The first day of voting in the Iowa Caucuses gives us the occasion and former Democratic Representative Barney Frank give us today’s Quote of the Day.
“We aren’t perfect, but they’re nuts.” – Barney Frank on his suggestion for the Democrats’ 2012 campaign slogan.
From Reddit.
From the comments:
i work in the hedge fund and proprietary trading world. i used to have a “director” rank of a department when i was fulltime, but now am a highly paid consultant with clients in chicago and NYC. i appreciate your candor, and for those who wish to know, 99% (pun no intended) of what he says is more or less true. in the derivatives space it gets even weirder, not to mention HFT and algo trading, which i am also a part of. i am curious as to what got you into the field, and now that you know what you know, why you remain. if you are anything like me, it’s a complicated answer, i’m sure. right now, i do find i have front row seats as to how all this works, and if i leave, i’ll be an outsider. i also know others in the business who are indeed sympathetic to OWS, but are laying low. some folks actively take the back door into work as to avoid the protesters. they’re not shunning them, but i think it’s a complex cocktail of fear and shame. the culture of this world is STRONG. it is not clear to me how to “fix” things nor is it clear to me what to tell people what to do about it. happy to connect with others in the business. wish we could all have beers and a whale of a conversation. any thoughts you may have would be greatly appreciated. relevant link just posted on propublica: http://www.propublica.org/thetrade/item/on-wall-street-some-insiders-express-quiet-outrage
Contrary to conservative’s assertions, it’s not just a bunch of lazy hippies, and this isn’t just going to go away. People are not just tired of getting screwed, others are tired of being involved with the screwing.
I am 42 year-old married father of two who has spent from 2007 until now trying my best to outrun a recession that I feel has been breathing down my neck. I am fortunate enough that both my wife and I have good jobs and stable incomes right now, but there was a time not that long ago that I was laid off twice in 6 months and when I wasn’t sure if my next paycheck was going to come, let alone clear. I busted hump, pressed flesh, kissed ass, and basically had to prove that I was hungrier, more aggressive, and just wanted it more than my competition to get the job I have now. The sad thing is that all 124 people who wanted the same job I got have it a lot harder.
… and I am a registered Republican… just listen to the douchebags in the audience when this soldier asks a legitamate question. Kinda makes you wonder what happened to all that yellow-ribbon “Support our Troops” bullshit, right? I give Santorum a little credit for answering the question without foaming at the mouth, although his “special status” argument was debunked about a decade ago. Whatever special status is gained by being homosexual is causing an awful lot of them to commit suicide. I don’t see anybody running to get in line for that kind of special status. I think it’s the same “special status” illegal immigrants get when they come here to work for less than minimum wage doing extremely hard physical labor, while people where they live are getting hung from bridges by drug cartels.
It has become glaringly apparent that what the Republican party espouses comes with a few disclaimers.
Just to give you perspective as to how much money that is over how long a period of time…
The Commission on Wartime Contracting (.pdf) concludes that “vast amounts” of contract money in Iraq and Afghanistan provided “little or no benefit” to the war efforts. The commission confirmed $31 billion in contractor cash lost to corruption or dysfunction. But it warned that the true figure could be as high as $60 billion, or “$12 million every day for the past 10 years.”
(Firing up the Sarcasm-inator) But teachers unions, healthcare, education funding, NPR… that’s where the real problem is in America. (Sarcasm-inator off.)
The best part of this is that for all of their pissing and moaning about ‘fiscal responsibility,’ I’m pretty sure that Congress in general and Republicans in particular will do absolutely nothing about this.
… it’s this one.
Stop Coddling the Super-Rich by Warren E. Buffett.
One question that I think should be asked… Who is coddling the coddlers?
You know a government is dysfunctional when the New York Times Op-ed page starts accepting fanfiction.
That is an accurate description of a piece of writing by Thomas Friedman, an author whom I respect and admire, even when I don’t agree with him. The only way this article could extend beyond the realm of fantasy that it is already in would be to inject an element of porn.
This may be a cynical view to take, but from what I’ve seen, “bipartisan agreement” is right up there with “the check’s in the mail,” and “I’ll respect you in the morning.”
The total debt of the United States is about 14.5 trillion dollars. That’s this much: $14,500,000,000,000. Now that total amount is the result of a lot of things, but one of the things that contributed to it is bailouts. Bailouts for banks, for failing industries, Wall Street, etc.
In order to issue a bailout, Congress has to first debate and then enact legislation to allow disbursement of that money. Surprisingly, there is one part of our government that has access to the U.S. Treasury that can just give it away. And that they did… to the tune of $16,000,000,000,000.
Here is a partial list of the recipients of the Fed’s largess.
In an industrial action against Qantas Airways Ltd., two right-handed aircraft engineers will work with only their left hands starting Friday.
I don’t care what side of the dispute you are on or what your motivations are. Fucking with my safety while I’m in your flying machine does not endear me to your cause.
