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kallend

Inside Job

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Not really. Business as usual.

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The scaling back of government oversight and the weakening of checks on speculative activity by banks began under Reagan and continued during the Clinton administration.







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"1981 to 1988 is 7 years"-Kallend (oops, it's actually 8 years Kallend)

The decade of the 80's was from 1980 to 1989. 10 years. If you remove 1980 and 1989 you have 1981 to 1988. 8 years.

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For the benefit of people who are wont to claim "It is the fault of those dreadful that we are in this dreadful predicament!," it seems this film points out that there is plenty of blame to go around, and that it has taken over a generation to screw things up this badly.

The old Pogo saw that "we have met the enemy, and he is us" is an extension of the principle that a people get the government they deserve.

Money is to government what power is to aviation in the sense that, given enough horsepower, you can make anything fly. Another aviation analog to government spending is the observation regarding drag in supersonic flight - while there is no maximum, there is a finite minimum.

At any rate, the disconnect here is between what Government spends and quite who pays for it. There are many things that, if we had to pay for them out of pocket, we would immediately point out that they were simply unaffordable. If "the Government" (which, in a Democracy, is actually us) pays for it, somehow it is affordable.

We have been like a prototypical airhead shopping with a no-limit credit card that is paid for by "someone else" for the past 40 years. When the bill arrived at our door, we became incensed and irate that someone else did not show up and take responsibility for our spending spree.

Whether it is Group A who thinks it okay to have a fleet of billion-dollar bombers or Group B who wants a free ride for every down-and-out person's "right" to procreate, we can afford much less of it than we have signed on for.

My concern regarding the supposed authors of our economic woes is that I view any of them as symptomatic, merely the tip of the iceberg. The attitudes I hold responsible have metasticized, and are now so deeply entrenched that I doubt they can be addressed.

Our complacency is only matched by our ignorance.

What the hell, it was fun while it lasted.


BSBD,

Winsor

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And I strongly recommend watching all the extra material on the DVD.
There is a lot more info on:
- Why the ratings agencies had motivation to give glowing ratings to the banks.
- What happened in Iceland.
and much more.
"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

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I finally got around to watching this documentary. Unfortunately I did not watch it on DVD so I was unable to view the extra material yet. I occasionally looked for it at my local video store and it was never available and couldn't be bothered to put myself on a waiting list. But it's on YouTube now and that's where I watched it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFfTcAcGjcU

I am a free market capitalist, but even I got a little mad watching how the system was abused by so many. I have no issues whatsoever when a person makes 300k, 500k or one million dollars. I have no issues whatsoever when an entrepreneur goes out, makes some product people want and becomes a multi-millionaire. Too bad more people in society don't show the entrepreneurial spirit. But what these people did gaming the financial system was beyond comprehension. Politicians, lobbyists, regulators, academics, bankers, brokers, all of them. And who's to say it won't happen again. Most of the people who were involved are still around.

Interview with the documentary's director:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJCWY-_gG2k


Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

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I occasionally looked for it at my local video store and it was never available and couldn't be bothered to put myself on a waiting list.



It's available in DVD format on Amazon.com
"The evil of the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it. " -John Galt from Atlas Shrugged, 1957

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I agree with the movie review.

I really don't think that money should be able to buy you everything.

Wendy P.
There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

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Just finished. All I can say is wow! Not one of those fucks or the firms they ran has been the target of a criminal investigation.

Edited to add: John, you've been trying unsuccessfully to bring this to light on here. Sorry for my ignorance.
Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

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Just finished. All I can say is wow! Not one of those fucks or the firms they ran has been the target of a criminal investigation.

Edited to add: John, you've been trying unsuccessfully to bring this to light on here. Sorry for my ignorance.




Something else to piss you all off:

www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/04/27/how_goldman_sachs_created_the_food_crisis
...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

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