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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Land Shark who wrote (155784)	2/27/2009 2:53:11 PM
From: geode00	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 173976

I should have said notional value which dwarfs the size of the world's economy. It isn't that bad but it is very bad anyway. Here is an interesting article on the large numbers problem. seekingalpha.com As I understand it, AIG's problem, other than being gambling POSs, is that they didn't hedge their bets. I could be completely wrong but I thought the Lehman bankruptcy was nasty but not as bad as people thought because they weren't AIG. reuters.com "Most banks, though, were not all that bad off, because they were simultaneously on both sides of the CDS trade. Most banks and hedge funds would buy CDS protection on the one hand and then sell CDS protection to someone else at the same time. When a bond defaulted, the banks might have to pay some money out, but they'd also be getting money back in. They netted out. Everyone, that is, except for AIG. AIG was on one side of these trades only: They sold CDS. They never bought. Once bonds started defaulting, they had to pay out and nobody was paying them. AIG seems to have thought CDS were just an extension of the insurance business. But they're not. When you insure homes or cars or lives, you can expect steady, actuarially predictable trends. If you sell enough and price things right, you know that you'll always have more premiums coming in than payments going out. That's because there is low correlation between insurance triggering events. My death doesn't, generally, hasten your death. My house burning down doesn't increase the likelihood of your house burning down. Not so with bonds. Once some bonds start defaulting, other bonds are more likely to default. The risk increases exponentially. Credit default swaps written by AIG cover more than $440 billion in bonds 2. We learned this week that AIG has nowhere near enough money to cover all of those. Their customers-those banks and hedge funds buying CDSs-started getting nervous. So did government regulators. They started to wonder if AIG has enough money to pay out all the CDS claims it will likely owe."

To: Land Shark who wrote (155784)	2/27/2009 3:03:30 PM
From: geode00	Respond to of 173976

The problem is big and complicated and made even more complicated by too many people hiding things. I heard that Bernanke has loaned out (or promised to) $2.2 T to the same people who got us into this mess and is currently refusing (!) to provide Congress an accounting of what he has done(!). I also heard that our bailout funds to AIG go to pay people everywhere, not just in the US. It is all a big scheme IMO to drain the US government of funds. The right wing couldn't do it with the trillions for Iraq going into the hands of HAL and Blackwater but they have largely succeeded with the financial meltdown. I don't want to own Citi or AIG for that matter...who does? I would rather have the cash.

To: Land Shark who wrote (155784)	2/27/2009 3:21:02 PM
From: longnshort	1 Recommendation Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 173976

here's your fukked up Canada. Well hung MARK STEYN Wednesday, 25 February 2009 The title refers to the defendant on the scaffold rather than the plaintiff in the shower in this latest example of the wonderful world of Ontario "human rights". The Closet Conservative draws our attention to the case of a pre-op transsexual - ie, still with the old meat and two veg, so not to be confused with the equally litigious post-op transsexual in the other great Ontario "human rights" transsexual jurisprudence landmark who demanded Dr Stubbs perform a labiaplasty on her. In this case, the transsexual applied to join a fitness club in St Catharines and wanted to use the women's area. At this point, she revealed to the owner, John Fulton, that she still had a full set of wedding tackle: Fulton said he wasn't sure what to do because his female clients might not be comfortable with a man in their changing room. "To me it was not a big deal, I just don't know how my women would feel about having a guy showering with them," he said. "He still hadn't had his operation yet." So two years later here we are in Ontario "human rights" hell. The plaintiff is now a plaintifette, having had the operation and relocated to Ottawa. But back in St Catharines it's John Fulton's pound of flesh that she and the commissars are determined to extract. When I was testifying at Queen's Park, I made this point to the parliamentary committee: >>>Maclean's and I have no fear of Barbara Hall, the commission or the tribunal. You're welcome to try and do your worst to us. We have deep pockets. We pushed back and we filled the newspapers with stories about all these wacky cases that Barbara Hall and others are so obsessed about. Like all tinpot bullies, the commission couldn't take the heat and backed down. But if you're just a fellow who happens to own a restaurant in Burlington, the Ontario human rights regime will destroy your savings, your business and your life for no good reason. The verdict is irrelevant; the process is the punishment. That's true. Let's take Commissar Hall and the fast waning Professor Moon at their word - that I'm a hater. I'm in the hate business. Hate is my middle name. Hating is what I do. I like my hating so much that when I leave my job at Hate Industries Inc I take my work home with me and hate all night, all weekend, and Victoria Day, too. So, when Commissar Hall decides to catch my eye I'm happy as Larry. Or rather I'm hatey as Larry. It's like a drop of blood in the shark tank. It's like tossing a raw carcase in the tiger's case. I gambol out to chew on Commissar Hall's leg and have a grand old time. That's the business I'm in. But Gator Ted in Burlington isn't, and nor is Dr Stubbs at his cosmetic surgery clinic, nor the owner of that strip joint in Mississauga, nor Mr Fulton at Fulton Fitness. They're just regular guys trying to make a living. They're not professional haters, or even mildly "right-wing". Most of these fellows are just the usual go-along-to-get-along squishy Canadians. Apparently, John Fulton has co-sponsored the annual St Catharines Aids walk for years. Does that sound like some foaming Steynian homophobe? Well, a fat lot of good it did him come the day the Ontario "human rights" enforcers showed up to ruin his life.<<< I also said this in my testimony: >>>When Mohamed Elmasry announced his suits against Maclean's, he was supported by Terry Downey of the Ontario Federation of Labour, and Ms. Downey, explaining her support for Dr. Elmasry, said, "There is proper conduct that everyone has to follow." Sorry; I pass on that one. For one thing, there is no "proper conduct" in the wacky world of pseudo human rights in this province. The rules are made up as they go along, so even if you wanted to follow them, you can't. What's the "proper conduct" for Mr Fulton? Decline to let the pre-op use the ladies' changing room and get a "human rights" complaint? Or let the Big Swinging Dick have the run of the shower and get a whole bunch of other suits from his outraged female members? What's the "proper conduct" for Dr Stubbs? Decline to perform a labiaplasty on the post-op transsexual because he's no idea what he's getting into (so to speak)? Or perform it and risk a malpractice suit for botching an operation? What's the "proper conduct" for Gator Ted? Tell the medical marijuana guy to stop smoking pot in his doorway and be hauled before the commissars? Or let the guy go ahead and get sued by the trucker sitting next to him at the bar when he fails his drug test? There is no "proper conduct", only the whims and caprices of nuisance plaintiffs backed by the Ontario government's social engineers. Bar owners and fitness clubs run up five- and six-figure legal bills. The nuisance plaintiffs get the tab picked up by taxpayers, and thus have no incentive to settle.<<< I returned to my theme during the questioning in Parliament: >>>The tribunal, I think, needs to be brought within the codes and conventions of this country's legal system. At the moment, it upends them. The burden of proof ought to be on the accuser. The accuser should not be allowed unlimited funds to frivolously torment people for no reason, beggaring them for something that serves no public purpose. Whatever you think of the marijuana thing, it seems initially to arise from a defectively written law. But that great issue, the issue of where you can smoke medicinal marijuana-the burden of that should not be on Gator Ted. The transsexual labioplasty is perfect nonsense. Any sane person understands exactly what was going on when that doctor said that he was not willing to operate on these two transsexual women. The idea that people should be essentially punished by a system that does not allow them equality with their accuser is a mark of great shame to this province. If there has to be a tribunal, it should be brought within the bounds of normal legal practice and this province's 800-year legal tradition.n St Catharines has "transitioned" to her new identity. The trouble is the justice system is transitioning along with her. The principles Canadian justice was born with - presumption of innocence, due process, equality before the law - have been systematically chopped off, and what's left has been given extravagant new implants of entirely synthetic "human rights". We will all have our fun with the right of penises to enjoy the ladies' shower. But Mr Fulton, like Gator Ted, will be ruined in the process. This system is not just ludricous, but profoundly wicked. steynonline.com