First it was the Jews...

[_harmony]

The thing is... where is she wrong?

We demand and then codified into law the requirement that our banks make massive loans to people whom we know could never pay back?

Ya know, this just makes me angry. I see this in my own neighborhood. But the only people who qualified for those loans, who never intended to pay them back and certainly never intended to actually be forced to move out of those homes or maintain them in any semblance of sellable condition... are a different color than I am. I couldn't qualify for those loans. I was missing a basic skin pigment.

We learned recently that the Federal Reserve, which has little or no real oversight by anyone, has "loaned" two trillion dollars (that is $2,000,000,000,000) over the past few months, but will not tell us to whom or why or disclose the terms. That is our money. Yours and mine. And that is three times the $700B we all argued about so strenuously just this past September.

Why has the media not said anything about this loan? Where is the outcry? Did they not know? How did this person find out? Is this just a rumor?

Today I learned that AIG was forced by their contracts with their employees to pay out millions of dollars in bonuses or they would have gotten sued. Well, guess what! Without the bailout money, there would have been no bonuses, and they would have been out of a job, because they did such a piss poor job, they bankrupted the company! Who gets a bonus for bankrupting a company? Who bails out a bankrupt company and then stands by, shaking in their boots over a threatened lawsuit? Oooooo... they would have sued! Who cares? They should have been fired for incompetence, since they were so bad at what they do, they bankrupted their company.

Maybe she uses overuses hyperbole, maybe the Mormons aren't going to be threatened by their neighbors and forced into concentration camps (although that would certainly cure the obesity problem), maybe the USA in 2010 won't be a repeat of Germany in the early 40's. But the parallels are remarkable.

[_truth dancer]

Hi Jason,

I'm not "Anti-Rush" I just totally don't get the appeal. I can't find a more icky (smile) figure in the media and can't see why anyone would be his follower. I don't understand it. It is like trying to figure out why someone would want to eat dog food. I'm just not getting it. :-)

People are nervous, scared, worried. There are huge changes in the way things are being done. President Obama and congress, and Bush and congress last fall, have pushed through spending bills that simply are mind boggling. And how effective is it? You want to do something TD, ANYTHING it seems, you know. So how do you feel about AIG using the "We have to so something" money to pay $165 Million in bonuses. This to employees of a company that had the biggest quarter loss of any company ever.

No kidding. I'm right there Jason. I don't like it one bit. I don't like losing money. Are you kidding? Trust me we have been massively hurt by unethical CEOs. I want them all to go to jail not get my money.

No, I don't think ANYTHING is the right thing. What I do know is that to do nothing and let it play out is not the right answer nor is just giving tax cuts. Tax cuts are not going to turn this around. Not by a long shot. NOT that I wouldn't love some extra money. I don't know one economist who thinks this is the answer. (Only 14% of people would spend their tax rebates which would not be anywhere near enough to make a significant difference).

Again Jason, I am not an expert I just like to read what experts have to say, and no I don't think Rush and Beck qualify. LOL!

I actually wrote a very long and amazing post responding to your comments in the off-topic thread and lost it. ARRGGHHH!!

Again, it seems some experts think MORE should be done, others think less, Obama is right in the middle so I'm thinking it probably about right. NOT THAT I LIKE it. I don't. I especially don't like all the pork and earmarks and *&%$ that is a part of this mess. What I would like less is to go further down the hole into which we were headed. The stimulus package is stopping a train that was about to go over a cliff.

I'm not a fan of bail outs, I'm not a fan of giving money to support people who have made really poor decisions, I'm not a fan of the fact that because we have made good choices we are the ones who have to pick up the pieces of unethical people and horrible government policies. NONE of it is good and I don't think Obama or anyone else can fix it in a few weeks, or months, or even years.

But to think that Obama hates the US, wants to destroy the constitution, and follow in Hitler's footsteps is just craziness.

Yeah, the Bush/Beck crowd think Obama is the anti-Christ, and there may be those who may think he is a savior-type, how about thinking of our President as a man doing what he can to correct some serious problems he was given. He didn't create this mess.

~td~

Oh, also google tent cities if you want to see what is happening all across the country. Here is one link: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009 ... 514425.htm

[_Dr. Shades]

(Only 14% of people would spend their tax rebates which would not be anywhere near enough to make a significant difference).

With all due respect, CFR. I'd bet that it's much more like 99%.

[_Yoda]

(Only 14% of people would spend their tax rebates which would not be anywhere near enough to make a significant difference).

With all due respect, CFR. I'd bet that it's much more like 99%.

Yeah, I have to agree with Shades on this one. When we get a tax rebate, we always spend it, whether we really should or not. That's how we got our flat screen TV for my music studio last year.

We owe, this year, so I imagine we'll probably be waiting until the final deadline to file. (Not looking forward to April...*sigh*)

[Guest]

I applied my rebate to the credit card debt that I accrued a month earlier stimulating this economy. I feel very patriotic.

[_huckelberry]

the article starts out observing a variety of long term problems. It then observes some reasons to think Obama imcompetent. It concludes from this he is Hitler and the round up may start any day.

either insane or intentionally evil. I suspect the second. feed peoples fear with confusion, this did does not help people but does open doors to use people.

[_Yoda]

I applied my rebate to the credit card debt that I accrued a month earlier stimulating this economy. I feel very patriotic.

OMG!! This quote is gold!

Love it!!

[_Alter Idem]

You don't have to write history books to know she's not "crazy".

And you don't have to be Einstein to recognize that a number of you on this thread know very little about the rise of Hitler and therefore haven't got a clue what she's talking about.

Our society is so distracted with bread and circuses, we can't get off the collision course we are on--because most don't know we're heading for a crisis.

[_truth dancer]

Hi Jason and Liz,

In terms of CFR... the research I am looking at will be in the WSJ in a week or two.

People are going to pay down debt and save before they are going to spend.

This recession has some long term ramifications.

~td~

[_Chap]

Proclaiming that the End is Nigh is common kind of amusement, since it has no downside: if you are wrong, you won't be castigated, since everyone will be relieved; if you are right, you get to say you told us so. And if anyone disagrees with you before the results are in, you get to call them naïve, Pollyannaish, and so on.

It feels good. So lots of people do it, a lot of the time. Most people who amuse themselves like this do however have no larger basis for their vaticinations than something they heard on talk radio, or something they saw in a magazine. Somehow I suspect that those who favor us with their opinions on a board like this are likely to be members of that group rather than under-cover informants who are retained as consultants by the Saudi royal investment managers.

So have fun! Post up a storm of woe! If I worry about the Future of the Nation, it will however be for reasons not dependent on what I read here.