Greenspan presided over the biggest economic boom in history. He wasn't a complete jackass ... At least not until 2001. His recommendation for ARM mortgages and handling of the accounting scandals was a disgrace. A lot of this subprime mortgage mess is his fault. He started the encouragement.

momadance wrote:Greenspan presided over the biggest economic boom in history. He wasn't a complete jackass ... At least not until 2001. His recommendation for ARM mortgages and handling of the accounting scandals was a disgrace. A lot of this subprime mortgage mess is his fault. He started the encouragement.

Right, he started this problem. He's also the guy who knew that Bush's original tax cuts weren't going to work, but he endorsed them anyway. He wasn't always wrong, but he was always trying to muddy the waters, and in the end, I think he did more harm than good.

You guys are overstating things.

I'm not certain, but that article TV linked to may have been written by a communist.

well, I am wearing this shirt today

jeff2sf wrote:You guys are overstating things.

I'm not certain, but that article TV linked to may have been written by a communist.

I'm pretty sure Bill Fleckenstein isn't a communist. In another column, he argues that the free market should work these things out, not the government. He also argues that the problem with Wall Street is that they've become a bunch of socialists. His general argument is reminiscent of Shumpeter's, which is that the combination of big business and democracy pushes economic policy in the direction of socialism.

Non-combat accidental electrocutions

At least 12 U.S. soldiers in Iraq have died of electrocution and a House committee chairman is demanding that the Defense Department provide answers about what caused these tragic deaths.

Seems that faulty wiring and corner cutting is the culprit... by the hands of Haliburton spinoff KBR. Gotta love that no-bid money grab cronyism.

Running for Craig's seat. Changed his name to Pro-Life. Are you kidding me?

I always wondered about a lot of these Pro-Life people. If you are one, then speak up. It seems that they are pro-life before the baby is born, but once the kid had life, it is tossed aside never to be thought of again.

phuturephillies wrote:

momadance wrote:Greenspan presided over the biggest economic boom in history. He wasn't a complete jackass ... At least not until 2001. His recommendation for ARM mortgages and handling of the accounting scandals was a disgrace. A lot of this subprime mortgage mess is his fault. He started the encouragement.

Right, he started this problem. He's also the guy who knew that Bush's original tax cuts weren't going to work, but he endorsed them anyway. He wasn't always wrong, but he was always trying to muddy the waters, and in the end, I think he did more harm than good.

I'm no expert on fiscal policy, but my sense of Greenspan was that his inner ideologue ultimately got the best of his inner pragmatist. As momadance writes, he was pretty solid until 2001; through the '90s, he essentially struck a quid pro quo with Clinton to keep rates low so long as the government was committed to fiscal responsibility. The result was that just about everyone did at least a little better, and some people did vastly better.

But when the Bushies came in, he essentially grabbed his pom-poms and started cheering. Maybe that had something to do with the fact that some Republicans had blamed him for their loss in 1992, when (they theorize) more stimulus might have saved Bush 41. Either way, the last five years of his chairmanship were pretty dismal.

My (again possibly ignorant) sense of Bernanke is that he's a technician rather than an ideologue and he's essentially trying to avert a meltdown. But it feels like he's overreacted, and I worry that we're going to have something like the infamous "stagflation" of the '70s.

Phan In Phlorida wrote:Non-combat accidental electrocutions

At least 12 U.S. soldiers in Iraq have died of electrocution and a House committee chairman is demanding that the Defense Department provide answers about what caused these tragic deaths.

Seems that faulty wiring and corner cutting is the culprit... by the hands of Haliburton spinoff KBR. Gotta love that no-bid money grab cronyism.

When Bill Clinton was President the pentagon awarded Halliburton no bid contracts for Bosnia and Kosovo.

BILL TITLE: To amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to establish a procedure for authorizing certain acquisitions of foreign intelligence, and for other purpoes

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll145.xml

Disco Stu wrote:

Running for Craig's seat. Changed his name to Pro-Life. Are you kidding me?

I always wondered about a lot of these Pro-Life people. If you are one, then speak up. It seems that they are pro-life before the baby is born, but once the kid had life, it is tossed aside never to be thought of again.

I'm in the same boat as you. Most of these people are just odd. They're pro-life but love the death penalty and would more than likely want to exterminate crackheads and those lesser than themselves. It's a weird culture. The best are the one who bomb abortion clinics.

Some 22 Year-Old gets $300M Pentagon contract to arm the Afghanis


edit: whoops.

Great link, deviant

phuturephillies wrote:Great link, deviant

Fixed. Unless someone is still looking for a Wii.

U.S. forces were drawn deeper into Iraq’s four day-old crackdown on Shiite militants on Friday, launching air strikes in Basra for the first time and battling militants in Baghdad.

Two thoughts:

Uprising of Shiite militants show a small sampling of what could happen if US pulls out of entire country? Was early British pullout of Basra in fact encouraged by US?

Is US involvement the precursor to long awaited war with Iran, just in time for the general election season?

Iran is just too big, we can't go into an all out war without a draft if the purpose is overthrowing the government without taking troops out of everywhere else we are. Albeit the war would be easily won because their military is crap.

Then we would have two Iraqs and given Iranians love for martydom it would be a slaughter fest and millions would probably die. They love their human wave attacks.

Anywho it's moot. Congress wouldn't approve a war with Iran that is pushed by Bush and I doubt either of the Dems would want to either once they got in office.

Warszawa wrote:Is US involvement the precursor to long awaited war with Iran, just in time for the general election season?

Hatched by the evil genius Karl Rove guaranteeing Republicans lose 40 house seats and 9 senate seats and the presidency in the biggest Democratic landslide since 1964?

jerseyhoya wrote:

Warszawa wrote:Is US involvement the precursor to long awaited war with Iran, just in time for the general election season?

Hatched by the evil genius Karl Rove guaranteeing Republicans lose 40 house seats and 9 senate seats and the presidency in the biggest Democratic landslide since 1964?

And Dick Cheney's response to America's opposition to the Iraq war was....

Warszawa wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:

Warszawa wrote:Is US involvement the precursor to long awaited war with Iran, just in time for the general election season?

Hatched by the evil genius Karl Rove guaranteeing Republicans lose 40 house seats and 9 senate seats and the presidency in the biggest Democratic landslide since 1964?

And Dick Cheney's response to America's opposition to the Iraq war was....

I took your general election season comment to mean that the war with Iran would be initiated at least in part out of electoral season considerations. I was pointing out that to do so would be retarded from the Republican point of view. If you were mentioning it just to point out the coincidence in the timing, and possible effects on the races, without speaking to electoral motivations, my b.

jerseyhoya wrote:

Warszawa wrote:Is US involvement the precursor to long awaited war with Iran, just in time for the general election season?

Hatched by the evil genius Karl Rove guaranteeing Republicans lose 40 house seats and 9 senate seats and the presidency in the biggest Democratic landslide since 1964?

I know its far fetched .. but regardless, if there were to be an invasion of Iran before the general election, it won't make a difference who wins in November. Once they're in Iran, they're going to be stuck there for a long, long time.