Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

If Adder can stop population growth, Wonk could make this go.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

But think of all the legal churning it would produce!?!

Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives, and I decline.
 

After reading (some, but not all) of the report, it's clear that there's plenty of blame to go around - from the GOP members in Congress cutting the State Department's security budget, to the CIA not really knowing the players on the ground, to State (and Hillary Clinton as the head of the department) for a bunch of things including the uniform debate.

One can also use the Libya policy as a whole as a basis to question Secretary Clinton's judgment, which is fair. But one didn't need all of the various and sundry lengthy and expensive Benghazi congressional investigations to reach that point.

If after all this brouhaha, the uniform issue raised by SEC Chick is the most serious thing that the nakedly partisan multi-year investigation led by Representative Gowdy can (sort of) blame on Mrs. Clinton, that speaks volumes. They had their result before they started and hoped that they would find evidence in their investigation that would get them (even arguably or plausibly) there. And it didn't happen. Heck, when releasing the report, Mr. Gowdy couldn't even answer questions about what was new in it.

Richard Nixon back again.
 

I don't think that SEC Chick will give Trump money, nor do I think that she'll vote for him. I think her position is like that of a lot of traditional Democrats (the AFL-CIO crowd, for example) in 1972 - abstain at the presidential level, and push support to the down-ticket candidates.

Give me a job, give me security; give me a chance to survive.
 

A big part of the problem is that we (the US) haven't really tried to do anything to help those affected by globalization and free trade. That lack of effort, combined with the bailouts of 2008/2009, feeds the populist anger.

As a side note, I really wish Spanky were still around -- I'd love to hear his thoughts on the rise of Trumpism and Brexit.

Re: Give me a job, give me security; give me a chance to survive.
 

He would think they were the fault of teacher's unions.

Re: Give me a job, give me security; give me a chance to survive.
 

I am so fucking sick and tired about hearing about "populist anger." O.K., yeah, we get it. You're real angry and shit about things that you don't really understand so you are going to vote like a half-wit to show just how angry you are. Fucking brilliant. In fact, maybe your dim-witted positions on these issues helps explain why you're in such a sorry ass position in the first place. Maybe it's time to spend some energy looking inward and see if maybe, just maybe, some of the problems you are currently facing in your pathetic little life are the result of the fact that you're a dumb ass who spends all of his time blaming others for your own problems instead of trying to actually put a little effort into solving your problems for yourself. 99.9% of those morons railing against globalism cannot even spell globalism, much less define it, other than having some vague sense that it means that some foreigners, probably of a dark complexion, are the cause of all of their problems. Sure thing, Joe Sixpack, those damn foreigners are the real problem, not the fact that you have an Oxy addiction from your fake back injury and need a pill to help you poop. Take your "populist anger" and your half-baked conspiracy theories and your country-fucking music and shove them up your populist ass.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

I think if you thought that there was even the slightest chance of Hillary winning Texas, you would vote for Trump and urge everyone you could to do the same.

Because, um... Benghazi.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

I'm worried about you. You are talking as if you think that sending uniformed American military into Benghazi could have negative repercussions and is the sort of thing that diplomats need to think about. Don't you know that they would have welcomed us as liberators?

You are also talking as if Hillary didn't devote every waking moment to the intentional effort to harm America that she and Obama have been involved in since Day One. (Seriously, how many GOP candidates accused Obama of intentionally harming America? And they wonder why a tiny-fisted blowhard got so far?)

Re: Give me a job, give me security; give me a chance to survive.
 

It is difficult to tell how much of this is sarcasm, but it is about 98% consistent with what I would like to tell my cousin who is a raging Trump supporter.

A white kid raised in the suburbs who went to Catholic high school but couldn't do more than a semester of community college, because he was always stoned. But his shitty life is the fault of Mexicans.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

"Gosh, Mr. Cheney, I would love to do something about that report about Al key-a-da wanting to attack us, but Bill Clinton let those people in. I guess I'll just sit on my thumb for nine months."

"Please Mr. President, call me Dick."


I'm sure that's how it went.

Re: Give me a job, give me security; give me a chance to survive.
 

Racism and xenophobia are certainly part of the populist anger. But I don't think that they play a large role in the reasons people support Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Don't we have uniformed guards at our embassies already? Serious question, I thought we did.

And as to repercussions, there are people in our embassy about to get killed, and these forces are the best/only way to prevent that. How about this; put them on the plane in uniform, and have them pack a pair of chinos. Then while they are flying we can decide? Because the repercussions in a country falling into chaos seem meaningless in comparision.

One of the things that killed this board for me is the complete inability for anyone to recognize the possibility someone they support might have made a mistake.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

You remember, years ago, when Hillary testified before for a Congressional committee (maybe the very first time on Benghazi) and admitted that she made mistakes? Good times.

Re: Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives, and I decline.
 

All fair.

I wonder how bad government actors would look in any operation where the military lost lives if they were subject to the same levelS (plural) of investigation here. The whole thing is fucking ridiculous.

TM

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

You see right through me. And here I thought I was hiding it well!

Tiny-fisted blowhard. That shit is mine now.

TM

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

And now you're at the crux of the biscuit. Re-regulate the banks. Too big to fail is too big not to regulate.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Take peoples' jobs away, give them money and expect them to reproduce less.

I like you, Adder. You remind me of when I was young and stupid.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

No. Your problem is you are incapable of having a discussion if there is any sort of nuance. The issue is not whether hemming and hawing impacted whether people lost their lives and whose fault that is. The issue is how does one look at the totality of evidence of what happened over there in the context of certain international realities. Hillary should bear the blame for whatever shitty, bureaucratic mistakes her office made because her name is on the door. Fair enough. But, jesus. If that's the standard and we dedicated the past 4 years coming to that conclusion, let's have the same level of investigation for every single operation in which an American lost their life. You know, for perspective.

And if you're going to act like Hillary herself is in the room saying, "Send them in in civvies. No. Wait. Send them in camos. Hold on...Hmmmm, I just can't decide!" then you are a ridiculous person who should be ridiculed.

TM

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

finally, grounds we can agree on!

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Two of the few joys in my life these days are (1) I will most likely be dead long before the shit hits the fans and (2) if I'm not, I live in one of the states where I can walk into a gun shop with a couple hundred shekels in my pocket and walk out with all I need to keep those kids off my lawn until the black helicopters show up.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Then I guess we'll just have to outlaw loans that big.

Re: Give me a job, give me security; give me a chance to survive.
 

Let me state the obvious. There are 10,000 of them for every one of you. Make them satisfied. Otherwise, fuck them? Fuck you.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

That was the "then" portion that should have been a continuation of the "If..." previous sentence, which I have now fixed. I do not think that of you independent of the lead-in thought.

TM

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

I'm not sure you're putting any thought into your proposed solutions. But I'm glad I know that now.

TM

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

I was making a joke.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

I've put a great deal of thought in, and I've decided that you're right. The problem is that the system, as it presently exists, is simply too big and intractable. The answer is to do things in smaller pieces. It's called risk distribution. It was really quite popular way back when business ran the economy and banking, etc. was called "financial services" instead of "finance."

It's kind of like global warming, population growth, or hydrocarbon fuel consumption. All are too big and need to shrink. We can wring our hands about how expensive, difficult, or inconvenient it will be, or we can do it before the whole fucking thing blows up in our faces.

If we are not going to continue to be subject to essentially blackmail by the large money center banks, then we must reduce the sheer size they bring to the marketplace. It's like any other market. When there get to be too few players, market dynamics go out the fucking window.

Or have you given up flying lately?

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

So your solution is to prohibit loans of a certain size and force bigger banks to syndicate what will end up being multiple loans to smaller banks? Will Agent banks only be able to be Agent on one such loan? Or can they Agent multiple loans from one borrower (which just puts us in the same boat)?

Or are you saying those forced smaller loans each have to be held by individual banks?

Actually, let me rephrase: What are you saying?

You lost me.

Again.

TM

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Walk in with shekels and Mr. Gun Shoppe Owner may be eyin you real careful and maybe you make it out of there and maybe you don't

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

This is easy. Overconcentration adds costs and risks to the system. If we don't like it, we make the big banks pay for those costs and risks. Instead of giving them a lighter regulatory fee structure than the small banks, jack it up, make them pay.

And then maybe break a couple of them up, just for shits and giggles.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

I'm all for increasing the number of banks. I think we should implement a law that does so. I think it will be super fucking complicated, but I'm not against it.

I'm not sure tackling the issue by restricting/prohibiting loan size and participation makes much sense.

TM

Re: Give me a job, give me security; give me a chance to survive.
 

Let them eat pork rinds.

Re: Give me a job, give me security; give me a chance to survive.
 

Just don't tell them that that pill they need to poop is brought to them by big pharma.

That's right. If not for big pharma, they wouldn't give a shit.

Re: Give me a job, give me security; give me a chance to survive.
 

get them on Atkins? fight obesity, I like your thinking!

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Uh huh. We (and Japan and Western Europe) are already reproducing at appropriately low rates. A small uptick because of "got nothing else to do" boning doesn't matter much, as long as rising into middle income (or higher) status has the same effect on China, the rest of Asia and wherever low skill manufacturing goes after that.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Perhaps an example.

X wants to build a $2.5 billion hydroelectric dam. X will put up $50 million equity and borrow the remaining $2.45 billion. Under regulations, no more than 25% of the project may be in slices larger than $100 million, 25% may be up to $200 million, the balance must be in smaller tranches. The entire loan must be syndicated in a reverse dutch auction with no limits on dollar amounts bid on for any tranche. The terms for each lender in a tranche must be identical. If a lender bids for $200 million of the syndication at 6.25%, on whatever terms, and a lender bids on $5 million at 6.25%, the agent must allocate to those two if they are the low bids, on exactly the same terms proportionally. If one gets a .25% fee, the other gets a .25% fee. No other lender can be allocated any portion of the loan at any higher rate unless all bidders at a lower rate are included.

Overall costs to the borrower may be higher, but rates may be lower because a smaller lender needs a smaller return. It's a bigger headache for the agent, because it has to deal with more lenders. It can build that into its management fee.

Any lender with adequate funds can bid on any deal by registering with any agent to receive a bid package on all syndications. Amendments, extensions, etc. can be dealt with by allowing for voting at given dollar levels lent, regardless of rate tranche.

That doesn't cover everything, but it's a start.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

They's a lot of MOTs in Savannah. In fact, the first synagogue in North America was built there and it still has a congregation. Ever had chicken-fried pastrami?

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Pretty sure he was implying that flying is expensive/unpleasant because there are too few players.

Re: Give me a job, give me security; give me a chance to survive.
 

As long a they can find them and afford them, no problem. It's when they start getting hungry and can't afford or find those pork rinds that there will be noise.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

China just ended the 1 child rule. there is a massive baby boom coming as everyone under 45 tries to get that second kid in.