Posted on 07/14/2008 10:57:25 AM PDT by Dukes Travels
It says a lot about the current state of affairs in America – and nothing good – that people get offended and outraged when someone tries to tell us things are really not so bad.
Former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas has apparently lived too long and done too much to care. We need more people like this. It would be fantastic if the presidential candidate Gramm is advising – John McCain – would think and talk like this. (He isn’t. Oh well.)
In an interview last week with the Washington Times, Gramm said what needs to be said about the economy, and perhaps more importantly, about the state of mind of the American people. Labeling the supposedly horrid economy a “mental recession,” Gramm placed responsibility squarely on the backs of those whose mush-filled minds simply believe whatever they hear about the economy. As the Times reports:
(Excerpt) Read more at northstarwriters.com ...
Many people want the government to protect the consumer. A much more urgent problem is to protect the consumer from the government.
--Milton Friedman
Reply: Yeah your right that has no tie to the dollar what so ever.
Comment: The FDIC is not using taxpayer money to pay IndyMac depositors. Glad I could clear that up.
Reply: What does FDIC stand for? Answer, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. So are you implying that they are a private business? Here let me give you their web site.
Notice the .gov . It means government.... Glad I could help you out with that.
Are you implying that if Chinese government liquidated its vast holding of US Treasury bonds it would not trigger a crash in the dollar?
Maybe you should take a look around their site?
The FDIC receives no Congressional appropriations – it is funded by premiums that banks and thrift institutions pay for deposit insurance coverage and from earnings on investments in U.S. Treasury securities. With an insurance fund totaling more than $49 billion, the FDIC insures more than $3 trillion of deposits in U.S. banks and thrifts – deposits in virtually every bank and thrift in the country.
LOL!
Are you implying that if Chinese government liquidated its vast holding of US Treasury bonds it would not trigger a crash in the dollar?
Are you admitting how wrong, the opposite of right, your claim that they held the majority of outstanding US Treasury Securities truly was?
Gramm in his speech is addressing much of the fear mongering which is indeed behind a lot of the bad news we have today.
His little fortress of an argument with the Glass-Steagall Act which talks not only beside the real theme of what Gamm was talking about, but is a half truth in itself, since this Act was all but dead anyhow by 1999. For further information, he should read up on the Dot-Com bust and why that happened. besides being ignored, there were so many loop-holes that it was all meaningless. Gramms position leveled the playing field and in effect weren't that absurd, since the increased risk to investors was already a reality (IMHO).
Saudi Arabia as most other OPEC nations HAVE NOT reduced oil output, factually incorrect, and common misnomer. The places where you have seen a reduction in oil output, say Iraq in 2003, is not because they are “mad at us.” The sad reality is that while Chaves is about as evil and bad as they come, he needs us as much as we need him, and the problems they are facing in Venezuela with their oil production has absolutely NOTHING to do with them trying to curb output because they hate us. It has everything to do with all their engineers, technicians, and qualified personnel being fired and replaced with stooges, nationalization and outside investors fear.......
As you pointed out, he makes some other very large false assumptions.
However, the Declaration and the Constitution are two different types of documents.. The first was a big FU to GB.. It did not establish any rights period.. The Second document establish in what the Government can do and can’t do.
Anyone who thinks that applying a saying like that in response to a politician telling them to shut up and take it would have done well under Stalin.
On Cramer tonight he said by his conservative estimate there maybe 1 trillion needed. The solvent banks don't have that kind of money to fork out. Looks like more gov't bailouts because they won't let the little grandma's cd default.
Phil Gramm has not been a politician for what, five years?
Isn't Cramer the guy who was telling everyone that Bear Stearns was a great buy at $58 a share?
He's an attention whore and a mealy mouth who's more concerned about being flamboyant than he is about the content of his show.
Gramm is advising the republican Presidential candidate for the United States of America and you don’t think he’s a politician? guffaw
Of course I’m sure you know that Gramm is a vice-chairman of UBS Investment Bank the second largest bank in Europe.
He was also a lobbyist for UBS. He was paid by UBS to lobby Congress about the U.S. mortgage crisis when the mortgage industry pressed Congress to do away with state rules that tried to stop the rise of predatory tactics used by lenders and brokers to place homeowners in high-cost mortgages.
Do you think that Phil, the non-politician had a vested reason to tell us things are all rosey?
Personally, I’m beginning to loathe each and every one of these politicians.
Defend him if you like. I think he and most of his cronies are obscene.
Your post is exactly the type of mentality that Gramm is talking about. This may come as a shock to you, but you do not have the right to cheap energy bills. Tighten your belt and wear a sweater. Forgo the weekly trip to the theater. Most of all: Quit Whining.
Buy a warm coat.
Or a right to entertainment. That is the one “right” Americans seem to cherish above all others and is a big reason they are in the mess they are in.
Let me spell it out for you if you are serious. What do you think U.S. Treasury securities are? Answer, they are T-Bonds. Question, How does the Feds pay the interest on on T-Bonds? Answer, from tax receipts.
You fall for the Federal Government line of B.S. hook,line and sinker. I am looking for a link providing you data about China and T-Bills. I can't locate anything from this year.
No, I'm not joking about your ignorance of the FDIC link you provided. I'm not joking about your ignorance of the magnitude of Chinese Treasury holdings.
Let me spell it out for you if you are serious.
This should be funny.
What do you think U.S. Treasury securities are? Answer, they are T-Bonds.
T-Bonds, T-Bills and T-Notes. Glad I could help you out again.
Question, How does the Feds pay the interest on on T-Bonds? Answer, from tax receipts.
Gee, the wisdom you spread is awe inspiring. LOL!
You fall for the Federal Government line of B.S. hook,line and sinker.
What are you blabbering about?
I am looking for a link providing you data about China and T-Bills.
A link that will show they own more than 50%? Take your time. Or you could start here.
And then you could go here, to see how much debt is held by the public.
“Your post is exactly the type of mentality that Gramm is talking about. This may come as a shock to you, but you do not have the right to cheap energy bills. Tighten your belt and wear a sweater. Forgo the weekly trip to the theater. Most of all: Quit Whining.”
You’re absolutely right. I’m changing my attitude. Based on your amazingly insightful post and Gramm’s brilliant comments, I am now looking forward to paying 50 percent more for heating and 25 percent more for electricity. In fact, I’m hoping maybe the utility companies will raise rates even more than that and that all of my groceries will go up 75 percent and gasoline will soon be over $10 per gallon. That would make me REALLY, REALLY happy. No whining whatsoever, I’ll just drill some new holes in the old belt. I now realize, thanks to you and Gramm, that the decline in my retirement accounts and the rise in everything I pay for is either only in my imagination or it’s something I should celebrate. All I have to do is think more positively.
“Buy a warm coat.”
Gosh, more great advice from the same person who doesn’t know the first thing about me.
BTW, your posts complaining about what you perceive as whining are sounding an awful lot like whining. I don’t have a right to to cheap energy, but I most certainly have a right to gripe when the cost of that energy (which really wasn’t that cheap to start with) is set to go up 50 percent all at once.
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