This blog is dedicated to the memory of David Weintraub, who took on insidious astroturfers and won.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Goldman Sachs Scandal Shows Why Capitalism Stinks

Some great degree of socialism is the way to go. Housing for all. Equal schools. Health care for all. Food for everyone. With all the money being spent on war and spy factories, you know there is enough to share. Everyone able to work should have the opportunity to earn a decent minimum wage. This is all common sense. The way to finance it is through the termination of the war industry. Only self-defense should be allowed. Peacekeeping should be what the UN is all about. Social and environmental justice should be enforced. Greed is not good. Greed for the lack of a better word is what is destroying the Earth and its people. [/anti-Gordon Gekko]

I finally checked out what the stink is with the Goldman Sachs scandal. Basically, rich fockers were using inside info concerning sub-prime loans to rip off we the people. Here's an analogy. A manager of a baseball team knows he can make decisions here and there and ensure his team loses. In the background he bets against his team. This is how pigs can lose and still win.

First thing George Bush did when he came into office was talk down the economy. The only way to keep things going was to sell those bonds. Unemployment went up. Interest rates went down. Everyone with a clue refinanced their homes.

It was Clinton who had brought the rates down to I remember as around 8 percent, maybe 7ish. He had balanced the budget. GW is the one who focked it all up. So what happened after everyone had refinanced? Well, other than new home sales, the mortgage market had dried up. That's when the selling of subprime loans picked up. That's when this Goldman Sachs thing took place, around 2005-06. Those are loans made to people who can't possibly pay them off. There were all kinds of loans being given out. An ARM is an adjustable rate mortgage. It's low at first, but based on inflation, it can sky rocket. There are balloon loans. I'm not a genius on any of this. I'm only blogging about it, because donkeytale says the left-o-sphere doesn't seem to be on it. Maybe I just wrote things that are not true. I don't think I did.

Here's a link and a movie. Knock yourselves silly.

Goldman Sachs fraud case stunning in its indictment of Wall Street culture

Down in the comments someone named moderate line came up with some good links.
The No. 2 contributor to Obama $994,795 and the No.4 contributor to McCain $230,095.

Politics is a game where the guy with the most money gets to pick his referee.

http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00009638

http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=n00006424
He also gave a link to a PBS Frontline show on this stuff. I'm gonna watch it when I get the chance. I've always been an admirer of that show, back to when it first came out with Jessica Savitch.
Watch Frontline “The Warning”.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warning/view

12 comments:

donkeytale said...

Yes, Obama took gobs of Wall Street money in 2008. But what happened in 2012 after 4 years? Wall Street gave all their money to Romney. Why? They weren't pleased with Obama's and the Dems moves to regulate the big banks.

Were these moves enough to stop the next great recession? Don't know the answer.

Dodd-Frank was not the perfect bill by any means but it is significant that Sanders pledges to use that bill to break up the big banks. SO the means are there, but is the political will?

As for the MIC, great points but there is a conundrum at the base of the argument.

The MIC is now thoroughly entrenched within the macroeconomy. Suddenly cutting off these funds will throw the entire economy into a tailspin, another recession will result and guess who will be blamed? Presidit Sanders and the Demotards, thus opening the mid terms and next Presiditzial race right back to the GOP.

As has been noted many times, campaigning for Presidit is a lot easier than being Presidit.

BernBots who ignore the history will be condemned to repeat it.

donkeytale said...

This is reminiscent of the argument whether Obama should have assigned stimulus to infrastructure projects or funnel the money to states to disburse through Welfare, unemployment comp and Medicaid.

It was decided that setting up vast infrastructure programs would take too long and lead to more opportunities for corruption because government doesn't directly perform these projects, the money is allocated to private companies who must go through a competitive bidding process that many times is rigged (once again) by big money corporate donations.

How will Presidit Sanders do infrastructure differently?

Tokyo Shemp said...

You do it unwittingly, but this is another Hillary talking point. I think the reason you are off your game is you're not delving at all into stories of substance. It's as if you didn't notice there was a BLM protest in South Carolina.

Your fallback is as Obama apologist.

I dgaf that Bernie will face obstruction. I want him to gain control of the veto and executive order pen.

You have a huge blind spot, son.

That's my advice. Pick a real story, a bunch of them, and come up with something fresh. I'll agree to disagree. It is ridiculous for anyone to defend Obama as being anything other than a tool. It seems like he's itching to endorse Hillary. Did you notice anything on that. Make some use of yourself, ya dirty rotten idjit. Just kidding, mi amigo. Carry on, my wayward son. There will be peace before the schtick is overcooked.

donkeytale said...

The veto and the executive order? LOL. Good luck with all that. Talk about weak sauce. You wont see much done with the executive order my fren. For instance you cant executive order anything to do with the budget. You can't break up big banks, you can't increase social security or Medicare for all. Yes, you can accomplish a few things that are the purview of the executive branch and Obama has expanded that use and Bernie can expand it some more but it is still a limited utility in the grand scheme of a "political revolution."

Maybe what you want is a Bernie dictatorship of the BernBros?

Methinks you left out several projection alerts in the last comment. You have, uhmm, a few blind spots too my fren. Well not just you but all the Bernie Buzzflies on Twitter attacking the "black elites" and Obama and then attempting to convince black voters they should feel the Bern on the one hand and then diss Obama who has at least about an 85% approval rating among all blacks (including conservative Colin Powell GOP blacks)on the other hand. This line of "reasoning" actually is the thinly veiled racism of white supremacy. Bernie himself is too smart to practice this schtick so why do you feel compelled?

Killer Mike doesn't get it. Corny West doesn't get it. Lenny Sativa doesn't get it. The idea isn't to show off how much more pure and progressive heart you are than Obama, the idea is to help Bernie win....or why else turn your very non-basketball related existence, your twitter feed, your screen name and your avatar over to Bernie?

So yeah Obama is a tool. Sure he is. He has done great harm to Amerikkka. Just like they say on Fox News over and over and over agin my fren. He also drove the GOP "batshit crazy" as Loverboy Lindsay Graham said and brought the world to th epoint of considering Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders to succeed him.

The BernBotTwitterBuzzflies tools. Useful idiots for Team 3F and the GOP both.

donkeytale said...

I picked up on the BLM protest against Bernie as legit expression when you were still straining to tie BLM to Hillary. BLM went at Hillary and Trump too. Bernie understood where I was coming from and he readjusted his campaign to make it less lily white. He didn't do a particularly excellent job but he has tried and gained some black support. He needs more however. You quietly readjusted your schtick and dropped that line of "reasoning."

BLM needs to stay after Trump. Put themselves in harms way like John Lewis did back in the day. Create a spectacle of crowd violence against them.

That would be an ascension to the level of John Lewis heroism and for a great cause...the udder destruction of the racist white GOP

donkeytale said...

I'm dunn.

Have at me. LOL

I am not a robot

Tokyo Shemp said...

It's quite convenient that you never look into any actual stories and keep falling back into mainstream media cookie cutting.

You are a sophist, period. You are a contrarian.

To this day you have no self-awareness why some have wondered if you are a DLC operative.

You're what is referred to as a clown, not a robot.

The funniest part of your blind spot schtick is on one hand you say the medium is what it is and gets pushed around by the zeitgeist, not the other way. On the other hand, you consistently raise David Brock/Hillary talking points. You are a form of bully?

The reason why I often go out on my own and give up on our collective schtick is because I like interaction based on sources and academic thought, not these robotic sound bites you provide that are consistent with the DNC's right wing conspiracy spin.

John Lewis used to be a great guy. Now I don't know what is up with him. Maybe he has concussion related dementia. I attacked John Lewis when it was appropriate. I had nothing to do with the more recent garbage he put out smearing Bernie. I will also make a note that you have not once looked at the Capehart story. And even here it took some prodding to get you to make even a simpleton observation on Ashley Williams. You are probably thinking, who is Ashley Williams? That is part of the problem and that is why you are a dead end at this point, or as you phrased it in a moment of clarity, "I am off my game."

donkeytale said...

Oh, ouchie. Sophist? DLC operative? C'mon man, attack with ideas not tired labels or don't say I have nothing when you have nothing.

Look, my friend, I don't have time to follow stories. It would be helpful if you could express in your own words a cogent idea as to what these stories mean. Connect some dots. Do some homework. Open some eyes. No, you are too busy herding your BernBros on Twitter into a deadend.

I understand the need to lash out as Bernie was crushed in SC and it is clear the polls were correct once again. If anything the polls understated the Hillary win which is not a good sign.

Nate Silver and even Harry Enten own you at this point. Your polls are obsolete schtick has been proven....obsolete. Sometimes the thing is to just face fact and move on. It is you too who need some new schtick, of course, and I think that is why you attack me to inspire yourself. You've been living off schtick theft for months now (McLuhan, Medium is conspiracy, Bernie Zen, zeitgeist sniffing, etc ad nauseum) and as I have had to pull back recently from much blogging there isn't much meat on the bone for you to chew on. Sorry, it is what it is.

So I read all this as your way of saying that you want me to get back in the game. I know a love siren when I read one and I concur, a nation turns its lonely eyes to me when the going gets tough and the going is tough right now.

There really isn't much else to say that we didn't say months ago. It is all about the latino/black electorate for Bernie. If he can't break out of the lily white ghettos then he's doomed. That has always been obvious. No amount of Black Elitist Celebrity support will help him. People in the trenches are pissed and that goes for BLM, white conservatives, you name it.

And yet, Bernie's campaign and your support on Twitter is a thing of beauty and a great service to humanity, win, loose or draw. I already pulled the lever proudly for Sanders.

But I am definitely not falling in the Bernie or Bust trap. That give up schtick is for loosers. Life is and will continue to be an ongoing process (until we are herded into the gas chambers) and the left continues to make gains since the Bush years. This process will be ongoing. The destruction of the lunatic GOP is itself an immensely satisfying result in the form of Trump. Amazing and then not so really when you think about how long the GOP has been acting insanely. Yes, since Obama the Tool came to town and caused the whiteys to go nuts. If the destruction is completed on Obama's watch in November his historicity will be assured for all time.

donkeytale said...

John Lewis is a legend. He is a hero. His place in herstory is assured.


The point is the BLM movement if it wants to create the greatness of the 60s civil rights movement in these times will need to directly confront the power structure again and again and again, taking severe beatings to many heads in the process.

We can't look to the old John Lewis for support. Muhammad Ali is a conservative Republikkkan (you're welcome once again for yet another teaching moment).

This generation needs its own John Lewis's, and its own Ali's or there will be no victories on the level of the Civil Rights movement.

I'm dunn.

donkeytale said...

No, I'm not dunn. I wanted to say that I do not get ESPN or TNT so these Saturday night NBA games of the week on ABC have been awesome, especially since they seem to feature Golden State every week in a good matchup.

The last two were road wins against the Clips and the Thunder.

Curry was incredible last night, sinking the game winner from 32 feet with .5 seconds left in OT. Overall, he went 12-18 from 3.

There can be no doubt, even though many old timers are now in the business of stating their team could thrash the Warriors. The latest was Cedric Ceballos saying his Phoenix Suns team which never won anything could beat GS. And Kevin Johnson is as good a Curry. LOL. I guess some old ballers have brain damage too.

But my point is Curry responded by rolling his eyes and tuning out the haters and then coming up with epic herstorical performances as his response.

That;s what we need to do here. We need to not succumb to adversity. There will always be adversity in life. It is a given. It is why we are alive in fact, to overcome these obstacles on the road to enlightenment.

Dude, you are the man. I am honored and pleased to spend a good portion of my time expressing myself on this blog and interacting with you here. There will be adversity, there will be some blows to the head.

But never give up. Climb the wall of adversity as Steph Curry has done and the world will benefit as we ourselves will benefit from the effort.

donkeytale said...

And I'm not saying stop the schtick theft. I love schtick theft. It is a form of praise. I steal yours too- it is our best schtick to steal each other's schtick especially when haters then say we are the same person.

And you take my schtick in awesome, academically inspired directions that I am not worthy, willing or able to do.

In closing, you are right, I have nothing at the moment as the game is on and the time for bloviating is not now. I'm truly done.

Tokyo Shemp said...

I didn't read a word and won't. You're the blogging version of Obama. You look and sound good, but beneath the facade, there's no substance.