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The House has passed the economic bailout bill 263 to 171

money.cnn.com

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Re: The House has passed the economic bailout bill 263 to 171

#71

Post by zandorg »

nsimpson wrote: post #65
astine wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno, It will be hard to top Smoot-Hawley.

Ripped directly from Wikipedia: The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act (sometimes known as the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act)[1] was an act signed into law on June 17, 1930, that raised U.S. tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods to record levels. In the United States 1,028 economists signed a petition against this legislation, and after it was passed, many countries retaliated with their own increased tariffs on U.S. goods, and Ameri…

Oh dear, I can't resist.

Bueller? Anyone, anyone?

Re: The House has passed the economic bailout bill 263 to 171

#72

Post by APLonDrugs »

bilbo0s wrote: post #60
newt0311 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The SEC already had the authority to suspend mark-to-market accounting. This bill just re-affirms it. Furthermore, mark-to-market is an accounting technique.It may result in fraud but there is no "transfer of wealth" about it. Furthermore, if history is any indication, corporations can always cook their book if they really want to. The FDIC is indeed running low on funds and raising the limit at this point in time is…

Accounting fraud is exactly what will make this whole thing degenerate into a transfer of wealth. Think about it, they can cook the capital ratios so that not only the bonds, but now even those CDS's that they have are worth X, when they would fetch Y at market. This gives them more liquidity, yes. But it is an illusion. Those CDS's are still as precarious as they were before, so are the now revalued bonds that they…

Well, on the point of spreading the 150 billion around, here and there… what about including young tech. start-up firms as well? :-)

Re: The House has passed the economic bailout bill 263 to 171

#73

Post by michaelneale »

netcan wrote: post #68
michaelneale wrote: post #45

This is a real low point for HN (comment wise), the subject matter is interesting but I would have expected some interesting comments.

I think the low quality of commentary (here & elsewhere) comes from (A) not understanding this relatively complicated & technical issue and (B) wanting to comment & discuss. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I don't like to see discussions deteriorate like this. But on the other hand, I feel like participating in the discussion may be a good way of gaining an understanding ultimately bringing the level back up.

My thoughts also. Although I really feel unable to comment in a meaningful way.

I also think its frustrating for communities like this one, of relatively smart people, that there is something going on in the world that is effecting us that we don't fully understand (normally we are the ones doing the explaining to the lay-people !).

Re: The House has passed the economic bailout bill 263 to 171

#74

Post by helveticaman »

zandorg wrote: post #71
nsimpson wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ripped directly from Wikipedia: The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act (sometimes known as the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act)[1] was an act signed into law on June 17, 1930, that raised U.S. tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods to record levels. In the United States 1,028 economists signed a petition against this legislation, and after it was passed, many countries retaliated with their own increased tariffs on U.S. goods, and Ameri…

Oh dear, I can't resist. Bueller? Anyone, anyone?

?

Re: The House has passed the economic bailout bill 263 to 171

#75

Post by zandorg »

helveticaman wrote: post #74
zandorg wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh dear, I can't resist. Bueller? Anyone, anyone?

?

The Tariff Act is in the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off, with the teacher's "This act... anyone, anyone? - Raised...", except there's a line where he's taking class attendance register and goes "Bueller - Bueller". So I mixed both references. It's definitely an in-joke for viewers of the film. :-|

Re: The House has passed the economic bailout bill 263 to 171

#76

Post by helveticaman »

zandorg wrote: post #75
helveticaman wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

?

The Tariff Act is in the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off, with the teacher's "This act... anyone, anyone? - Raised...", except there's a line where he's taking class attendance register and goes "Bueller - Bueller". So I mixed both references. It's definitely an in-joke for viewers of the film. :-|

Oh yeah!

Re: The House has passed the economic bailout bill 263 to 171

#77

Post by einarvollset »

einarvollset wrote: post #70
marvin wrote: post #49

I thought this bill was the worst idea ever, until I heard Warren Buffett speak up for it two days ago. Buffett has both integrity and economic skills, and he probably understands this proposal better than any of us. For instance, http://ph.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080924/tbs-buffett-bailout-7... The US government has a pretty poor track record for "emergency proposals" and other decisions these last 8 years, so I under…

Fuck Warren Buffet. Who died and elected him grand master of the universe anyways? Note that I'm not asking whether he knows how to make money - clearly he does: witness putting $5.000.000.000 into Goldman Sachs and then lobbying like hell for the bailout of ....... ..... (guess who?)

Is it the swearing that gets the downmods, or the contrarian view? Either way: Any of the downmodders have further thoughts now that the Dow is taking a beating despite the bailout?
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