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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Skeeter Bug who wrote (123242)	6/25/2010 11:59:35 AM
From: Knighty Tin	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 132070

Nothing you've said, other than "the Democrats killed the extension, not Bunning?"

To: Skeeter Bug who wrote (123242)	6/29/2010 6:46:19 PM
From: Knighty Tin	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 132070

1. Of course. Without borrowing at the Fed window, there is no banking system. 2. Marking to market or cost is standard for industries in insurance and banking. As long as quality and maturities are consistent, I am for it. Otherwise, the insurance co. holding high quality munis to insure high quality buildings has to cut back on policies every time interest rates go up, as the new rate would impact price and their capital status. 3. The GDP thinks so. Jobs created this year think so. The stock market since March 2009 thinks so. Is the recovery brought about by Keynesian methods too slow and too small? Yes, mostly because much of the money remains unspent due a lag in imagining a project and getting it started. But is it going the right way? Of course it is. 4. They've paid back much of it. And, as the bankers continue to bring IPOs to market, GDP gains and tax revenue gains will pay for much of it. Higher taxes on the wealthy criminals will also help. 5. It isn't. We have been in a class war forever and the wealthy are kicking our butts. Now, as we are winning a few skirmishes, the landed gentry and their flunky butts, read teabaggers, are screaming bloody murder. I don't know if Americans can win this war, as the wealthy are smarter, better looking and they smell better. But at least we now have some Hectors and Aeneases to give the Trojans (hey, teabaggers, Sheiks are also allowed) a few victories. 6. South Africa is getting richer, with World Bank help. As is Argentina. Is every story a winner? No. Does their austerity program work for every country? No. But do they work for some? Absolutely. 7. The interest paid on long term debt does not immediately go up when rates rise. The bonds go down in price. America can live with that. When Crazy Ronnie ran up a huge debt and long term rates went to 14%, the taxpayer hardly noticed it because long term bonds, some of which have not matured yet, did not require more money to support. 8. See answer #4. Bankers do plenty. My beef is that they overpay themselves to do it. 9. Life isn't fair. The big investment banks are much closer to the economy's jugular than the neighborhood stop and rob. Nobody liked the S&Ls, either. But they were not the only ones to get prison time. Plenty of bankers did, also. I worked for a guy who was a director at a bank and did two years for bank fraud. Nice guy, otherwise. Another of my hedge fund clients got the orange jump suit, too. My guess is that somebody from Bear and somebody from Lehman and somebody named Madoff will do time in the near future. I still haven't figured out why Long Term Credit got off so easy.

To: Skeeter Bug who wrote (123242)	7/1/2010 5:28:20 PM
From: Freedom Fighter	1 Recommendation Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 132070

skeeter, IMO you are wasting your time with KT. There are many things that bright and informed people can disagree about, but some things are so clear that when someone consistently disputes them, he's either not as bright and informed as you think, politically delusional, or a lying hack scumbag that is less interested in truth than advancing an agenda. I think I already know which one it is, but this is one of those things where people could easily disagree.