What ever happened to the UNITED states?
Just asking.

What ever happened to the UNITED states?
Just asking.

Some people think the EU model is grand.

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The progressives?

Is making progress toward better conditions bad?

What ever happened to the UNITED states?
Just asking.

Some people think the EU model is grand.

Hehe:)

Major your view of reality and mine don't coincide. In the past you have stated "the only thing in the middle of the road is a yellow stripe or road kill", I see many shades of gray. The world is not black or white.

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Major, if you are going to go on about the 2008 debacle, get all the causes.

1) Charles Keating.
2) The Internet.
3) Glass-Steagle repeal
4) CRA

All four of these had to happen to cause the perfect storm.

First was Mr. Keating. He destroyed community banking in the form of Savings and Loans. Those were the institutions who knew the neighborhood and would lend people money to buy real estate. His crimes caused them to fail. (It should have been a wake-up call but people are blind.)

Second along came the Internet and Tiny Ghetto Bank could come up with a huge sounding name and attract deposits far flung (This due to the low FDIC insurance limit) and way over its ability to use or loan out that money.

Third came the Glass-Steagle repeal and those banks ran into the investment banking business with all this pile of cash.

Fourth came the CRA. Not the original act Jimmy Carter signed, which was nothing more than a mission statement, but the Clinton era revision.

I'm getting to it, but it is all a bowl of spaghetti.

The CRA revision required a dollar for dollar lending policy. For every dollar a bank lent out in the investment banking business, they have to lend a dollar in their "local community." Now all would have been fine under the Carter Era law as the bank was free to say a loan was too risky and they didn't have to prove it in court. Under Clinton era any jerk could sue them to prove any given loan application was too risky. Now the bank was in dozens of court rooms at once. Can't stay in business paying that many lawyers. So they lent to loans they knew would default. So they got a couple billion in Internet deposits, a billion went on AAA paper to GM and a billion went into option ARM and LEG loans into the ghetto.

Along comes a wall street firm and it crosses the barrier the other way. It sells insurance against loans going bad. Magic thing happens, Fannie and Freddie now have a home loan offered to them "without risk" so they are required to buy it. So the bank got the bad loan off their books for cash. Now they have cash and the cycle repeats.

Where could this have been broken? If there were S&L's still they would have been handling the ghetto loan business and you can bet they would not take on too much risk. So Ghetto bank would have had no customers to lend to, except those so horrible no one would touch them.

If the Internet hadn't come along all these tiny ghetto banks wouldn't have had massive piles of cash sitting doing nothing.

If Glass-Steagle hadn't been repealed the banks would not have been able to lend huge piles of cash easily outside their communities, no outside loans and no CRA issues.

If CRA had been left to the banks to determine credit worthyness, the option ARM and LEG loans wouldn't have been made, more would have gone into AAA paper.

This 2008 mess is too many cooks in the kitchen, each fixing a little part but none looking at the entire system. Kind of like when NASA blew up a space shuttle. Every single one of them shares part of the blame for the perfect storm, The scary part is they haven't fixed it yet. They're advertising option ARM and LEG loans again!

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If Glass-Steagle hadn't been repealed the banks would not have been able to lend huge piles of cash easily outside their communities, no outside loans and no CRA issues.

That is what was taught in upper division economics classes in the 60s. It worked for decades then the oligarchs under the mantra of Reagan got it repealed. Yes Clinton was president but he was reflecting the mood of the country which was Reaganesque. That does not excuse it but it does explain it.

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The progressives?

Is making progress toward better conditions bad?

Individuals making progress toward better conditions using their own judgement is just fine.

It is NOT fine to have the Government force it on everybody... Nor is it fine to have the Government force some people who have done what they needed it to have a comfortable life to pay extra taxes so that the Government can keep the rest in dependence (the essence of Progressiveism).

To put it another way, it is not fine to have robbery victims finance keeping others in slavery.

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https://youtu.be/iY57ErBkFFE

#Texit

Don't blame me, I voted for Johnson(L) in 2016.

Truth is dangerous... especially when it challenges those in power.

An email I received yesterday sums up my view pretty well............

A guy looked at my Corvette the other day and said I wonder how many people could have been fed for the money that sports car cost. I replied I am not sure, it fed a lot of families in Bowling Green, Kentucky who built it, it fed the people who make the tires, it fed the people who made the components that went into it.

It fed the people in the copper mine who mined the copper for the wires, it fed people in Decatur IL, at Caterpillar who make the trucks that haul the copper ore. It fed the trucking people who hauled it from the plant to the dealer and fed the people working at the dealership and their families.

BUT,... I have to admit, I guess I really don't know how many people it fed.

That is the difference between capitalism and welfare mentality. When you buy something, you put money in people's pockets, and give them dignity for their skills. When you give someone something for nothing, you rob them of their dignity and self worth.

Capitalism is freely giving your money in exchange for something of value. Socialism is taking your money against your will and shoving something down your throat that you never asked for.
" : >

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"Sour Grapes make a bitter Whine." <(0)>

The progressives?

Is making progress toward better conditions bad?

Individuals making progress toward better conditions using their own judgement is just fine.
It is NOT fine to have the Government force it on everybody... Nor is it fine to have the Government force some people who have done what they needed it to have a comfortable life to pay extra taxes so that the Government can keep the rest in dependence (the essence of Progressiveism).
To put it another way, it is not fine to have robbery victims finance keeping others in slavery.

To me it's very funny that political parties are all coming up with so many fancy labels.
Progressivism is one of them.
I remember that movement from the late 60's and 70's.
Since then it don't exist anymore here anyway.

That the Government can still keep the rest in dependence...
Think again.
In order to pay tax you need a job.
To get some housing you need (most likely) to pay a mortgage to a bank.
Who is the slave ownery?

Robbery Victims Keeping Others in Slavery(credit MKong)
In Odda Words It Beeez DEM/Lib Navery
Keepin' dA Voters-illegal & Otherwise-wif No Hope Or Changery
'cept Changin' Trillions of Dolla from Workers to Chacanery
Sign In ta Law without knowin' dA EX 'splainery
Only LIES LIES LIES and mO LIES GODDamn ya see
fO You and Me
Yappery

Got It Jannery?

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May we All have a METAMORPHOSIS. REASON. GOoD JUDGEMENT and LOVE and ORDER!!!!!

An email I received yesterday sums up my view pretty well............
[i]A guy looked at my Corvette the other day and said I wonder how many people could have been fed for the money that sports car cost. I replied I am not sure, it fed a lot of families in Bowling Green, Kentucky who built it, it fed the people who make the tires, it fed the people who made the components that went into it.
It fed the people in the copper mine who mined the copper for the wires, it fed people in Decatur IL, at Caterpillar who make the trucks that haul the copper ore. It fed the trucking people who hauled it from the plant to the dealer and fed the people working at the dealership and their families.
BUT,... I have to admit, I guess I really don't know how many people it fed.
That is the difference between capitalism and welfare mentality. When you buy something, you put money in people's pockets, and give them dignity for their skills. When you give someone something for nothing, you rob them of their dignity and self worth.
Capitalism is freely giving your money in exchange for something of value. Socialism is taking your money against your will and shoving something down your throat that you never asked for.

As long capital is spent there is no problem.
But now when then richest 62 people are as wealthy as half of world's population and don't spend!
Trickle down effect. My A*s!

Robbery Victims Keeping Others in Slavery(credit MKong)
In Odda Words It Beeez DEM/Lib Navery
Keepin' dA Voters-illegal & Otherwise-wif No Hope Or Changery
'cept Changin' Trillions of Dolla from Workers to Chacanery
Sign In ta Law without knowin' dA EX 'splainery
Only LIES LIES LIES and mO LIES GODDamn ya see
fO You and Me
Yappery
Got It Jannery?

Message received.
[decode-encode mode on]
Yap.
Only LIES LIES LIES.
[/decode-encode mode off]

Message received.
[decode-encode mode on]
Yap.
Only LIES LIES LIES.
[/decode-encode mode off]

LOL!

It's tough speaking Dullish/Wormish, but even if it was clear typed English I suspect it'd still not make much sense. :-D

Yap. Dem Dems gonna keep doze Conservs in check with their tears and yapping and keeping fires UNder their a$$es with their 'make america sick again' reminders, EvEry Day

#MAKE_AMERICA_SICK_AGAIN

REMEMBER TO CONSUME AND OBEY

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#resist

As long capital is spent there is no problem.
But now when then richest 62 people are as wealthy as half of world's population and don't spend!
Trickle down effect. My A*s!

Huh???

What do think happens? These '62 people' keep all their money in a 'money bin' like Scrooge McDuck?????

They invest it.

Take the case of Carlos Slim Helú. One of the richest people in the world. In fact, from 2010 through 2013 THE richest person in the world (currently in 6th place).

Carlos Slim is one of the worlds most important philanthropists and most people have never heard about his humanitarian activities. He owns stock in more than 200 companies that employ more than 200,000 people in Latin America and beyond.

http://www.carlosslim.com/responsabilidad_ing.html

Also Bill Gates,

In 2014:

Bill Gates has a net worth of nearly $82 billion, of which just $14 billion is in Microsoft stock. The bulk of the remainder — $64 billion – is invested in a variety of assets through Cascade Investment LLC, his private investment firm, according to people familiar with the matter. Cash, some small technology investments and assets such as his 66,000 square-foot mansion in Medina, Wash., make up the last $4 billion chunk.

Of course, Mr. Gates would have been a lot richer had he not already donated more than $28 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s largest philanthropy. The foundation, which also includes donations from Mr. Gates’s buddy Warren Buffett, has a $41 billion endowment. The endowment owns a big portfolio of stocks and bonds and also invests in private-equity and other private-sector deals. Every year, the endowment gives a couple of billion dollars to its grant-making counterpart to distribute among causes the Gates family holds dear, such as poverty reduction programs, health-care and education in some of the world’s poorest regions.

Since Mr. Gates began his philanthropic efforts in 1994, the Gates Foundation and its predecessors have given away $30 billion in grants. Recently, the foundation pledged $50 million to fight Ebola.

http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/09/19/breaking-down-bill-gatess-wealth/

As you can see, not only do these two people employ a great many people through their companies that they own stock in, they give rather large amounts of money in philanthropy. Granted, not all of the super-rich are as philanthropically generous... Some are down-right greedy bastidges. But, you can't paint ALL of them with the same broad brush, and the lion's share of their wealth is NOT just sitting in big piles inside vaults. They have it *invested*, helping to provide jobs for people, worldwide.

Oh, for your amusement... The world's 200 richest people:

https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/2016-08-22/aaa

Edit...

Total net wealth in the world in 2015 was US$250 trillion per:
https://publications.credit-suisse.com/tasks/render/file/?fileID=F2425415-DCA7-80B8-EAD989AF9341D47E Table 1, page 5.

The 200 richest people in the world, today, only own US$3.1 trillion per the bloomberg billionaires page near top right corner.

Thats only 1.2% or so of the world's wealth is owned by the richest 200 people.

Edit 2: That is the top 1% of the people in the world own half of the wealth in the world. That is upwards of 70,000,000 people, a FAR cry from your claimed value of 62 people.

Source: the credit-suisse report I linked above.

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https://youtu.be/iY57ErBkFFE

#Texit

Don't blame me, I voted for Johnson(L) in 2016.

Truth is dangerous... especially when it challenges those in power.

MK, I think his source was Oxfam
http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/17/news/economy/oxfam-wealth/

the point being the wealth gap is incredibly worse that you can imagine.

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Laughing again.............yesterdays Dimocrat press conference.............motto "Make American Sick Again".............looked like characters from The Walking Dead. Pelosi, Shumer, and the rest of the Zombie Dim leadership (who exempted themselves from the 'Un' Affordable Healthcare Act), a group of failed politicians(massive losses in the last 8 years)defending a failed program................sounds about right.

We are witnessing history, the final death throws of the Dimocratic Party.

Evolution................. if you're too stupid to learn from your mistakes you are replaced.
" : >

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"Sour Grapes make a bitter Whine." <(0)>

...
We are witnessing history, the final death throws of the Dimocratic Party.

Evolution................. if you're too stupid to learn from your mistakes you are replaced.
" : >

Maybe they'll be replaced with hoards of Bernie followers, perhaps that will make you happy.

*crosses fingers*

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#resist