Friday, November 27, 2009
TAXING THE SPECULATORS
(h/t Atrios)
A tax on ALL financial transactions conducted by the MOTU is a great idea. This would deter short-term stupid selfish moves by the MOTU and help out with our budget deficits. Paul Krugman argues for it in this column and includes this fact:
A tax on ALL financial transactions conducted by the MOTU is a great idea. This would deter short-term stupid selfish moves by the MOTU and help out with our budget deficits. Paul Krugman argues for it in this column and includes this fact:
As Gary Gorton and Andrew Metrick of Yale have shown, by 2007 the United States banking system had become crucially dependent on “repo” transactions, in which financial institutions sell assets to investors while promising to buy them back after a short period — often a single day. Losses in subprime and other assets triggered a banking crisis because they undermined this system — there was a “run on repo.”
And a financial transactions tax, by discouraging reliance on ultra-short-run financing, would have made such a run much less likely. So contrary to what the skeptics say, such a tax would have helped prevent the current crisis — and could help us avoid a future replay.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
MORE ON THE KRAZY PHOENIX PREACHER
I noted below that Pastor Steve Anderson prayed that Pres. Obama dies and goes to hell. Sheila Samples of The Smirking Chimp provides a little more info about one of his sermons, "Why I hate Obama." She found these additional quotes from that sermon. Square brackets indicate approximate times in the audio clip.
"Obama is a madman in control of this country." [27:32]
"Obama is NOT my president." [28:21]
"Obama mocks the Bible." [29:08]
"Obama is a socialist devil murderer." [47:20]
"God looks down and says, 'Man -- I HATE that guy!'"
WE NEED BETTER FLAG OFFICERS
In January 2006, British General Sir Michael Rose pointed the finger at his own:
We know that American air strikes have killed hudreds of innocent civilians in Afghanistan and even the Secretary of Defense has admitted it. So far, not one American senior officer has resigned.
Things are different in Germany (h/t BuzzFlash):
A high-profile resignation of a senior armed forces officer before the start of the March 2003 conflict may also have made the British Government think twice before sending troops to the Gulf, he added.
"I would not have gone to war on such flimsy grounds," he said.
We know that American air strikes have killed hudreds of innocent civilians in Afghanistan and even the Secretary of Defense has admitted it. So far, not one American senior officer has resigned.
Things are different in Germany (h/t BuzzFlash):
Der Spiegel Online
11/26/2009
Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan
Germany's Top Soldier Resigns over Air Strike Accusations
Germany's highest ranking soldier has resigned in response to allegations that the German Defense Ministry concealed information about civilian casualties sustained during an air strike in Afghanistan.
Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg told the German parliament, the Bundestag, on Thursday morning that Bundeswehr Inspector General Wolfgang Schneiderhan, the highest-ranking officer in Germany's armed forces, had asked to be relieved of his official duties.
BECK'S A LITTLE SLOW
As I noted below, the Anti-Defamation League came out with a report about anti-government rage and singled out Glenn Beck:
Tim Rutten of the LA Times noted the ADL report for a column that asked if FAUX should cancel Beck's show because he's getting more into politics. This got Beck's attention and yesterday he attacked the ADL (and NOW) as "has as much to do with the plight of the Jewish people as the National Organization for Women has to do with the plight of women."
Here's the audio:
For a guy who openly called Pres. Obama a racist, Beck's got pretty thin skin.
The most important mainstream media figure who has repeatedly helped to stoke the fires of anti-government anger is right-wing media host Glenn Beck, who has a TV show on FOX News and a popular syndicated radio show. While other conservative media hosts, such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, routinely attack Obama and his administration, typically on partisan grounds, they have usually dismissed or refused to give a platform to the conspiracy theorists and anti-government extremists. This has not been the case with Glenn Beck. Beck and his guests have made a habit of demonizing President Obama and promoting conspiracy theories about his administration.
Tim Rutten of the LA Times noted the ADL report for a column that asked if FAUX should cancel Beck's show because he's getting more into politics. This got Beck's attention and yesterday he attacked the ADL (and NOW) as "has as much to do with the plight of the Jewish people as the National Organization for Women has to do with the plight of women."
Here's the audio:
For a guy who openly called Pres. Obama a racist, Beck's got pretty thin skin.
BEST LINE OF THE DAY?
(h/t Atrios)
Dubai is on the verge of defaulting on $80 billion in loans and guess which American bank could be on the hook for some of it?
From Calculated Risk:
I guess we better increase the bonuses so we can get "better" MOTU.
*For those of you who may not know, "The Citi never sleeps" was part of Citigroup's ad campaign once upon a time.
Dubai is on the verge of defaulting on $80 billion in loans and guess which American bank could be on the hook for some of it?
From Calculated Risk:
When there are bad loans to be made, apparently Citi never sleeps.*
I guess we better increase the bonuses so we can get "better" MOTU.
*For those of you who may not know, "The Citi never sleeps" was part of Citigroup's ad campaign once upon a time.
YEAH, THE JOB IS TOUGH
so I do have some sympathy for the police but unlike Atrios and Digby, I think a lot of them are authoritarian assholes. I've known 2 people in Tucson who were in the armed forces then later became cops, something the FRC's Tony Perkins did, and I think they both have authoritarian personalities.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
JUST AMAZING
Now that Lou Dobbs is thinking about running for elective office, he's trying to suck up to Hispanics by reversing himself and supporting what the wingers call amnesty. The WSJ provides a little more evidence of Dobbs' delusional thinking:
Why is it almost always someone else's, usually a liberal, fault?
"Many Hispanics consider you to be the No. 1 enemy of Latinos," she told him. "Do you think that the community is somehow misjudging you?"
"Oh, not somehow. Definitively, absolutely," Mr. Dobbs responded. "By the way, I don't believe for a moment that the Latino, Hispanic community in the United States believes that of me at all. It has been the efforts of the far left to characterize me in their propaganda as such."
Why is it almost always someone else's, usually a liberal, fault?
DID BECK RUN AFOUL OF THE WAR WHORES?
Ed Morrissey at Hot Air provides two clips that show Mr. Beck making an argument for people, including his nephew, not to re-enlist. Morissey thinks Beck went too far this time and so does Confederate Yankee.
Maybe this sense of outrage will spread.
Maybe this sense of outrage will spread.
MORE EVIDENCE OF PREMEDITATION
Paul O'Neill, Pres. Bush's first Secretary of the Treasury, provided us with the cover page for the first two meetings of his National Security Council and the main topic was Iraq. The Raw Story reports that the British were aware in early 2001 of the criminal Bush regime's desire to invade Iraq:
US discussed Iraq regime change a month after Bush took office, senior British officials say
By John Byrne
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 -- 9:13 am
The Raw Story
The chairman of the British Joint Intelligence Committee in 2001 told investigators Monday that elements of the Bush Administration were pushing for regime change in Iraq in early 2001, months before the 9/11 attacks and two years before President George W. Bush formally announced the Iraq war.
Sir Peter Ricketts, now-Secretary at the Foreign Office, ... Ricketts also said that US officials had raised the prospect of regime change in Iraq, asserting that the British weren't supportive of the idea at the time.
"We were conscious that there were other voices in Washington, some of whom were talking about regime change," Ricketts said.
The head of the British Foreign Office's Middle East department, Sir William Patey, told the inquiry that his office was aware of regime change talk from some parts of the Bush Administration shortly after they took office in 2001.
"In February 2001 we were aware of these drum beats from Washington and internally we discussed it," Patey said. "Our policy was to stay away from that."
I DON'T KNOW HOW FATS LIMBAUGH CAN GET AWAY WITH THIS
CORRECTION: It's not Martin Manning, it's Michael E. Mann. Here's the quote:
In the first half-hour of his show today, he said that Prof. Martin Manning, Prof. Phil Jones and Dr. James E. Hansen were all "frauds" because they deliberately lied to us about global warming.
Michael Mann is a fraud. Phil Jones is a fraud. James Hansen at NASA is not only is a fraud, he's insane.
In the first half-hour of his show today, he said that Prof. Martin Manning, Prof. Phil Jones and Dr. James E. Hansen were all "frauds" because they deliberately lied to us about global warming.
FAUX NEWS == HUMAN EVENTS???
Rowan Scarsborough is a reporter for FAUX News...
and a writer for the conservative agit-prop rag Human Events...
and a writer for the conservative agit-prop rag Human Events...
WHERE LIMBAUGHISM LEADS
TIME Magazine decided to interview a British political journalist on the importance of the work of Charles Darwin. This is what he said at the end:
This article seems to be another case of pandering to the Fundies. Why didn't TIME interview an historian of science instead or at least someone conversant with the tremendous effect Darwin's ideas have had on biology and medicine? The last sentence is something that Limbaugh or Beck could have said.
All things considered, do you believe Darwin was a great luminary in the path of human progress?
What has the theory of evolution done for the practical benefit of humanity? It's helped our understanding of ourselves, yet compared to, say, the discovery of penicillin or the invention of the World Wide Web, I wonder why Darwin occupies this position at the pinnacle of esteem. I can only imagine he has been put there by a vast public relations exercise.
This article seems to be another case of pandering to the Fundies. Why didn't TIME interview an historian of science instead or at least someone conversant with the tremendous effect Darwin's ideas have had on biology and medicine? The last sentence is something that Limbaugh or Beck could have said.
LIMBAUGH IS OUR TRUE COUNTER-CULTURE PROPHET
Yesterday, he made it as clear as possible that the politics in America really boils down to Us vs. Them and came as close to nihilism as I can recall. In this, he expands on Charles Krauthammer's remark about the usefulness of FAUX News.
ClimateGate Hoax: The Universe of Lies Versus the Universe of Reality
November 24, 2009
We're going to talk about Copenhagen. We really live, folks, in two worlds. There are two worlds. We live in two universes. One universe is a lie. One universe is an entire lie. Everything run, dominated, and controlled by the left here and around the world is a lie. The other universe is where we are, and that's where reality reigns supreme and we deal with it.
This can drive rational, reasonable, average people insane trying to juxtapose these two universes -- the Universe of Reality and the Universe of Lies.
You know, folks, the two universes here -- The Universe of Lies, The Universe of Reality -- they don't overlap anymore. And this is even bigger than global warming, which was my point yesterday. It's about everything that the left is involved in. What this fraud, what the uncovering of this hoax exposes, is the corruption that exists between government and academia and science and the media. Science has been corrupted. We know the media has been corrupted for a long time. Academia has been corrupted. None of what they do is real. It's all lies! It is all oriented toward a political outcome. It's bigger than global warming. And of course science has been corrupted here. Science is being used for political purposes.
So we have now the Four Corners of Deceit, and the two universes in which we live. The Universe of Lies, the Universe of Reality, and The Four Corners of Deceit: Government, academia, science, and media. Those institutions are now corrupt and exist by virtue of deceit. That's how they promulgate themselves; it is how they prosper.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
TOUGH TIMES IN ARIZONA...
The Wall Street Journal provides this statistic: 47.9% of Arizona home owners have negative equity (click for larger image):
The Phoenix Business Journal provides a more sobering prediction:
The Phoenix Business Journal provides a more sobering prediction:
ASU economist: Local job market won’t recover until 2014 or 2015
Phoenix Business Journal - by Mike Sunnucks
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Arizona’s beleaguered job market won’t recover until 2014 or 2015 and many of the state’s jobless have left for other markets, according to a leading state economist.
Arizona State University economist Dennis Hoffman said Thursday at a conference in Paradise Valley that, despite some reports, Arizona ranks with the likes of Michigan when it comes to unemployment, decreased personal income and spending.
Hoffman, a professor at ASU’s W.P. Carey School of Business, said he expects the state to lose population in 2009, and the state’s economy still hinges on population growth.
WHEN WILL DAVID BROOKS GROW UP?
In his latest column, he again asserts his childish belief in the Free Market Fairy:
Adam Smith knew better than that.
The unregulated market wants to direct capital to the productive and the young.
Adam Smith knew better than that.
11 PAGES REALLY IMPRESSED LIMBAUGH
You may recall that Fats Limbaugh said Palin's book was "one of the most substantive policy books I've read." It turns out that the policy section of Palin's opus is a whopping 11 pages, according to conservative pundit Steve Chapman:
Palin? Her new memoir, "Going Rogue," fills up 413 pages, but it has less policy heft than a student council speech. Where Reagan dived into the murk of arms control and Goldwater fathomed federal farm programs, Palin skims over the surface of a puddle.
Amid all the tales of savoring the aromas at the state fair and having her wardrobe vetted by snotty campaign staffers, she sets aside space to lay out her vision of what it means to be a "Commonsense Conservative." It takes up all of 11 pages and leans heavily on prefabricated lines like "I am a conservative because I deal with the world as it is" and "If you want real job growth, cut capital gains taxes."
PALIN HAS THE REAL "CULT OF PERSONALITY"
If you take the time to see the video below, you'll learn that many Palin supporters don't have a clue about her policy positions beyond the typical right-wing cliches ("freedom"). Some apparently believe the fear promoted by right-wing radio gasbags and think Palin is the answer.
THE GOP HAS MULTIPLE PERSONALITY SYNDROME
The GOP governors want to promote a reality-based agenda and the conservatives on the RNC want to push Mark Levin's agenda.
Monday, November 23, 2009
ANOTHER BECK "PLAN" GOES BELLY-UP
Back on September 12th, Beck called for 56 "Re-Founders" who would "put their nation ahead of themselves and their party affiliation." I recall visiting his site perhaps a month ago and it claimed that Beck had found 5-6 of these "Re-Foudners" but today, there's nothing there.
LOOKS LIKE MCCLATCHY WAS RIGHT ABOUT 2002 PLANS FOR IRAQ
On Febraury 13, 2002, Warren P. Strobel and John Walcott of Knight-Ridder (now McClatchy) reported that "Bush has decided to overthrow Hussein." It looks like we may have passed the word to our best ally, the British:
The Telegraph reports, however, that according to leaked documents, “formation-level planning for a deployment took place from February 2002.”
The documents quote British Maj. Gen. Graeme Lamb, director of special forces during the war, as saying: “I had been working the war up since early 2002.”
PREDATORY CAPITALISM
For decades, Intel has dominated the micro-processor market yet it still found it necessary ot engage in monopolistic practices, just like Microsoft did with Windows.
Intel to Pay AMD $1.25 Billion to Settle Disputes (Update3)
By Ian King
Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Intel Corp. agreed to pay Advanced Micro Devices Inc. $1.25 billion as part of a legal settlement that ends a four-year dispute between the world’s two largest computer-processor makers. AMD stock rose 22 percent.
The settlement includes all antitrust litigation and patent disputes, the companies said in a statement today. The two agreed to a new five-year cross-license pact and will give up claims of breach from the previous agreement. Intel also agreed to abide by a set of business-practice provisions.
AMD sued Intel in Delaware in 2005 alleging it controls the microprocessor market in part by providing discounts to customers that avoid AMD’s products. Intel has faced anti-trust investigations dating back to the early 1990s and the two companies had battled over licenses before. Intel, which had more than 80 percent of the processor market, is also facing increasing regulatory scrutiny for its business practices.
In May, EU regulators levied a record 1.06 billion-euro ($1.58 billion) fine against Intel and ordered the company to stop using illegal rebates to thwart competitors.
Following an eight-year investigation, the EU found that Intel impeded competition by giving rebates to computer makers that buy all or almost all of their chips from Intel.
THE FRC'S TONY PERKINS IS AN AUTHORITARIAN PRICK
I just read this in NEWSWEEK:
My hunch was that he was a member of one of the armed services before he became a cop and his FRC bio shows that I was correct:
“I’m a former police officer, and I have hard time with civil disobedience, but if it comes to the point where our religious liberty is at risk, I’d not only participate but would encourage people to resist.”
My hunch was that he was a member of one of the armed services before he became a cop and his FRC bio shows that I was correct:
A veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, and a former police officer and television news reporter, Tony brings a unique blend of experience and leadership to the pro-family movement. He received his undergraduate degree from Liberty University and a Master's Degree from Louisiana State University in Public Administration. In May 2006 he received an honorary doctorate in theology from Liberty University. Tony and Lawana, married in 1986, have five children.
FATS LIMBAUGH ON GLOBAL WARMING
Fats said that he believes in God and God wouldn't allow Man to cause global warming. He also joined Mark Levin by claiming that Communists are part of the environmental movement because they see it as a way to destroy Capitalism.
I THOUGHT ANDY MCARTHY WAS JUST ANOTHER ISLAMO-PHOBE
Glenn Greenwald notes that he's pretty a full-fledged krazy and has defended Palin's "death panels" nonsense and the Birther nonsense.
PALIN, OUR CULTURE WARRIOR PRINCESS
In her interview with Bill O'Reilly, she hits the traditional conservative line of resentment toward those who are well-educated:
I'd like to know what "hard work" Palin has done in the private sector.
O'REILLY: Do you believe that you are smart enough, incisive enough, intellectual enough to handle the most powerful job in the world?
PALIN: I believe that I am because I have common sense and I have -- I believe the values that are reflective of so many other American values. And I believe that what Americans are seeking is not the elitism, the kind of a spineless -- a spinelessness that perhaps is made up for that with some kind of elite Ivy League education and a fat resume that's based on anything but hard work and private sector, free enterprise principles. Americans are -- could be seeking something like that in positive change in their leadership. I'm not saying that that has to be me.
I'd like to know what "hard work" Palin has done in the private sector.
A FEW MONTHS LATE...
(h/t Kevin Drum)
During the August Bagger protests, some of them made a good point: If this health care plan is so good, why don't YOU (Congress) enroll? Well, the H.R. 3590 AS bill in the Senate does just that:
During the August Bagger protests, some of them made a good point: If this health care plan is so good, why don't YOU (Congress) enroll? Well, the H.R. 3590 AS bill in the Senate does just that:
SEC. 1312. CONSUMER CHOICE.
(d) Empowering Consumer Choice-
(3) VOLUNTARY NATURE OF AN EXCHANGE-
(D) MEMBERS OF CONGRESS IN THE EXCHANGE-
(i) REQUIREMENT- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, after the effective date of this subtitle, the only health plans that the Federal Government may make available to Members of Congress and congressional staff with respect to their service as a Member of Congress or congressional staff shall be health plans that are--
(I) created under this Act (or an amendment made by this Act); or
(II) offered through an Exchange established under this Act (or an amendment made by this Act).
(ii) DEFINITIONS- In this section:
(I) MEMBER OF CONGRESS- The term `Member of Congress' means any member of the House of Representatives or the Senate.
(II) CONGRESSIONAL STAFF- The term `congressional staff' means all full-time and part-time employees employed by the official office of a Member of Congress, whether in Washington, DC or outside of Washington, DC.
I CAN JUST IMAGINE
(h/t TPM)
Caribou Barbie buffed up her Fundie credentials by visiting Billy "The Fossil" Graham. Her big question?
Like, does it say "bunker busters" or "small nukes"?
Caribou Barbie buffed up her Fundie credentials by visiting Billy "The Fossil" Graham. Her big question?
She quizzed him on the presidents he's known and wanted his take on what the Bible says about Israel, Iran and Iraq, Franklin Graham reported.
Like, does it say "bunker busters" or "small nukes"?
A "COAST TO COAST AM" WINGER
Last night a woman called in to the show and gave us another angle on right-wing paranoia. She started by claiming that "they" - presumably Muslim terrorists - have bought up gas stations across America and are going to blow them all up at the same time. She also claimed that the terrorist trials in NYC are a way for the Obama Administation to let thousands of terrorists into America.
You can't reason with someone who is this delusional.
You can't reason with someone who is this delusional.
BECK OUTDOES LENIN, STALIN AND MAO!!!
Glenn Beck is thinking HUGE. He doesn't want a measly 5-Year Plan for America, he wants a 100-Year Plan. He also said we need to be like the Chinese:
Isn't this much, much worse than Anita Dunn referencing Mao and Mother Theresa?
We need to start thinking like the Chinese. I’m developing a 100 year plan for America. A 100 year plan. We will plant this idea and it will sprout roots.
Isn't this much, much worse than Anita Dunn referencing Mao and Mother Theresa?
THE FUNDIES SCREW UP AGAIN
You are probably aware that some of the Fundies are trying to popularize Psalm 109:8 as a way to express their desire that Pres. Obama be removed from office, one way or another. There are two points that show how stupid they really are. First, that verse is part of an imprecatory prayer that the good man of the psalm is asking God to grant against his enemies who are unfairly attacking him. His enemies are "speaking against me with lying tongues" but that's exactly what the Fundies do when they speak of "death panels" and the "socialization of 1/6th of the economy." A fair reading of the psalm and what the Fundies have been saying would mean that they are the liars. The second point is that once again, the Fundies are playing the victim card, at least in their preferred reading.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
LOU DOBBS HAS PALIN'S DISEASE
(h/t The Raw Story)
Specifically, an inablity to tell the truth about his own actions. Think Progress finds that he's still in denial about claiming illegal immigrants are responsible for a dramatic rise in the number of leprosy cases.
Specifically, an inablity to tell the truth about his own actions. Think Progress finds that he's still in denial about claiming illegal immigrants are responsible for a dramatic rise in the number of leprosy cases.
IT'S TIME FOR BECK TO NAME NAMES
Glenn Beck has boasted that there are universities collaborating with him but he's never given their names. Similarly, today he unveiled the beginning of another of his plans to scam the rubes and wrote "I have begun meeting with some of the best minds in the country that believe in limited government, maximum freedom and the values of our Founders."
I think we all deserve to know who these people are.
I think we all deserve to know who these people are.
ANOTHER BIT OF GOOD NEWS
Sen. Reid managed to get all 58 Dems plus Lieberman and Sanders to agree to debate the health care reform bill.
NOT QUITE THE CORRECT HEADLINE
This NY Times article tries to claim there is a consensus that the economic stimulus worked but it only mentions one confirmed conservative:
While some conservatives remain as skeptical as ever that big increases in government spending give the economy a jolt that is worth the cost, Martin Feldstein, a conservative Harvard economist who served in the Reagan administration, said the problem with the package was that some of its tax cuts and spending programs were of a variety that did little to spur the economy.
“There should have been more direct federal spending that would have added to aggregate demand,” he said. “Temporary tax cuts and one-time transfers to seniors were largely saved and didn’t stimulate spending.”
WHY BECK WORRIES MOVEMENT CONSERVATIVES
I wrote below that Mark Levin dislikes Glenn Beck because he thinks Beck is OK with a 3rd party movement and that would be bad news for Mark's vision of the GOP. Dan Riehl shares Levin's dislike and Allahpundit is a little worried that Beck may demand ideological purity. (Has he condemned Mark Levin yet?)
FAUX NEWS==BECK==9.12 PRJECT
FAUX News is so deep into Beck and his politics that it can no longer defend the farce that it is "fair and balanced."
Glenn Beck to announce ‘big plan’ for 2010
By KENNETH P. VOGEL | 11/20/09 5:12 PM EST
POLITICO
...Fox News has drawn fire from media ethicists and liberals alike for breathlessly promoting Tea Party marches, and for whipping up the crowd at the Sept. 12 rally.
The 912 Project website, which is maintained by Mercury Radio Arts, Beck’s production company but hosted by Fox News, lists the march among many other upcoming 912 events, and provides a link for subscribers to sign up.
The FoxNews.com logo adorns the lower right hand corner of the 912 Project homepage, which indicates it is “Brought to you by FOXNews.com” and links to the network’s website.
THE TRAVAILS OF SAINT SARAH
(h/t Atrios)
It's pretty well established now that her book is full of lies and that's only going to hurt her in the long run. She also doesn't book tour very well, as Rumproast documented. She pissed off several hundred loyal Palinites in Noblesville, Indiana because they waited for hours in the cold and wet weather but didn't get a signature. She took off without acknowledging the situation and only later offered an apology on her Facebook account.
A few more mistakes like this and Palin will only be the answer to a trivia question.
It's pretty well established now that her book is full of lies and that's only going to hurt her in the long run. She also doesn't book tour very well, as Rumproast documented. She pissed off several hundred loyal Palinites in Noblesville, Indiana because they waited for hours in the cold and wet weather but didn't get a signature. She took off without acknowledging the situation and only later offered an apology on her Facebook account.
A few more mistakes like this and Palin will only be the answer to a trivia question.
FINALLY, THE LAWSUITS ARE COMING
(h/t Atrios)
The revelations about how the rating agencies sold junk as "AAA" are finally starting to lead to some big time lawsuits.
The revelations about how the rating agencies sold junk as "AAA" are finally starting to lead to some big time lawsuits.
Ohio Sues Rating Firms for Losses in Funds
By DAVID SEGAL
Published: November 20, 2009
NY Times
Already facing a spate of private lawsuits, the legal troubles of the country’s largest credit rating agencies deepened on Friday when the attorney general of Ohio sued Moody’s Investors Service, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch, claiming that they had cost state retirement and pension funds some $457 million by approving high-risk Wall Street securities that went bust in the financial collapse.
Since the credit crisis began last year, dozens of investors have sought to recover billions of dollars from worthless or nearly worthless bonds on which the rating agencies had conferred their highest grades.
One of those groups is largest pension fund in the country, the California Public Employees Retirement System, which filed a lawsuit in state court in California in July, claiming that “wildly inaccurate ratings” had led to roughly $1 billion in losses.
NIXONLAND TIDBITS
This isn't as interesting to me as Perlstein's Before the Storm but it does provide some details that I wasn't aware of or have forgotten. For example, I didn't know that G. Gordon Liddy lost his job at the FBI because his supervisor said he was a "wildman" and a "superklutz." I also didn't know that Antonin Scalia worked as the general counsel for the WH Office of Telecommunications Policy for Nixon.
Friday, November 20, 2009
HANNITY & LEVIN OFTEN PLAY THIS AUDIO CLIP
(h/t Bob Somerby)
On it, Ronald Reagan says this:
Reagan is talking AGAINST the passage of LBJ's Medicare Act of 1965. He also described a hysterical fear of what else could happen:
Why can't we use this glaringly false prediction against the wingers?
On it, Ronald Reagan says this:
"one of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in America when men were free."
Reagan is talking AGAINST the passage of LBJ's Medicare Act of 1965. He also described a hysterical fear of what else could happen:
First you [the government] decide that the doctor can have so many patients. ... So a doctor decides he wants to practice in one town, and the government has to say to him, "You can't live in that town, they already have enough doctors, you have to go live somewhere else. And from here it's only a short step to dictating where he will go. Pretty soon your son won't decide when he's in school where he will go or what he will do for a living, but will wait for the government to tell him where he will go to work and what he will do. ...
Why can't we use this glaringly false prediction against the wingers?
BLANKFEIN A BIT BETTER THAN DIMON
Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan admitted that investments banks did "some really stupid things" but didn't aknowledge any moral issues. After claiming that he does "God's work," Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein showed a bit more repentance:
Goldman's chief executive apologizes for part in fiscal crisis
By Greg Gordon | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Thursday, November 19, 2009
However, he [Blankfein] said, "there's also people who feel — and are right — that there's some meaningful things where we may have — not may have, certainly our industry is responsible for things. And we're a leader in our industry, and we participated in things that were clearly wrong, and we have reasons to regret and apologize for."
When he was asked what lessons he and the company have learned, he said: "Listen, there was a lot of negligent behavior, improper, bad behavior, behavior that has to be fixed and sorted through. There's no doubt about it, and everybody succumbed to it, some more or less. We don't take ourselves out of that. I include ourselves in that."
MORE IGNORANCE FROM FATS LIMBAUGH
(h/t Zachary Pleat at Media Matters)
Fats was pushing his great myth of Individualism in response to a caller who was upset because Fats thinks unemployment benefits promote unemployment. Here'san example he used to make his point:
Fish aren't mammals, Pigboy, and would you be willing to claim that sharks forgot how to fend for themselves because of the slave trade?
Fats was pushing his great myth of Individualism in response to a caller who was upset because Fats thinks unemployment benefits promote unemployment. Here'san example he used to make his point:
Remember all the stories we've had over the years, folks? There was a business off the coast of North Carolina that took people out to feed some kind of exotic fish (I don't know what's out there) and the fish, whatever it was, after not too long a time became totally dependent on those tourist boats coming out and dropping the chum overboard. They stopped learning how to fend for themselves, because it wasn't necessary.
Mammal nature, human nature, whatever. It's what it is.
Fish aren't mammals, Pigboy, and would you be willing to claim that sharks forgot how to fend for themselves because of the slave trade?
Labels: TS
JUST AVERAGE AMERICANS?
Not so much, really. An article in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune about a company that sells a "survival seed kit" has this quote from the owner:
If you go to the Solutions From Science website, you'll find this video clip ad for BlacklistedGear,
Let's recall that Glenn Beck and Mark Levin have called Pres. Obama a Marxist.
If you go to Survival Seeds, another advertiser from the Solutions From Science page, you'll find this text in their sales copy:
The final bit of evidence is from another SFS advertiser, FoodShortageUSA. It's sale copy includes this video clip:
"My customers are not survivalist, gun-toting hicks," Heid said. "They are just average, flag-waving Americans."
If you go to the Solutions From Science website, you'll find this video clip ad for BlacklistedGear,
Let's recall that Glenn Beck and Mark Levin have called Pres. Obama a Marxist.
If you go to Survival Seeds, another advertiser from the Solutions From Science page, you'll find this text in their sales copy:
WorldNet Daily cites strong evidence that some government agencies are stockpiling huge amounts of canned food.
The final bit of evidence is from another SFS advertiser, FoodShortageUSA. It's sale copy includes this video clip:
