Jim Bunning and his little shi* slider

[Alaska Darin]

it's not Bunning's message, it's how it comes across: a former athlete in a suit standing in the privileged Capitol Hill bubble of unreality, pitchforking the unemployed. all that was missing was him saying, "Let them eat cake."

this has nothing to do with ambivalence or fiscal responsibility. this instead had the appearance of (intended motive or not, i don't know) of political grandstanding in my opinion.

 

jw

Considering the message is all but completely lost, I'd say you're wrong. I guess I see the glass being half full and perhaps this is the step that finally starts the long journey towards Washington doing business in a responsible manner.

 

Though I doubt it.

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Considering the message is all but completely lost, I'd say you're wrong. I guess I see the glass being half full and perhaps this is the step that finally starts the long journey towards Washington doing business in a responsible manner.

 

Though I doubt it.

i understand your point. and it is something that needs to be brought up by fiscal conservatives rather than dogmatic politicos (of which i am not accusing you, Darin, or Bunning for that matter -- don't really know him too well -- of being) merely seeking to score points.

 

the trouble i have, is where those true fiscal conservatives were when they were in the majority?

now, of course, this will lead to further cat-calls and accusations of my apparent leftward leanings, but i do think that the fiscal conservatives in Washington are late in finding their voice.

and an argument can be made that, now that they're not in power, they are finding their voice conveniently late.

 

that, i think, has been the downfall of the conservative movement within the Republican Party of late.

 

jw

 

ADDED, in bold.

[KD in CA]

i have difficulty dealing with the phrase "fiscal responsibility,"

 

Unfortunately, so does virtually every member of Congress, which is why our country is pretty much f----d long term.

[Alaska Darin]

i understand your point. and it is something that needs to be brought up by fiscal conservatives rather than dogmatic politicos (of which i am not accusing you, Darin, or Bunning for that matter -- don't really know him too well -- of being) merely seeking to score points.

 

the trouble i have, is where those true fiscal conservatives were when they were in the majority?

now, of course, this will lead to further cat-calls and accusations of my apparent leftward leanings, but i do think that the fiscal conservatives in Washington are late in finding their voice.

and an argument can be made that, now that they're not in power, they are finding their voice conveniently late.

 

that, i think, has been the downfall of the conservative movement within the Republican Party of late.

 

jw

 

ADDED, in bold.

Oh, I don't disagree with any of that. I hate the friggin' Republican party. They campaign like libertarians and govern like liberals. The only real difference between the Republicans and Democrats are who they pander to.

 

I doubt Bunning is trying to score many points since he's retiring at the end of the term but I totally get that point and it hits very close to home.

[GG]

Feel the need to chime in on the ongoing Wall Street bailout which again needs to be put into perspective. What happened in the aftermath of Lehman's bankruptcy was a complete loss of confidence & liquidity, which nearly toppled the entire financial system. Fed & Treasury had two choices, open up the teller window or suspend accounting rules and all interbank transactions for a week to restore sanity. Or they could have let the system play out and watch banks, investment houses & insurance companies topple down. They also knew that the toxic assets that were causing the mayhem were not as toxic as they appeared, because those toxic assets were still paying back principal & interest.

 

Anyone with knowledge of those assets knew that they would bounc back once market panic subsided. That's why TARP payments to the banks was not a big risk, and that's why they were able to repay the bailouts, plus interest & warrants in less than one year. The only TARP losses will come from AIG, Fan Fred, & the auto companies - not quite the coterie of evil bankers. Of the above three, the only TARP mistake was AIG, which would have been handled better if Fed/Treasury took a firmer line in paying AIG's creditors. That is the one decision that hasn't been properly answered. After all, everything started sinking when UK's regulators didn't bless Barclay's purchase of Lehman before it collapsed. US regulators then should have been more forceful on that one.

 

Still, even though AIG will eventually wither after paying off its government debt, the same can't be said of the amounts extended to the organizations who committed the biggest financial crimes over the last decade - Fannie & Freddie.

[meazza]

Feel the need to chime in on the ongoing Wall Street bailout which again needs to be put into perspective. What happened in the aftermath of Lehman's bankruptcy was a complete loss of confidence & liquidity, which nearly toppled the entire financial system. Fed & Treasury had two choices, open up the teller window or suspend accounting rules and all interbank transactions for a week to restore sanity. Or they could have let the system play out and watch banks, investment houses & insurance companies topple down. They also knew that the toxic assets that were causing the mayhem were not as toxic as they appeared, because those toxic assets were still paying back principal & interest.

 

Anyone with knowledge of those assets knew that they would bounc back once market panic subsided. That's why TARP payments to the banks was not a big risk, and that's why they were able to repay the bailouts, plus interest & warrants in less than one year. The only TARP losses will come from AIG, Fan Fred, & the auto companies - not quite the coterie of evil bankers. Of the above three, the only TARP mistake was AIG, which would have been handled better if Fed/Treasury took a firmer line in paying AIG's creditors. That is the one decision that hasn't been properly answered. After all, everything started sinking when UK's regulators didn't bless Barclay's purchase of Lehman before it collapsed. US regulators then should have been more forceful on that one.

 

Still, even though AIG will eventually wither after paying off its government debt, the same can't be said of the amounts extended to the organizations who committed the biggest financial crimes over the last decade - Fannie & Freddie.

 

The truth is, the only outrage should have been directed towards the cheap acquisitions some of the banks got due to desperate last minute negotiations. JPM as an example (even though their exposure was higher than they'd like) acquired BS at a huge bargain.

 

Not to mention Warren getting GS Preferred's paying 10% at a huge discount and the real winners of this financial crisis have not been targeted.

[Bishop Hedd]

so let me get this straight: employees pay into a fund that provides them unemployment insurance, and there's someone who says those fund shouldn't be released -- in an economic crisis no less. and this person taking this "moral" stand is a former athlete who got paid lots of money to throw a baseball, before his arm gave out, at which point he could live quite easily on the millions of dollars he was paid and had no need to cash in on unemployment insurance because he, after all, was paid millions.

and he's taking this stand against people who paid into a fund and seeking recompense?

well, sheesh, i can see the point he's making, given the fact that he used to throw a baseball and cashed in on his name recognition, and now is being paid by the people he's accusing of being lazy.

it all adds up.

 

 

jw

 

ADD: hey bishop!!

Eddie! Wtf's goin'on? Haven't seen ya down at the Wings recently...seen Jerry Sullivan but not you. Congrats to your Canucks on kicking our ass. Miller was on the take.

[Delete This Account]

Eddie! Wtf's goin'on? Haven't seen ya down at the Wings recently...seen Jerry Sullivan but not you. Congrats to your Canucks on kicking our ass. Miller was on the take.

Tsar!

well, i have been a little busy, given my trip to Vancouver and the Olympics and all. plan to be there this friday.

and Jerry mentioned meeting up with you a couple of months back. hope all's well.

 

jw

[Bishop Hedd]

Tsar!

well, i have been a little busy, given my trip to Vancouver and the Olympics and all. plan to be there this friday.

and Jerry mentioned meeting up with you a couple of months back. hope all's well.

 

jw

Olympics eh? Did you run into my buddy Longley covering the alpine events at Whistler? Hold on. Wait a sec here. The natives here are getting a tad restless, lemmie throw 'em a bone.

 

ACORN

 

He told me they were charging 11 bux a pint up there....aw damn! bare with me, Ok Magox here you go.

 

TELEPROMPTOR

 

Unbelievable. Anyway I moved again so instead of being two blocks south of ya I am now two blocks north of ya over on Anderson....wait last time sorry Eddie, Potsie's banging at the door.

 

SOCIALISM

 

So Lou and you and Kim and me will have to hook up for some La Nova.....aaaargh ok Tommie here ya go

 

 

BIRTH CERTIFICATE

 

 

See ya friday on Elmwood

[Delete This Account]

Olympics eh? Did you run into my buddy Longley covering the alpine events at Whistler? Hold on. Wait a sec here. The natives here are getting a tad restless, lemmie throw 'em a bone.

 

ACORN

 

He told me they were charging 11 bux a pint up there....aw damn! bare with me, Ok Magox here you go.

 

TELEPROMPTOR

 

Unbelievable. Anyway I moved again so instead of being two blocks south of ya I am now two blocks north of ya over on Anderson....wait last time sorry Eddie, Potsie's banging at the door.

 

SOCIALISM

 

So Lou and you and Kim and me will have to hook up for some La Nova.....aaaargh ok Tommie here ya go

 

 

BIRTH CERTIFICATE

 

 

See ya friday on Elmwood

sounds good. bumped into Longley a few times, though, in the whirlwind of it all, i couldn't tell you where or when. might have been up at luge, but don't quote me.

i'm hoping ML comes out. you bringing Kim. that might be incentive for ML to be there since she can only take so much of us guys talking.

 

keep punching.

 

jw

[Bishop Hedd]

sounds good. bumped into Longley a few times, though, in the whirlwind of it all, i couldn't tell you where or when. might have been up at luge, but don't quote me.

i'm hoping ML comes out. you bringing Kim. that might be incentive for ML to be there since she can only take so much of us guys talking.

 

keep punching.

 

jw

After we're done with triv we can always run across the street to the Home Depot for some "Survival Seeds."

 

They got anything like that in Canada?

[Delete This Account]

After we're done with triv we can always run across the street to the Home Depot for some "Survival Seeds."

 

They got anything like that in Canada?

don't know. canada's got universal health care, from what i recall.

 

jw