Kinja reply list

Read More
ReburnsABurningReturnsHamilton Nolan
3/24/16 11:25am
This is incorrect. GLBA really didn’t do much of anything with respect the crisis.

You can argue that GLBA is a problem, which I think is sort of cute seeing as the financial sector had long since turned the supposed “wall” into nothing but a Maginot line before Glass-Steagall was repealed, but the fact is that the legislation that was a bigger part of the crisis was the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000. That is what really allowed the stunning levels of leverage in some of the transactions companies like AIG engaged in.
Reply
- Read More
  XrdsAlumReburnsABurningReturns
  3/24/16 11:47am
  Gramm-Leach-Bliley just officially told the industry it was open season on securitizing everything and anything after almost more than 50 years of an industry culture that, after the experience of the Depression, was a lot more careful about those things.
  
  It made other deregulatory legislation like the CFMA more acceptable, to both Republicans and Dems.
  Reply
- Read More
  ReburnsABurningReturnsXrdsAlum
  3/24/16 11:58am
  Gramm-Leach-Bliley just officially told the industry it was open season on securitizing everything and anything after almost more than 50 years of an industry culture that, after the experience of the Depression, was a lot more careful about those things.
  
  Aww, that’s so adorable.
  
  Residential mortgages had been getting puree’d into securitizations since 1970. The only thing that changed between then and now was that technology made it much easier to do in bulk and with more exotic structures, all of which were legal for both sides of the wall to engage in. We’ve had this discussion before. I am intimately familiar with the securitizations that were at the heart of the 2008 financial crisis. There was nothing in GLBA that stopped taxpayer money from being used to fund the creation of your average REMIC trust, and nothing that stopped commercial banks from certificates issued by those REMIC trusts.
  Reply
Read More
TyreeeeeliHamilton Nolan
3/24/16 10:04am
So we’re not going to hold Bill Clinton responsible for that at all? Oh HamNo, never change.
Reply
- Read More
  IskaralPustTyreeeeeli
  3/24/16 10:09am
  If the new rule of journalism is that every article about one person/factor that caused a problem has to include a reference to every other thing that caused that problem, get ready for some lengthy reading. Incidentally, I’m not sure I would call Hamilton the greatest defender of the Clintons, based on his previous writings.
  Reply
- Read More
  GeorgeGeoffersonLivesTyreeeeeli
  3/24/16 10:13am
  God forbid someone might actually point to another (and the main) cause of the repeal of Glass-Steagall, for once. But, no, since we’re in election season and want to do revisionist history...
  
  Anyway, nearly every single Republican and a majority of Democrats in the Senate pressed that shit (and ultimately a 90-8 vote on reconcilliation), not even to speak of the 343-86 vote of favor of repeal in the House.
  
  But, yeah, Clinton single-handedly with malice aforethought pushed this. Forget Graham, Leach, and Blilely, the rest of the Republicans, and a majority of Democrats. Clinton bad. Clinton evil. Clinton SMASH!
  Reply
Read More
IskaralPustHamilton Nolan
3/24/16 10:13am
Am I the only one who views Enron as a positive model for change in this country? I’ve been saying for years, if we just start a fake subsidiary nation and transfer all our debt to it, we can eliminate the deficit, boost investor confidence, and get this economy moving again.
Reply
- Read More
  William KnickersIskaralPust
  3/24/16 10:17am
  Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! And it ain't over now.
  Reply
- Read More
  TRUMP DELENDUS EST (fka Chatham Harrison)IskaralPust
  3/24/16 10:20am
  Let’s call it Texas. And instead of just calling it Texas, let’s have it be Texas. It’d be their chance to show America just how much better they are than the rest of the country.
  Reply
Read More
TRUMP DELENDUS EST (fka Chatham Harrison)Hamilton Nolan
3/24/16 10:11am
Phil Gramm is a moron.

He’s also a hateful, greedy bastard, but more importantly, he’s a moron. Yes, he has a doctorate in economics. Yes, he has been an economics professor. But somehow, despite the best efforts of whole institutions of educators, despite decades of immersion in economic study, he has come away with no vision or deep understanding of the economy. The manager of Ted’s local Chili’s probably has sounder economic advice than Phil Gramm.

Yet somehow, Phil Gramm managed to become both John McCain’s chief economic advisor in 2008, and Ted Cruz’s economic advisor today.

Shit like this is why people talk about “draining the swamp” in Washington. Because idiots like Phil Gramm can ensconce themselves in the apparatus of government for decades, elected or not, just because they know the right people, say the right things, and serve the right masters.
Reply
- Read More
  larryherkimerTRUMP DELENDUS EST (fka Chatham Harrison)
  3/24/16 10:24am
  Gramm, as an adviser to McCain, claimed in 2008 that there was no recession. It was only a ‘mental recession’ and that we were a ‘nation of whiners’. Yep, he’s a real economic genius
  Reply
- Read More
  RobNYCTRUMP DELENDUS EST (fka Chatham Harrison)
  3/24/16 10:31am
  He got his education when economists thought trickledown was a real and not a bullshit snakeoil.
  Reply
Read More
norbiznessHamilton Nolan
3/24/16 10:10am
See also: every foreign policy hawk who has found temporary re-employment in some campaign-related capacity. I’m sure even Elliot ‘Iran-Contra’ Abrams is getting some face-time with one or more of those dopey fucks.
Reply
- Read More
  Iannorbizness
  3/24/16 10:19am
  Given this whole atmosphere of “anti-establishment” bullshit, it’s funny to watch people like Ted Cruz or little Marco, or any of the other “establishment” candidates go with advisors who have worked for proven failed administrations (GWB, Reagan, etc.). It’s so sad and hilarious at the same time.
  Reply
- Read More
  floydmasternorbizness
  3/24/16 10:39am
  Unsurprisingly, Abrams is one of Cruz’s foreign policy advisers. Never mind Trump, Cruz is the one that’s really trolling those of us that pay attention.
  Reply
Read More
IanHamilton Nolan
3/24/16 10:06am
“There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.”

*sigh*
Reply
Read More
tornadoslackssHamilton Nolan
3/24/16 10:20am
Ugh. Now I'm waiting for him to name Dickhead Cheney and/or Rummy Rumsfeld as his Middle East advisors.
Reply
- Read More
  Sktrooptornadoslackss
  3/24/16 10:40am
  I have an office pool in this regard.
  Reply
- Read More
  KinjaNinjaOnABinjatornadoslackss
  3/24/16 11:09am
  Mark my words. Just like there are science fiction books/movies about traveling back in time to kill Hitler, there will be similar stories about traveling back in time to kill one or both of those war criminals.
  Reply
Read More
Maj. MalfunctionHamilton Nolan
3/24/16 10:41am
Trump vs. Cruz: The difference between being kicked in the head 3,378 times, or only 3,376 times. Make your pick, Republicans!
Reply
- Read More
  SchuTangClanMaj. Malfunction
  3/24/16 10:58am
  Which one is which, again? You know, so we can make an informed decision.
  Reply
- Read More
  Maj. MalfunctionSchuTangClan
  3/24/16 11:25am
  Don’t worry, once you’ve been kicked in the head a couple dozen times you won’t be able to count anyway.
  Reply
Read More
Sid and FinancyHamilton Nolan
3/24/16 10:20am
And with Gramm-Leach-Bliley, he also created the massive deficits of the ‘80s. Guy knows how to get shit done!
Reply
- Read More
  Sid and FinancySid and Financy
  3/24/16 11:06am
  Got my history confused. I’m thinking about Gramm-Rudman, which was the “sequestration” of its day (and an effort to get deficits under control, but in a chainsaw approach).
  Reply
Read More
DidYouReallyRespondToMyComment?Hamilton Nolan
3/24/16 10:37am
I remember Glass-Steagall. Sigh.
Reply
- Read More
  SktroopDidYouReallyRespondToMyComment?
  3/24/16 10:45am
  Ah...good times.....good times
  Reply