The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > Article Comments > Socialising risk, privatising rewards > Comments

Socialising risk, privatising rewards : Comments

By Jonathan J. Ariel, published 7/10/2008

The Democrats lit the sub prime fuse by railroading lenders to spoon out cash to people who could not possibly qualify for a home loan.

  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. All
Maybe it's just a magic shadow show,
'Round which, these phantom figures come and go....

This is a must-watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XgkeTanCGI

Why, oh why did our Australian politicians so cravenly endorse the bailout (pay the ransom money)? Some congresspeople stated that the Market would be shaken down, then martial law declared - so they were presented with a fait accompli. They actually said it on C-Span TV, but it was not reported by the mainstream media (including ours).

The President has earmarked $100 Billion of the ransom for his own devices, and troops have been deployed back to the "homeland". Blackwater mercenaries will be the praetorian guard. The Halliburton concentration camps are ready and the database of "dissenters" is booted. Cheney and Addington have finessed the terror laws to describe any ordinary US citizen as "the enemy".

So get ready for the brownshirting of America. Pre-war Italy and Germany should have shown that you can't simply buy these people off.

- history repeats -
Posted by Chris Shaw, Carisbrook 3464, Tuesday, 7 October 2008 9:52:53 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Has anyone ever noticed that most of Ariel's "essays" are usually a collection of atrocious cliches and poorly written too, that would be given an F fail in any half-way decent essay writing class, let alone a class in rigorous philosophical rhetoric.

And then he comes up with a well written article such as this.

Did he really write this, or did he borrow from someone else?

That having been said the causes of the current disaster are much more complex than Ariel suggests.

I would say that the origin of the current disaster were the deregulations put in place by Ronald Reagan which INEVITABLY lead to the Savings and Loans scandal which was a PRECURSOR to what is happening now.

McCains friend and BENEFACTOR Charles Keating was heavily involved in this.

If you examine the historical record you will find that it was the de-regulating fundamentalists in the Republican party that laid MOST of the ground-work for the current disaster.

And yes Clinton and the Democrats played their part too.

Among other things, this essay titled Make Believe Maverick gives details as to McCains involvement in and support of the various legislative actions inspired by Phil Gramm and others that lead to now.

1. http://www.truthout.org/100508A

Taken as a whole this essay also shows that McCain is a person that has no redeemable qualities as a human being, and is NOT in any way fit to be a leader of the USA.

A person who has always shirked responsibility for his actions, which have always been entirely self-serving.

UNFIT TO COMMAND OR LEAD.
Posted by Ho Hum, Tuesday, 7 October 2008 10:27:09 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Ho Hum, you are spot on! There is enough blame to go around among Democrats and Republicans but the Party of De-regulation is the Republican Party. And you are so right - McCain is not fit to be President and it is becoming apparent to the American people. McCain "milks" his POW status during the Vietnam War and always says, "America First", it always has been and still is McCain first! Many myths surround McCain's run for President and they should be revealed.
http://www.rollingstone.com/videos/player/23356460

Mr. Ariel states that Franklin Raines advises Barack Obama, It is time for this lie to stop being passed around. Mr. Raines is not an Obama adviser and never has been.
Posted by Joe in the U.S., Tuesday, 7 October 2008 10:58:20 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
I must make an apology to Jonathan---I arrogantly mistook him for Ben Terpstra.
Posted by Ho Hum, Tuesday, 7 October 2008 1:33:13 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Mr Ariel's blatant partisanship is extraordinary.

Contrast the language he uses to characterise the two VP candidates:

"...Joe Biden (D-Delaware)...slid himself into one of the many rich soft leather seats that furnish the United States Senate."

"...Sarah Heath is now married to Todd Palin, has five children, is a proud hockey mum, ran a small town and now, as Governor, runs the largest state in the union."

"... Biden...droned on blaming President George W. Bush..."

"The Governor of Alaska, in reply, softly mentioned...She didn’t labour the point. Even though it’s a very valid point to labour."

Then on to other assassinations and petty personal attacks:

"Robert B. Reich, the pint sized Secretary of Labor in President Bill Clinton’s administration..."

"...his party’s fingerprints all over the mess..."

"While President Bill Clinton was not unzipping his trousers for Ms Monica Lewinsky..."

"The Democrats, under Bill Clinton’s Secretary for Housing and Urban Development, Mr Andrew Cuomo (the youngest such secretary in history)..."

"The public - aided by the overwhelmingly a leftist media - was broadly ignorant then and remains ignorant now as to the true involvement of the Democratic Party in creating the home loan fiasco."

"Today we know that many Senate Democrats who shielded Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Christopher Dodd, received mind-numbing sweeteners from them over the years."

"Throughout his political career, Barack Obama banked more than US$125,000 in campaign contributions from employees and political action committees (PAC) of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac".

"Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-New York), not averse to having her own palm greased...".

"Franklin D. Raines, the former Fannie Mae CEO who was removed from his position in 2004 after Security and Exchange Commission (”SEC”) regulators found a multitude of accounting problems at the mortgage company, has a new job.

He’s advising Barack Hussein Obama." [He's not of course, but hey! let the facts not interfere with a good story line.]

We don't expect balance from Mr Ariel. The Republicans were blameless. But a little less gutter press character assassination might be handy.
Posted by Spikey, Thursday, 9 October 2008 5:56:48 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy