My God, you are an idiot.

[LessinSF]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

Are we sure some of the elders haven't moved back to liquids?

I never left.

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally Posted by sgtclub

Did you ever think you'd say that someone makes W look smart?
RT, how low is the bar in Texas to be governor? I may have to move.

The man has only won a majority twice (2010 and 2002). In 2000, he was appointed, and in 2006 he only got 38 precent in a large field. He wisely avoids all debates. I think he's only been in two in all of the gubenetorial elections. The Tea Party folk love him, even though he dodged rumors for years in the early part of his term as Governor that he was gay. (You might find some reference to that in the old infirm politics board or the early parts of this board.)

He's probably the most powerful man in Texas right now, simply because of his longevity. (Usually the most powerful man in Texas is the Lt. Gov.) Every single appointee in the state is his. He vetoes a shit ton of legislation, and his "emergency" legislation (sanctuary cities, abortion sonograms and voter ID) gets through in the all R legislature.

No one ever, ever said he was smart. But he's pretty savvy and is awesome at fundraising. His strength is the one-on-one, which is a bit odd in such a large state until you remember this is a good-ol'-boy state and he fits the mold beautifully.

I used to work closely with one of his former chiefs of staff. I thought he was a very competent man who I was prepared to hate on sight when I first met him for reasons politcal and non political*. I don't doubt that Perry surrounds himself with some competence, though he himself is likely the idiot that we see.

*He was brought in as the hatchet man for a bunch of layoffs and massive reorganization, and ended up sticking around for a few years afterwards to help run the place.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

"People don't know exactly what they want, but as one friend of mine put it, they know one thing: FUCK THIS SHIT!"


Taibbi on OWS.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Greg Ip:

Understanding the euro crisis: ASK any pundit why Italy is in crisis and they will mention some combination of Silvio Berlusconi, a towering national debt, and a moribund economy.... But these factors are not the root cause of the crisis and as long as Europeans behave as if they are, a resolution will elude them.

As recently as 2009 Italy’s debt was 97% of GDP (it’s 100% now) and its deficit was 5% (compared to 4% this year, according to the IMF). Yet that year Italy could borrow at 4%, not much more than Germany, whereas now it must borrow at 6%-7%, triple what Germany pays. What changed is not Italy’s political or economic fundamentals but how investors perceive Italian debt. For most of the euro era, investors considered euro-zone sovereign bonds risk free.... Risk-free can only apply to the debt of country that controls the currency in which it borrows. A holder of its bond knows he can always sell it to someone else, in the last resort the central bank. As Chris Sims of Princeton points out, such bonds may have inflation risk but not counterparty risk.

That has never been true of a euro-zone member country, but investors happily ignored the fact....

A staggering amount of debt must now migrate from the portfolios of investors who want only risk-free debt to those of investors comfortable treating it as credit. That is why yields on Greek, Portuguese and now Italian bonds have shown only fleeting responses to multiple bail-outs, austerity programmes, and rounds of buying by the European Central Bank. Investors have treated the dip in yields that follow each announcement as an opportunity to lighten up. In the case of Greece, the volume of debt is small enough to find a new home on the balance sheets of the official sector (the ECB and eventually the European Financial Stability Facility). Italy is an entirely different matter....

It has become fashionable not only to sell Italian bonds but also to tell the world about it, as loudly as you can.... It is hard to know what Italy can do to change this dynamic.... Italy’s new borrowing needs are small, given its modest deficit. But its refinancing needs are, massive.... [T]he European Central Bank... could reward a serious budget plan by Italy’s new government with a commitment to keeping Italy solvent via far more aggressive bond purchases.... Whereas the Bank of England can be compelled, if need be, by Parliament to be lender of last resort, the ECB does so only by choice....

Italian bonds do not have to be restored to risk-free status, they only need their yields dragged low enough for Italy to remain solvent. Whether outside investors have the appetite to absorb all that paper at sufficiently low yields is unknown. In the meantime politicians repeatedly undermine the market confidence necessary for that to happen....

The worry, then, is that as each new turn of the austerity screws fails to produce the hoped for relief in the markets, more austerity will be prescribed, until the Italian political system rebels, making default and exit from the euro unavoidable. Is there an alternative? Our leader this week concludes:

[Hank Chinaski]

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-m...f_5_perce.html

HCR moving forward bravely. perhaps the Supreme Court can save these jobs?

[Adder]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Greg Ip:

Such an avoidable train wreck. Well, at least to those not in Frankfurt.

[LessinSF]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Greg Ip long quote about Italian debt

This is such utter shit that even Cornholio coundn't find worse shit in his archives. I, however, am too pleasantly drunk and high to care about worrying the details to you.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by LessinSF

This is such utter shit that even Cornholio coundn't find worse shit in his archives. I, however, am too pleasantly drunk and high to care about worrying the details to you.

Yeah, but it almost accidentally points out the only real solution other than kicking the Mediterranean countries out of the Euro -- roll up all the sovereign debt into EC debt, and make the EC a central financing vehicles for its countries.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

Yeah, but it almost accidentally points out the only real solution other than kicking the Mediterranean countries out of the Euro -- roll up all the sovereign debt into EC debt, and make the EC a central financing vehicles for its countries.

It's far from clear that kicking Greece and Italy and others out of the Euro would solve the problem, or even can be done.

It's pretty obvious that the ECB, like every other central bank that's ever worked, needs to be a lender of last resort for the member states.

[Hank Chinaski]

Watched 60 Minutes. I surely don't believe Nancy Pelosi is crooked as fuck, simply because she voted, and forced her toadies to vote, a certain way on a credit card bill just before she bought a shit ton of credit card stock. But still, to avoid the appearance of impropriety, I wonder if she shouldn't have just let Hillary invest the money in the futures market.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

Watched 60 Minutes. I surely don't believe Nancy Pelosi is crooked as fuck, simply because she voted, and forced her toadies to vote, a certain way on a credit card bill just before she bought a shit ton of credit card stock. But still, to avoid the appearance of impropriety, I wonder if she shouldn't have just let Hillary invest the money in the futures market.

Hmmm. You do realize that if she were crooked she'd have bought the stock BEFORE the vote, not after, when the vote was priced in by the market?

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

Hmmm. You do realize that if she were crooked she'd have bought the stock BEFORE the vote, not after, when the vote was priced in by the market?

sorry. I had the timing off, "One of them was Rep. Pelosi, who participated in a 2008 IPO from Visa, just as legislation that would have hurt the credit card companies began moving through the House. Pelosi bought 5,000 shares of Visa at $44 and the stock price rose to $64 just two days later. The credit card legislation never made it to the House floor."

$100,000 in 2 days; I'm not sure hillary could have made her that much.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

sorry. I had the timing off, "One of them was Rep. Pelosi, who participated in a 2008 IPO from Visa, just as legislation that would have hurt the credit card companies began moving through the House. Pelosi bought 5,000 shares of Visa at $44 and the stock price rose to $64 just two days later. The credit card legislation never made it to the House floor."

$100,000 in 2 days; I'm not sure hillary could have made her that much.

Did she sell at $64?

She was hardly the only person who wanted to buy Visa stock when it went public, but one wonders how she got in. OTOH, Visa sold more than 400 million shares at $44, and she only got 5,000 of them. Everyone who bought the other 400 million+ shares had the same chance to sell at $64 that she did.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Adder

It's far from clear that kicking Greece and Italy and others out of the Euro would solve the problem, or even can be done.

It's pretty obvious that the ECB, like every other central bank that's ever worked, needs to be a lender of last resort for the member states.

Indeed.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Did she sell at $64?

She was hardly the only person who wanted to buy Visa stock when it went public, but one wonders how she got in. OTOH, Visa sold more than 400 million shares at $44, and she only got 5,000 of them. Everyone who bought the other 400 million+ shares had the same chance to sell at $64 that she did.

you should just stop your spinning. it's as tired as my 6-toed jokes. Plus, it is sad because we all know you believe what you write

I'm just passing on what 60 minutes found to be true. they thought it would merit air time. i didn't make the call.