "different", his middle name is Hussein etc..
Look folks, it doesn't matter what candidate wins because events are in the driver's seat not men.
There isn't a snowball's chance in hades that we will have a traditional
US presidency in which the new president presents to the Congress a spending plan for the people's money.
We are in the process of unraveling the post WW2 world everyone of us has grown up in. It's over!
Economically, demographically and politically that world is as dead as the world of pre August 1914. We are in the midst of a cataclysm now and the next American president will react
to events, not shape them.
Like anyone knew jack shit about Bush before 2000. Maybe some hardcores in Texas, but he was an unknown too. So was Clinton.
[Like, what is his real track record?
... You have actually given a decent, logical explanation of why one wouldn't vote for Obama]
He has a real background.
It includes community orgaizing on the South side of Chicago, 20 years in Rev Wright's anarchist racist church and a close association with a PLO leader.
What's not to like ?
Unit472 | 10.31.08 - 7:19 pm
What he said.
Well I gotta go. My communist sympathizer Chinese wife (everyone knows Chinese are secret commies no matter how long ago they left the motherland) is on her way home.
Time to break out the little red book to do a bit of light reading.
My Mao cap and jacket or a bit dirty. I'll ask her to drop them off at the local dry-cleaner (run of course by a Chinese family).
Unit472:
But I thought this was all about subprime lending! Ben Stein said so!
Obama's record? Harvard Law School graduate. Voted (after much political wrangling) editor of the Harvard Law Review. This in itself is quite an achievement. Illinois State Senate. United States Senator. Brains? He's got'em. What's the problem?
Oh yeah, forgot to add, no family connections.
Curious--read this:
Broward Horne | Homepage | 10.31.08 - 7:10 pm | #
and if you don't understand it, read it again and then do some research.
[ Brains? He's got'em. What's the problem?]
No serious minded person is going to dispute that he's sharp. So are Milken, Ebers... Jeff Skilling & Ken Lay were "the smartest guys in the room". Then we should elect them, right ?
It's his character that's under scrutiny, for very good reasons.
No, Obama has credentials. Brains. Unlikely. He won't release his academic record and dimes to donuts he listed himself as black on his college applications despite being raised white ( or Muslim Indonesian) take your pick. I doubt you would give Bush credit for being brainy, despite his having a Harvard MBA and being a pilot of supersonic fighter interceptors.
My guess is Obama's SAT and LSAT scores might have been good enough to get into a mediocre state U and law
school were he to have applied as white rather than black.
To me this makes him a phony with a baritone voice. Why should the daughter of a middleclass white woman and a Kenyan of some standing be entitled to affirmative action? If he wasn't then why won't he release his academic records? Most Columbia grads would have very impressive admission tests scores. Better than the lousy 1290 I got in the pre pre SAT testing days.
RR- sorry, he doesn't strike me as a shyster. Maybe I'm naive. I'm always willing to admit to that. Whatev- link doesn't work. However, as your moniker suggests, I'm not sure anything I had to say would change your mind.
"then why won't he release his academic records?"
Why won't Sarah Palin? I'm sure those are mighty impressive. Also, her medical records.
McCain was at the bottom of the Naval Academy...needed his old man the Admiral to pull strings to get him into flight school.
Just like the shrub he relied on white affirmative action..having an old man with clout.
"I'm an alien and xenophobic."
From which planet or solar system?
The comments should be shut down till after the election. This is painful stuff. Makes you lose whatever faith you may have had left in the civility and rationality of the American public.
[curious writes:
RR- sorry, he doesn't strike me as a shyster. Maybe I'm naive]
I think so.
But either way, 20 YEARS in Rev Wright's Church should FLAT OUT DISQUALIFY HIM FROM THE POST.
Period.
Like anyone knew jack shit about Bush before 2000.
Not really true. Generally known that he was a business failure...and his Arlington stadium deal involved a real land grab under the guise of eminent domain to build adjacent retail.
Plenty of folks knew he was a party animal and that as governor of Texas, he was the happy executioner.
Course that last probably got him a lot of votes.
Curious
Palin is a Pentecostal in a church known to be strongly anti-semitic. And her hubby is a happy member of the secessionist party of Alaska.
Is that treason?
Hey, on Tuesday, vote. See what happens.
"We are in the process of unraveling the post WW2 world everyone of us has grown up in. It's over!
Economically, demographically and politically that world is as dead as the world of pre August 1914. We are in the midst of a cataclysm now and the next American president will react
to events, not shape them."
This is the most astute post I've read in this venue in some time. Add a bit of genetic engineering, nano-technology, robotics and you've hit the spot.
I think that the election, coming as a later chapter in the events of the past few months, is shaking everyone up. Over on another site, which happens to be Catholic and very conservative, some posters are saying that Obama is probably the anti-Christ, and that we are about to witness a Marxist take-over of the U.S.
Personally, I doubt that Obama is the anti-Christ, because then he'd be so plausible that these same conservatives would vote for him. At least twice.
Also, there's never been a mixed-race presidential candidate before (although people had their doubts about Harding), which is enough to give many of us half a nervous breakdown.
"Also, there's never been a mixed-race presidential candidate before (although people had their doubts about Harding), which is enough to give many of us half a nervous breakdown."
If mixed-race includes part Christian part Satan then I think we've already had a couple of mixed-race Presidents.
In regards to academic credentials. I'm not sure that Palin has released her academic records for all 6 Universities she went to. I could be wrong though, perhaps she released 1 or 2.
I'm still here Pavel. I think you're dead on about technology being as much a part, if not more, than politics.
In fact politics and politicians seem quite old fashioned.
I have been of the opinion that biotech would be to the 21st century what electronics were to the 20th.
While the biotech revolution in medicine has not yet happened ( and it may not as nature is not stupid and will not be fooled) it can still be used socially ( think IQ modification) or militarily ( and try not to think about that!) but it will happen.
I have to say, I listened to the Wright speech in it's entirety (might be still available on C-SPAN) and I found myself agreeing with his sentiments. Listen for yourself. The Muskegee (sp?) tests? The history of prejudice? Put yourself in their shoes. The blacks of this country have a legitimate grievance. That doesn't excuse their behavior in L.A. during the Rodney King riots. I was as sickened as anybody. But I also think times have changed. The last O.J. Simpson trial never raised an eyebrow.
Pissed off, there is a long and distinguished history of Vice Presidential dullards in American history.
Al Gore, e.g., flunked out of Divinity School! Dan Quayle was not known for his wit. George Bush Sr. was, like, Obama, all resume and know substance.
Spiro Agnew, seems to have had the highest verified IQ of all our modern
VP's, his being verified at 135. He was also a crook.
I think we actually no more about Sarah Palin's academic record than Obama's because the press made it their business to find out. I must say, I would be more comfortable with Sarah as president than either Obama or McCain because I subscribe to the W.F. Buckley theorem that it is better
to be governed by the first 2000 names in the Boston Telephone directory than the faculty of Harvard.
"I have been of the opinion that biotech would be to the 21st century what electronics were to the 20th."
It certainly looks that way now. Engineering the human germ line would result in a world we can hardly imagine. I can't believe it won't happen, though perhaps not in the US to start with. However, as they used to say about another technology, nature is the same everywhere.
If anything is holding it up besides the natural tempo of r&d, it's probably that no one has figured out how to make money out of it yet.
"...militarily ( and try not to think about that!) but it will happen."
Yes.
I spoke with the Director of the Institute for Human Morphology in Moscow years ago, then some years later had a chance to ask a question or two of Francis Collins of the Human Genome Project at a lecture.
They were trying to think about it. The Russian chuckled. Collins looked worried.
This thread isn't the best advert for the good ol' US of A folks... Anyone left who hasnt been slurred yet?
Finance and Economics anyone?
Well I can see there's no point in visiting this blog for a while.
Pavel, what has me worried is that the adventures of biotech are not the sole adventures of governments.
Gaining a nuclear weapon is quite beyond the reach of any individual no matter what his wealth might be. It requires the active assistance of a government, or a least a clandestine organization, easily penetrated by or detected by traditional intelligence agencies.
That is not so with biotechnology. A man of quite modest means with the know-how or a man of great means with the desire could fund their own bio project and do so with little risk of detection.
Pavel - please post a poem, old or new. Anything. Break the spell.
The Repubs are feeling lowly as they should. They apparently are giving up the hope of winning and striking out with hate and raceism. Nice.
"Pavel - please post a poem, old or new. Anything. Break the spell."
Almost anything I write would be off-topic here. This poem means peace in my own idiom:
THE KEY
Lady, the good ones were on their knees
They know you and adore you
Those with bones not steel who bend
Came forward
I saw you with a shopping cart
Wire and small wheels
Your clothing in the square pink bag
You kept your Babys diapers in
You wore a surplus wind-proof jacket
Deck shoes, and a billed blue hat
You wondered why the tilma was so small
When Juan Diegos covered to his knees
It covered him, and when the roses spilled
They saw your image there, and it was you
Beautiful Azteca woman
Not so worn out then
Your Son has risen from the tomb,
But since that day youve slept on many sidewalks
You come down from the hill of roses
Live poorly in the house of summer
The crèche He slept in has been folded up,
Such is your timid power,
In a little plastic bag you carry
Lady, good ones know it
The simple see you, magnificent your softness
Your summoned mercy, quick to answer anguish
For they can bend and have no pride
No keys but one
And with this key, one key
They open every door that leads to Him
You could walk through and though you wear a crown
You wait until the last have entered
-- Pavel
Pavel - I am humbled. You have reduced me to tears. Thank you with all my heart-
Pavel - You will have your reward in Heave
pavel has a 'thing' for Latina women.
I am not so poetic or smitten, having served in the US military in Panama and I apologize if my ancient poetry from those days offends but it went something like this:
I've beaten you and flayed you,
by the livin God that made you.
No, that was Rudyard though mine was equally self acusatory if less charitable to the maiden. I'll hold my tongue.
"Give them $1b for every nuke they turn over. What? No deal? Fine you obviously don't need the money then"
How about act of good will, like say the US cuts its 10,000 nuke arsenal in half? Oh yeah, and we could close a few of our 750+ military bases around the globe?
Now tell me again what Pakistan has?
Though I've flogged you and I've flayed you, by the livin' God that made you, you're a better man than I am, Gunga Din! Rudyard Kipling -- Pavel's reference is to Our Lady, Mary, Queen of Heave
Great investment, NOT!
curious writes: Obama's record? Harvard Law School graduate.
Ah good. now we're talking about Hussian's true allegiances.
We own Obama and we expect him to deliver the goods. Bonuses as far as the eye can see.
Obama Top Fundraiser on Wall Street - washingtonpost.com
You may kiss my sacred Harvard ring
8 bil ?
well, at least that'd only be a rounding error (if that) for what's being forked out of us for our own u.s. banks
"Rob Dawg writes:
Give them $1b for every nuke they turn over. What? No deal? Fine you obviously don't need the money then."
Um yeah, and throw in Bin Laden too.