Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[hack]

On a lighter note... (I'm sure a head or two will explode when watching this. Ha!)

https://youtu.be/ziwYbVx_-qg

So wrong, but so funny too. Charisma goes a long way to obscuring shortcomings.

[froot loops]

Goldman Sachs was a big villain in the crash of 2008, is Hannibal trying to argue otherwise?

[entropy]

So wrong, but so funny too. Charisma goes a long way to obscuring shortcomings.

Or allowing us to sexual predator and president...

Oh, hello Hoss.

[Wild Hoss]

Or allowing us to sexual predator and president...

Oh, hello Hoss.

Grammar... The difference between feeling your nuts and feeling you're nuts.

hi!

[hack]

LOL! Cleverhuskers.

[entropy]

::: palm meet face :::

well played hoss.. well played..

btw, wear you blue dress tonight. You know, for role playing.

[Wild Hoss]

::: palm meet face :::

well played hoss.. well played..

btw, wear you blue dress tonight. You know, for role playing.

You're saying that in order to be the man in the relationship, you have to role-play?

Not that there's anything wrong with that...

[entropy]

I'm not the one who always wants to cuddle.

[Hannibal]

Words have meaning.

Take it up with Bernie Sanders then. He is the self-described Socialist and you are giddy with excitement that he is paving the way for another guy just like him to come along in 16 years. I am just equating his own label with what he has called for -- massive tax increases, massive expansions of the welfare state, massive increases in government debt, and completely open borders. It's not like I am making this up. He is completely open about this. If that's not the definition of Socialism then blame the self-described Socialist, not me.

Either that, or drop the bullshit semantical arguments and explain to me realistically how reeanacting Glass-Steagall is going to magically pay for everything or how massively increasing the size of government is going to make government more efficient and more accountable.

[Wild Hoss]

I'm not the one who always wants to cuddle.

Fat people are warm.

[entropy]

Is that why you wear shorts in the winter?

[Wild Hoss]

Is that why you wear shorts in the winter?

No...but its why I save a fortune in belts.

[hack]

Socialism is not the same as ``what Bernie Sanders says''. Socialism was around long before him and will be long after him. If you know what it is you can listen to Sanders and understand that some of his core reforms are merely a return to how things were in the 80s. Like Glass-Steagall.

As for Glass-Steagall, I did not say it would magically pay for anything. Anyone can see that by reading the thread. (I have repeatedly asked you to stop putting words in my mouth). There are people for it on all spots on the political spectrum, because protecting taxpayers from risks taken on by private investors is not a left-right issue. It's common sense. Now I may be wrong about the following, but I am pretty sure you have declared yourself a Rand fan here before. I am right in saying that Rand would support Glass-Steagall. She would agree with the notion of ``evil bankers''. So I kept bringing up Glass-Steagall essentially in hopes of getting past your sneering and patronizing to find out where you are actually coming from. I still don't know, but increasingly I suspect that you don't either.

I'm sure we've all seen before that sometimes people are condescending as a way to mask ignorance. That may or may not be be what's happening here, but I like this thread and want it to stick around. There are people here who have significant disagreements but can intelligently and politely discuss them. It would be great if you did the same.

[Hannibal]

Socialism is not the same as ``what Bernie Sanders says''.

Like I said, take it up with him.

I see part of the problem here now. You're not actually paying attention to all of what Bernie Sanders says or wants to do, other than one or two pet reforms that you are interested in. So it's okay if a massive wealth destruction regime gets elected as long as they take down a few Wall Street banks with the rest of us. Or I guess we'll worry about how to pay for all of those future liabilities later?

Re Glass-Steagall -- don't care. It's a boogeyman and there were so many loopholes in it that it's debateable whether it wasn't doing anything anyways. It didn't prevent the bubbles and crashes that occurred during its 67-year life and its repeal didn't cause the housing bubble and crash. Worthless dot com companies were getting billions of dollars thrown at them in the mid to late 1990s, with the act still in place. The invention of mortgage-backed securities predated the repeal of the act and so did the existence of the subprime market. Both of these were byproducts of social engineering, the negative effects of which were hidden for a long time because there is no such thing as a "risky" loan when housing prices are always increasing. Banks could afford to loan money to somebody who couldn't pay it back because they could foreclose on the house and not lose money. Slapping more rules and regulations onto the banks wouldn't have fixed this problem. With that said, it didn't necessarily impede anything, so I don't care.

What would Ayn Rand say? I think that she would advise against the Social Engineering that helped create the housing bubble in the first place. But once you decide to engage in that, then everything after it is mitigating the damage.

Remember that the Glass-Steagall act was originally enacted because the banks were the original boogeyman for the Great Depression. I don't think that most reputable economists still feel that way. It was questionable legislation in the first place. But the rationale at the time was very similar to the rhetoric of today (i.e. "the banks duped people into taking loans and spending money").

[Da Geezer]

Hack: would you please give your definition of socialism then.

I understand that the state owns the means of production. What Hannibal is speaking of is a welfare state with open borders. There has never been a successful state that let immigration go unchecked while handing out goodies "....to each according to his need...". That is what Venezuela has tried to do, and it has been a disaster.

I've talked to college kids who have taken "anti-capitalism" as an area of study (at Wayne State). If you ask them what works, they invariably say Sweden and Norway. Certainly homogenous populations have a better chance with any form of economic system, but Hannibal is proposing the exact opposite of that when he says "open-borders".