Guest Sao_Bento Report post Posted September 18, 2008 Graphic design, television production, economics, and architecture, all wrapped up in one neat little package that's funny too. The Daily Show - "The Economy and You" http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index....?videoId=185175 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pixelthief 0 Report post Posted September 19, 2008 I'd really love to hear from Clint on this, as we have no one to thank for this but the 49% of our country that voted for George W. Bush, TWICE. I mean, fuck--we could bail out all the victims of the housing crisis, cover their homes in solar panels, and fill them to the brink with gold bullion with all the money we've pissed away in Iraq. Iraq and our flagging our economy go hand in hand. I'm waiting for Govinda to explain the new depression away . . . Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Duder 0 Report post Posted September 19, 2008 I'd really love to hear from Clint on this, as we have no one to thank for this but the 49% of our country that voted for George W. Bush, TWICE. I mean, fuck--we could bail out all the victims of the housing crisis, cover their homes in solar panels, and fill them to the brink with gold bullion with all the money we've pissed away in Iraq. Iraq and our flagging our economy go hand in hand. Not a fan of conspiracy theories, but the first time it was up to the Supreme Court to vote in the president and we all know George Bush Sr. and them were close buddies. The second time is more of a conspiracy with the Diebold machines and how Bush is connected with the disappearances with voting ballots, etc. I think we need to get rid of the electoral college once and for all. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nextexit 0 Report post Posted September 19, 2008 I'm thinking of moving to Alaska so I can sleep with the oldest Palin daughter.http://gov.state.ak.us/photos/PalinFamily_Outside_v01.jpg Are you talking about the orange one on the right? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silatix 0 Report post Posted September 19, 2008 I feel like blaming the president and the war is a cop out at this point.. Theres plenty of people who are responsible for the problem that aren't related to the presidents cabinet but might have been safer in their wrong doings because of the legal leniancy.. I'd really love to hear from Clint on this, as we have no one to thank for this but the 49% of our country that voted for George W. Bush, TWICE. I mean, fuck--we could bail out all the victims of the housing crisis, cover their homes in solar panels, and fill them to the brink with gold bullion with all the money we've pissed away in Iraq. Iraq and our flagging our economy go hand in hand. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
laughingcolors 0 Report post Posted September 19, 2008 uh maybe osama bin laden's to blame. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
C.Smith 0 Report post Posted September 19, 2008 I'm thinking of moving to Alaska so I can sleep with the oldest Palin daughter. http://gov.state.ak.us/photos/PalinFamily_Outside_v01.jpg the youngest one is already practicing her evil. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Beaver 1 Report post Posted September 19, 2008 I highly recommend listening to This American Life Episode #355, The Giant Pool of Money. You can get it on iTunes for a buck. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Epis...spx?episode=355 This is the best explanation I've ever heard of how we got into our current situation, from the mouths of economists, bankers, mortgage salesmen, and other people involved in the credit collapse. They present things in terms you can understand, though some bits get pretty technical. After you listen to this, watching the news will probably be pretty frustrating, since you'll probably understand the situation better than most TV personalities do. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ClintVideo 1 Report post Posted September 19, 2008 (edited) I highly recommend listening to This American Life Episode #355, The Giant Pool of Money. You can get it on iTunes for a buck. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Epis...spx?episode=355 This is the best explanation I've ever heard of how we got into our current situation, from the mouths of economists, bankers, mortgage salesmen, and other people involved in the credit collapse. They present things in terms you can understand, though some bits get pretty technical. After you listen to this, watching the news will probably be pretty frustrating, since you'll probably understand the situation better than most TV personalities do. I subscribe to this podcast, and I agree wholeheartedly about this episode. It's very educational. I have the same distrust of NPR as many of you do of FOX News, but this podcast was right on. My boss was a bank CEO before she joined her husband's multimedia business, she said this was forseeable years ago. By the way, speaking about those rich Democrats who got the golden parachutes to land in Obama's circle...the Republicans tried to fix the problems at Freddie/Fannie long ago. That's not to say all of Washington isn't responsible - it's amazing how the entire Congress acts like innocent, oblivious bystanders whenever some government program blows up - but to say this is Bush's problem (in order to take attention away from Obama) is dishonest. Then you throw some good ol' fashioned greed into the banking industry, and hear how those junk mortgages were bundled together into a highly-rated security and resold, as the podcast Beav mentioned explains, and it's easy to see how this house of cards fell. All because of George W. Bush, stolen elections, and rigged Diebold machines, of course. Cf (edited - I missed some punctuation) Edited September 19, 2008 by VelocityVideo Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jablinko 0 Report post Posted September 19, 2008 All because of George W. Bush, stolen elections, and rigged Diebold machines, of course. yup thats goddamn right the bush administration appreciates your support Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mete_shop 0 Report post Posted September 19, 2008 great episode beaver, spot on. today's episode of democracy now has some pretty good commentary on the crisis as well. http://www.democracynow.org/ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Duder 0 Report post Posted September 19, 2008 Alcohol always gets me out of crisis Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
parallax 0 Report post Posted September 21, 2008 I don't want to sound like Peter Schiff, but we've seen nothing yet. I know that even in dire times, the public needs the 'bread and circuses' to stay sane and entertained, and as such, many of us would retain work.Entertainment (read: advertising. marketing, PR and anything remotely related) is the 1st thing businesses will cut back on. You better have a second job, or be a important cog in the machine, or things might get bleak. It's keeping me from going freelance again, cause my rent is just to damn high to take any chances on that. There's like 500 trillion of debt in the world that will never be paid back. The FED printing money like it's going out of fashion is surely going to turn the Dollar in a 3rd world currency, it's just a matter of time. When all the band-aids fall off, it's going to be bad. 2 times the great depression 'bad'. Some more info on the subprime crisis, albeit funny: Some info on 'your' banking overlords: Congressional Leaders Stunned by Warnings As Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut and chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, put it Friday morning on the ABC program “Good Morning America,” the congressional leaders were told “that we’re literally maybe days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system, with all the implications here at home and globally.” Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fishface 0 Report post Posted September 21, 2008 I don't want to sound like Peter Schiff, but we've seen nothing yet. Entertainment (read: advertising. marketing, PR and anything remotely related) is the 1st thing businesses will cut back on. You better have a second job, or be a important cog in the machine, or things might get bleak. It's keeping me from going freelance again, cause my rent is just to damn high to take any chances on that. There's like 500 trillion of debt in the world that will never be paid back. The FED printing money like it's going out of fashion is surely going to turn the Dollar in a 3rd world currency, it's just a matter of time. When all the band-aids fall off, it's going to be bad. 2 times the great depression 'bad'. Some more info on the subprime crisis, albeit funny: Some info on 'your' banking overlords: Congressional Leaders Stunned by Warnings well, at least you're not taking a hyperbolic view of the situation. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ZeBrownie 0 Report post Posted September 21, 2008 (edited) Very interesting thread. I kind of agree with parallax. If things get out of control totally i doubt advertising and anything related will be going the way it used to. Don't we already notice the effects? It seems there's less and less work. What second job could some of us coming from this advertising business get? If the economy totally bursts and we get into a second real depression stuff like fashion, entertainment and advertising won't be on the list of the people but food and stuff like that. And i certainly don't know how to make bread if you know what i mean. This might probably sound way too bleak and extreme but if things really got into a second real depression i would consider suicide. Simply because i'm too stupid to survive in a situation like that and because i don't want to live in a world like that just for the sake of surviving. If it really happens it could take years and years and a world war might be on the horizon as well for whatever reasons. Let's hope things don't get worse from here on. Oh and and http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/iousa/ Edited September 21, 2008 by ZeBrownie Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fishface 0 Report post Posted September 22, 2008 Very interesting thread. I kind of agree with parallax. If things get out of control totally i doubt advertising and anything related will be going the way it used to. Don't we already notice the effects? It seems there's less and less work. What second job could some of us coming from this advertising business get? If the economy totally bursts and we get into a second real depression stuff like fashion, entertainment and advertising won't be on the list of the people but food and stuff like that. And i certainly don't know how to make bread if you know what i mean. This might probably sound way too bleak and extreme but if things really got into a second real depression i would consider suicide. Simply because i'm too stupid to survive in a situation like that and because i don't want to live in a world like that just for the sake of surviving. If it really happens it could take years and years and a world war might be on the horizon as well for whatever reasons. Let's hope things don't get worse from here on. Oh and and http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/iousa/ may I be the first to say, wtf? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
beau+++ 0 Report post Posted September 22, 2008 (edited) may I be the first to say, wtf? I call Frednanigans. Edited September 22, 2008 by beau+++ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pixelthief 0 Report post Posted September 22, 2008 Hmmmm well by the end of your thought there you seem to suggest that the Bush Administration fomented a climate of leniency on wall street that said "anything goes". So if they actively deregulated and gave these guys political cover as a matter of policy then I don't see why you have a problem citing their "policies" as a cause. And yes, the Iraq war and the economy do go hand in hand. I never said it was the sole cause, but there is no arguing that our government is in far less of a position to help its citizens financially than it could be. We could pay off out everyone in America's mortgage and fix every last bridge, school, and hospital with the money we've squandered in Iraq and put a million people to work doing it. Not that creating an Iran-friendly fundamentalist government in a middle eastern country that lets us wallow in debt while they sit on millions in oil revenue and laugh behind our backs isn't a good thing. And fuck it, we can always sell the rest of the country to China, right? I feel like blaming the president and the war is a cop out at this point.. Theres plenty of people who are responsible for the problem that aren't related to the presidents cabinet but might have been safer in their wrong doings because of the legal leniancy.. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
parallax 0 Report post Posted September 22, 2008 well, at least you're not taking a hyperbolic view of the situation. Hyperboles are my specialty. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
parallax 0 Report post Posted September 22, 2008 And fuck it, we can always sell the rest of the country to China, right? That has been happening for some time now. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mete_shop 0 Report post Posted September 22, 2008 pixelthief, clinton was also a big proponent of deregulation and barak will probably be one as well (since his cabinet will be much of the same people). the white house has been a friend to big business for some time now and having a dem in the oval office isn't going to change much. war also tends to make money for big business so in terms of economies looking good/bad i think the subprime bubble burst has had the most play in bringing the economy to how it is today. which is a child of the kind of unchecked enron style trading that the modern stock market revels in. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Sao_Bento Report post Posted September 22, 2008 The thing that kills me is that you don't have to be an economist to have seen this coming. The ramifications of the extremely predatory lending were bound to come home to roost at some point. How did anyone NOT know this was coming? Another case of short term greed overriding common sense. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
parallax 0 Report post Posted September 22, 2008 I thought you learned as a kid that if you can't afford something, then you shouldn't buy it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silatix 0 Report post Posted September 22, 2008 Guess our education system needs some work too I thought you learned as a kid that if you can't afford something, then you shouldn't buy it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scott frizzle 0 Report post Posted September 22, 2008 How did anyone NOT know this was coming? Another case of short term greed overriding common sense. And there it is. Quotes are sprouting up right and left from as far back as the early '90's from people like Alan Greenspan who seemed to know exactly what was going on, yet didn't pursue any solution. I don't pretend to know the inner workings of institutions like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to any great extent, but I can tell you that when you hand out free money to people with no track record of being able to pay it back, it's not going to end well. What's killing me right now is that those of us who played it responsibly and didn't overextend into houses we couldn't really afford, etc, are going to be the ones paying for all of the people who took out massive loans hoping they'd win the lottery by the time their adjustable rate kicked in. The lenders are surely to blame for much of this mess, but there hasn't been enough talk about the irresponsible individuals who gladly signed up for loans they had no real hope of ever paying off. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites