Casurf1978

EXACTLY. McCain is pulling some BS with this act. Delaying the bill one day or two even two weeks will not have a huge impact. Wall Street and these banks already know help is on the way. I'd rather have the Gov spend some time and hammer out all the details than rush something through just to appease the people. Plus I really want to hear what both Obama and McCain have to say on the economy, the current crisis and the long-term goals they have to fix it and prevent something like this from happening again. IMO if they really are serious they should get the likes of Buffet, Soros, and other top level financial gurus and ask for their opinion on this bill.

Exactly. I agree with Frank that some regulation is needed. Did the OP know that Margon and Goldman had leverages in excess of 30:1, so for every dollar in the books they would invest or lend out 30. These investment banks loved leverage/risk and it came back and bit them in the ass. Whats wrong with with subjecting these investment banks to the same or modified regulation to capital resever, risk and management practices that commercial banks have to abide by. Look at the currenet situation if some sort of regulation was in place we would not be in this mess. Just look the at the pay checks of the top execs of the former investment banks. In 2007 the five investment bank firms paid out $39 biliion in bonuses to themselves. Frank nailed it when he said they rewarded risk with huge paychecks and even if the firm did poorly they still go their bonuses. FYI did you know that while those execs were cashing in their bonuses the 5 firms lost over $74 billion that same year.

These people aren't living off the misery of others. The stock market is a highly sophisticated form of gambling IMHO. Well in all honesty all the markets are from commodities to bond markets. You're either betting that XYZ is gonna go up or gonna come down. George Soros at one point made over a billion betting against the British pound a few years later he lost 2 Billion betting against the Russian Ruble. If you're gonna ban short sellers might as well close all the commodities and options markets. Stop blaming short sellers for this whole mess. The real blame is with the board of directors and upper level management who actually knew what was going on with the balance sheets and the books of these investment banks.

No, it shouldn't be banned and it's not a crappy way to make a buck. Short selling helps set accurate prices and it helps pin point problem companies. A lot of people are trying to pin the blame on short-sellers, but IMO thats a bunch of BS. The financial markets work best when there is a free flow of information from buyers to sellers. As an investor wouldn't you like to hear both reasons to buy and sell securities. If you owned XYZ stock and noticed that within the last few days 20% of it's shares have been shorted wouldn't you like to know.

I agree with you 110%, but in this case I don't think the Fed could sit back and watch. After how the markets, domestic and intl, reacted with Leyman, AIG would've pretty much destabilized our already fragile markets. Look at it this way, AIG is a huge spiderweb that is intertwined in every aspect of Wall Street. AIG is the derivatives marketplace insurance company, it cannot fail. A failure would've set off a chain reaction that would be catastrophic. IMHO government oversight is needed and new regulations have to be put in place.

It didn't crowd out investors, on the contrary it stabilized the price for you. IMO AIG would've gone the way of Leyman if the fed didn't step.

It's no representation, more like oppression. Since when do you allow a majority to vote away or curtail the rights of a minority. One of the principles of Democracy is that minorities enjoy basic human rights and that no government/majority should remove.

It's not a clear cut as you make it seem. Fannie and Freddie need to be bailed out or else it would be catastrophic to our economy and god only knows what it would do to the economies of other countries. The executives didn't drive these institutions to the ground like Enron. There are so many parties to blame for this mess. A few years ago I knew a 21 kid with no college degree in the mortgage biz. He told me of how he would push loans to people he knew down the line could not afford the homes when the rates would rise. You're completely overlooking the rampant fraudulent lending practices that some institutions used. You cannot point the finger at one sector and blame them for this.

Thanks for your reply and the others you've posted. What's your position in cases where the life of the mother is threatened by the pregnancy. Should her life be worth less than the unborn? I know we are veering off the OP, but where does a woman lose the right to decide what to do with her body. In your opinion the moment life starts in her she pretty much loses all her right to decide what is best for her body. What about women who are drug addicts and pregnant. They are harming the unborn child. Should the government step in and protect that life.

I'm appalled and sickened by these people. My cousin was raped and it was the most traumatic experience in her life. Now they want to force their morals on her. How easy it is for them to force their will and beliefs on others lives and yet, I would bet these same individuals would go ape shit if you just mentioned gun control.

Before becoming Gov in Dec 2006 she served as a council member and mayer of a city whos population was a little bit more than 5,000. Don't you see slight problem. Even presidential scholars are stunned at his choice. In your view the only experience that counts is Washington experience, just look at a few of the people in the Bush Admin: Rove, Rummy, Cheney. Combined they probably have over 30 years of experience, yet look at the cluster f%$k they created. The point is does Obama have enough experience necessary to have the judgment to be president. Take the time to look up his record. For such a young man and short work history he has had some remarkable accomplishments.

I dont think most people are ignorant, but the gross state product of FY 2005 for Alaska was a mere $39.9 billion with over 80% of it being derived from the oil industry. It's fifth in the nation for per-captia GSP, but look at the population. You have to be realistic. She has very little if any experience. Now you want to put her a heartbeat away from running a country whos GDP is 13.3 trillion. In all honesty dont you guys see slight problem here.

I agree with you 110%, but I think the gist of this whole case is that the authorities, US, failed to tell Medellin that he had the right to seek help from his Consulate. Put aside the DP and this hideous crime. According the the treaty we signed if you are arrested overseas you have the right to inform your consulate of your situation. I'm not saying the case should be overturned, but if an American was overseas and this right was not granted everyone here would be up in arms.

It's not about a "protective nanny state" trans fats have been linked to coronary heart disease. http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/03/trans_fat_heart_disease.html Read that article and then look at how much money has been spent on treating heart disease. The CDC found that in one year over $151 billion was spent in treating this disease. If trans fats are linked to CHD, what's wrong about banning them.

How about the other people on the road? I've seen some pretty bad accidents where occupants have been thrown out of the vehicle because they chose not to wear a seat belt. Now that person has become a danger to other drivers.

Look at the history of the public transportation system in Los Angeles. At one point in time we had the largest rail transit system, over 1100 miles, in the world. Then GM, oil and rubber companies bought up all the rail lines and started to demolish them, by the early 1960's the last line was shut down.

Most economist expected the rate to increase by by 10 basis points not 50, so yes it is bad. Compound that with the price of crude going up 10 dollars and the market reacted.

It could be a variety of reasons, from poor quality coffee, cheap filters, type of coffee machine that was used, how long it's been standing around, how long it was steeped, even water temperature can affect the taste of your coffee.

My thoughts exactly. I don't think anyone is saying that English should not be taught or learned. I also think it should be declared our national language, but it's time for Americans to wake up and realize that learning a second language is extremely important in this day and age. Like you said populations and languages change, either you adapt or you're left behind.

A pretty hardcore meth users/addict. The term is used mainly to describe the behavior these individuals show after having been on meth for several days, i.e., hyperactivity, performing tasks over and over again, extreme fidgeting, picking of the skin, etc. Not a pretty picture. If you get a chance HBO has a special called addiction and it profiles some tweakers. Like I said before not a pretty picture, but it does open your eyes up to how f-ed and horrible this drug is.

How are we slipping away? What the Ca supreme court basically said was that it is NOT ok to discriminate against sexual orientation and that to do so is equivalent, under the Cali constitution, to racial discrimination. Is that such a bad idea. Should sexual orientation dictate what rights a person has or doesn't have.

What's your take on the Bear Stearns bailout? I too am against most bailouts, but where do you draw the line. If we bailout Bear, then why not these lenders. The CEO of Stearns net worth is over 900M and he walked away from this fiasco with a hellof a nice golden parachute. I just don't understand why people make a huge fuss over this, your article, when look what the fed did for Bear and its execs who walked away w/o even a slap on the wrist.

Not really. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/04/05/ST2008040502593.html Most of the money she donated went to the Clinton Family Foundation and before you start attack it look at its 2007 annual report. I still don't see why people are all up in arms over how much this family made the past few years and where most of the money they donated to went. Remember you're talking about senators running for POTUS. Does anyone actually think if you make low 6 figures you might have a chance to run for senator let alone POTUS. Just look at the net worth of Clinton, McCain and Obama. Obama's only worth a mere 1-2M compared to Clinton at 100M+ and McCain at 25-30M.

You do know that they, Clintons, have donated over $10M to charities over the past few years. So she is leading by example. I don't like her but it is her money and if she wants to blow it on her campaign then let her.

If that was allowed, wouldn't it in a way create a black market for organs. There is a huge demand for organs with and extremely limited supply. That environment is ripe for scheming and inflating prices. How would you control prices in the first place? Would you let the market dictate the price? If that's the case then only the super wealthy would be able to afford organ transplants. Why would I want to donate my organs after death if my family could get (just wild estimates) 200K for my heart, 10K a piece for a cornea, 50K for my liver, 20K for my bone marrow, 15K for a piece of my lung tissue, etc. You've just turned the human body into a commodity.