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Markji
Posts: 22753 Alba Posts: -4 Joined: 9/14/2007 Member: #1673 USA |
9/3/2011 8:34 AM LAST EDITED: 9/4/2011 12:04 PM
Well, looks like the Gov't may finally be going after the big banks for their toxic mortgage sales to Freddie and Fannie Mae. Taking the banks to court for fraud.
I find it interesting that we have been bailing out the banks and now we are suing them. It would be very ironic if we/gov't had to give the banks additional bailout money to pay for these lawsuits if the banks lost and were heavily penalized. :-) That might mean more bank shares to the gov't, which is OK. I'm waiting to see how this pans out. I think they will compromise and the banks will get a slap on the wrist. The gov't will be able to show that they confronted the big banks. And then business will go on as usual. Loweyecue - I will respond to your post soon. It will take more time. The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.
Tom Clancy - author
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loweyecue
Posts: 27468 Alba Posts: 6 Joined: 11/20/2005 Member: #1037 |
9/4/2011 6:43 PM
Markji wrote:Well, looks like the Gov't may finally be going after the big banks for their toxic mortgage sales to Freddie and Fannie Mae. Taking the banks to court for fraud. Looking forward to your post. I am actually OK with the idea of bailing out banks and then sueing them. Not my favorite method but I can live with it. If we let the banks crash and burn like Lehman Bros the bottom would have come off teh market. All kinds of panic and run on banks would have ensued leading to complete chaos. Bailing them out but then sueing them allows you to hold them accountable in a maangeable way where the impact is not as drastic. Having said that I don't beleive anything will come off it, some laywer will find some obscure technicality and a right wing judge will be happy to grant the banks all the leeway they need to evade any penalties. Eventually they will pay some ridiculous amount like a hundred million in damages after causing losses in the 100 billions if not trillions. The system is totally compromised. TKF on Melo ::....he is a punk, a jerk, a self absorbed out of shape, self aggrandizing, unprofessional, volume chucking coach killing playoff loser!!
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loweyecue
Posts: 27468 Alba Posts: 6 Joined: 11/20/2005 Member: #1037 |
9/4/2011 8:07 PM
BENEDICT ARNOLD!!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/aug/26/obama-approves-pipeline-alberta-texas But what was I thinking? I voted for a guy with initials BO. So when the GOP asks him to bend over, all he does is ask how much? Yeah, yeah, I know it's not directly related to the thread, just venting. TKF on Melo ::....he is a punk, a jerk, a self absorbed out of shape, self aggrandizing, unprofessional, volume chucking coach killing playoff loser!!
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SupremeCommander
Posts: 33969 Alba Posts: 35 Joined: 4/28/2006 Member: #1127 |
9/5/2011 3:30 AM
loweyecue wrote:BENEDICT ARNOLD!! "No. 2 on David Letterman’s Top Ten List of the president’s plans for Labor Day: “Pretty much whatever the Republicans tell him he can do." From Dowd and The Times
DLeethal wrote:
Lol Rick needs a safe space
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martin
Posts: 75060 Alba Posts: 108 Joined: 7/24/2001 Member: #2 USA |
9/6/2011 9:15 AM
interesting article:
The Last Moderate http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/opinion/the-last-moderate.html
You’d think that Cooper’s tenure would ensure him the privileges of seniority. It doesn’t. A mild-mannered man, you’d think he’d have friends on both sides of the aisle. Not so. He’s loathed by Republicans for being in the wrong party, and scorned by Democrats for his fiscal conservatism. At the least, you’d think that he’d be respected for his institutional memory. Wrong again. The reason is that Cooper is the House’s conscience, a lonely voice for civility in this ugly era. He remembers when compromise was not a dirty word and politicians put country ahead of party. And he’s not afraid to talk about it. “We’ve gone from Brigadoon to Lord of the Flies,” he likes to say. I first heard him lament the state of Congress during one of those “get Elizabeth Warren” hearings held earlier this year. When it was Cooper’s turn to question her, he turned instead to the Republicans. “This Congress is viewed as dysfunctional,” he said, “and this alleged hearing is one of the reasons why. It too easily degenerates into a partisan food fight.” He pleaded with the junior members to change their mean-spirited ways before they became ingrained. With Congress back in session this week — and the mean-spirited wrangling about to begin anew — I thought it would be useful to ask Cooper how Congress became so dysfunctional. His answer surprised me. He said almost nothing about the Tea Party. Instead, he focused on the internal dynamics of Congress itself. To Cooper, the true villain is not the Tea Party; it’s Newt Gingrich. In the 1980s, when Tip O’Neill was speaker of the House, “Congress was functional,” Cooper told me. “Committees worked. Tip saw his role as speaker of the whole House, not just the Democrats.” Gingrich was a new kind of speaker: deeply partisan and startlingly power-hungry. “His first move was to get rid of the Democratic Study Group, which analyzed bills, and which was so trusted that Republicans as well as Democrats relied on it,” Cooper recalled. “This was his way of preventing us from knowing what we were voting on. Today,” he added, “the ignorance around here is staggering. Nobody has any idea what they’re voting on.” In the O’Neill era, when an important issue was being debated, there were often several legislative alternatives. But, under Gingrich, “that was eliminated in favor of one partisan bill,” said Cooper. That continued after the Democrats retook the House in 2006. “We no longer search for the best ideas or the best policies,” he said. “There was only one health care bill offered. One Dodd-Frank. Now you are either an ally or a traitor.” Cooper was rolling now. “The real problem with big issues like Medicare is that both parties have to be brave at the same time,” he said. “Every pollster will tell you not to do that to get partisan advantage. Too many people here are willing to deliberately harm the country for partisan gain. That is borderline treason. “This is not a collegial body anymore,” he said. “It is more like gang behavior. Members walk into the chamber full of hatred. They believe the worst lies about the other side. Two senators stopped by my office just a few hours ago. Why? They had a plot to nail somebody on the other side. That’s what Congress has come to.” Inevitably, Cooper turned to the subject of money in politics. “Money changes hands here way too much,” he said. “Members buy their way onto committees. When I first came to Congress, the party was supposed to help you. Now, when a new member is sworn in, he or she is told what their dues are — how much they are expected to raise for the party for the next election. It’s worse in the Senate. It turns the whole place into a money machine.” Cooper had lots more to say: about how redistricting has fostered extremism, on both the left and the right; about how Congress has become incapable of legislating on behalf of the nation; about how we are living through a new McCarthyism, aimed at destroying innocent people who want to serve their country by coming to Washington to run an agency or department. “We survived McCarthy,” he said, suddenly, sounding a small, surprising note of optimism. “We’ll survive this.” I hope he’s right. As I prepared to leave, he added, “You can’t lose hope.” So, yes: Let’s all hope that the next few, critical months for Congress will be better than the last few. For the country’s sake, they have to be. Official sponsor of the PURE KNICKS LOVE Program
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Markji
Posts: 22753 Alba Posts: -4 Joined: 9/14/2007 Member: #1673 USA |
9/6/2011 10:18 AM LAST EDITED: 9/6/2011 10:18 AM
martin wrote:Markji wrote:Martin, great article. This is exactly what I was referring to when I posted I wanted a 3rd party to rise up - one that is "Moderate". Jim Cooper embodies that. Good point regarding Obama. He is trying to be fair and be open to Republican inputs, but they have squashed every attempt at conciliation and compromise. So, yeah, what to do? The country has become very divided and Congress is dysfunctional. I'd like to see the Dems become stronger and more forceful in their agenda but that won't bring the country together. On the surface the situation looks pretty hopeless. From the end of the article: “We survived McCarthy,” he said, suddenly, sounding a small, surprising note of optimism. “We’ll survive this.” I hope he’s right. As I prepared to leave, he added, “You can’t lose hope.” This indicates great despair and the only course they see is hope. But we need to do something in addition to just hoping. The only way around all of this is too go to a deeper level. Get rid of the stress, hatred and tension in the country and in the political arena. Only way I know of is through big groups of people meditating. I know it may sound far out, but it does work. A lot of published studies in peer review journals have bee published. I participated in the project in Wash, DC in 1993. The results were more than some numbers on a chart. The entire atmosphere changed. Downtown Wash, DC lightened up. The feeling was very palpable. When the change happened, it was like the difference between night and day. The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.
Tom Clancy - author
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