MannyGoldstein
MannyGoldstein's JournalHey! Paul Krugman had a meeting at the White House today!
Ha! Consider yourself punked!
No meeting. We're still in fully-descredited common-sense belt-tightening bipartisan austerity that has never ever worked mode. Except for bankers who get unlimited cash with zero interest.
Return to your regular programming, chumps.
(Reality seems to have no bearing on reality these days... gets frustrating...)
Elizabeth Warren Slams Wall Street Again
More bipartisan love for the bankers; but Sen. Warren's preparing for battle. One thing's for sure - if she loses, there will be blood and teeth left on the floor.
On Thursday, bank-basher Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) slammed several bills headed for the House floor that would severely weaken Wall Street reform.
The Dodd-Frank Act, the 2010 law aimed at preventing another financial crisis, "put in place a variety of measures that work together as a system to protect consumers, hold big banks accountable, and reduce the risk of future crises," Warren said in a statement. "It is dangerous for Congress to amend the derivatives provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act." (Derivatives are financial products that have values based on underlying numbers, like crop prices or interest rates; some economists believe these products helped cause the 2007 financial collapse.)
Warren's condemnation of the bills, which just passed out of the House Financial Services Committee (HFSC), echoes a May 6th letter from Treasury secretary Jack Lew to House Financial Services Chair Jeb Hensarling attacking the bills. "The derivatives provisions in the Wall Street Reform Act constitute an important part of the reforms being put into place to strengthen our financial system by improving transparency and reducing risk for market participants," Lew wrote in the letter. "These reforms should not be weakened or repealed." Last year, former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner denounced a series of nearly identical bills.
One of the bills now headed to the House floor would expand the types of trading risks that banks can take on. Another would allow certain derivatives that are traded within a corporation to be exempt from almost all new Dodd-Frank regulations. Financial reform advocates say these kinds of trades can still pose a risk to the wider financial system. A third bill would allow big, multinational US-based banks to escape US regulations by operating through international arms.
Richwine: the average Nigerian is mentally retarded*
Yep, according to the Harvard PhD thesis of Republican wunderkind Jason Richwine, author of the Heritage Foundation report that claims immigration is destroying our precious bodily fluids, the average IQ of Nigerians is 69 (see page 139). In fact, it looks like in Richwine's world, the average citizen of almost all Sub-Saharan African countries has an IQ below 70, which qualifies as what used to be known as mental retardation, now known as an intellectual disability.
Mrs. Goldstein was reading about Mr. Richwine's thesis in the Globe this morning, and decided to check it out.
Wow.
Looks like most Central Americans are at borderline intellectual functioning, which is an IQ of 70-84.
Average Israeli? 95, still below the average. Seriously?
I call bullshit. Utter bullshit. Unmitigated bullshit. Republican-caliber bullshit.
Just thought you might like to know what we're dealing with here. Pretty disturbing stuff. Shame on Richwine, and shame on Harvard for housing faculty who'll sign off on this kind of garbage.
*I used "mentally retarded" for shock effect, wouldn't normally use it. But note that the term *is* still used in the DSM-IV
What kind of an idiot would think that "tea party" in a group's name might
mean it's politically-oriented?
Where does the IRS find these people?
Folks like Obama and McCaskill are right - they all need to go. Now.
And I'm glad Holder's opened a criminal investigation: I wonder if anyone could *really* be so stupid as to make that association, it's probably criminal.
Regards,
Third-Way Manny
I fought the law and... *I* won!
Woo-hoo!
Some nitwit took me to court. Today was the big day. Apparently my counterclaims were more powerful than his unmitigated bullshit. He got zip. I got a few grand.
The look on the judge's face was priceless when he tried to present his case.
Anyway, just wanted to crow a bit. It's all been pretty stressful. There are better ways to make a buck.
Craziest @#$%ing thing I've ever seen in politics.
Now it turns out that the IRS actually planted the question that caused the thing to go off like a pressure-cooker bomb filled with doggie poop. They lit the fuse on a stick of dynamite they taped to themselves.
I may be nuts, but this IRS thing is starting to look like a fully-fake scandal hatched by Democrats so they themselves can run around wailing, gnashing teeth, firing innocents, and power-apologizing to anyone who will listen.
It's crazy! I guess folding like a cheap lawn chair wasn't enough to get a Grand Bargain to cut Social Security, so they've invented a lawn chair with a 300hp motor and artificial intelligence that can power-fold itself for no reason whatsoever.
Am I nuts? I must be nuts. I must be.
The Firing of Steven Miller: Your Thoughts?
I think Holder will be replaced in a couple of months
It's in process. That's why he's letting loose on Republicans now.
Chrome was getting slower, and slower, and slower...
on my pretty-fast Windows computer (quad-core, 4GB RAM, fast graphics processor, SSD).
So yesterday I switched back to Firefox.
VROOOOOOOOOM
Just thought y'all might like the info, in cas you're having issues with Chrome.
Profile Information
Name: Manny GoldsteinGender: Male
Hometown: Greater Boston
Home country: USA
Current location: Remulak, as far as I can tell
Member since: Tue Aug 30, 2005, 09:44 AM
Number of posts: 34,589