Comments on: Early Thoughts on the DeFazio Bill

By: wigwam

wigwam — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 02:59:31 +0000

I have two problems with the No Bailout Act:
– Per the Act: “For those entities that qualify, the FDIC should purchase net worth certificates in these institutions. In exchange, these institutions issue promissory notes to repay the FDIC, counting the amount “borrowed” as capital on their balance sheets.” But the economists I’ve read all recommend “preferred stock” instead.
– Where does the money to purchase those “net-worth certificates” and/or “promisory notes” come from? At the press conference today, DeFazio indicated that they were going to charge a quarter-percent securities transfer fee, which would raise over $100B per year.

By: MarkH

MarkH — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 02:42:32 +0000

Flat Tax is sheer lunacy. Why do you want to revert to the middle ages in the 21st century?

Well, there weren’t any Republicans back then! That’s one good thing.

Equal Treatment Under The Law is a Constitutional principle it upholds.

Simplifying the tax code to get rid of so many deductions that 50% of corps didn’t pay tax last year.

Simplifying the tax code so anybody can pretty much do their taxes and not hate their government.

Yeah, there are a few good reasons to do it, if it’s done right.

By: MarkH

MarkH — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 02:32:38 +0000

I still haven’t heard a clear explanation of where the $700 billion number came from.

Today in a press conference Tony Fratto (asst. press sec of Bush admin) was asked about that and he said, no it wasn’t pulled out of the air (no further explanation). When told people worried about that number he said, “Okay.”

Clearly it’s just a fiction and they really don’t care whether anybody cares.

By: MarkH

MarkH — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 02:27:53 +0000

Question about Naked short sells. You have to own the asset right?

IIRC ‘naked’ means you DON’T own it.

By: MarkH

MarkH — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 02:26:22 +0000

1. “A change from mark to market pricing to mark to some sort of model.”

Isn’t using models to “determine” the value of debt instruments (CDOs) one of the things that got us into this mess?

‘mark to fantasy’ was an Enron tactic to make people think they made money.

Using some other model is probably just fancy jargon for ‘fantasy’. Determining the value means such a thing has sold and someone actually thought it was worth that value. Everything else is fantays.

Or so the ‘free market’ people have been saying for decades, if not centuries.

By: TheLurkingMod

TheLurkingMod — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:38:13 +0000

Ian upstairs!
Breaking: Senate to Take Up Bailout Bill Tomorrow

By: TheLurkingMod

TheLurkingMod — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:20:13 +0000

Dave Neiwert has his diary Front-Paged!
Dispatch From Wasilla: The Clouds Descend

By: peony

peony — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:17:56 +0000

Get out of U.S. Treasuries too? You make a lot of sense to me. I also think the U.S. will be forced to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Like empires before it, the cost of maintaining one seems to be endless war, ending in bankruptcy.

By: BargainCountertenor

BargainCountertenor — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:13:36 +0000

I’m not in favor of a flat tax.

But I’d swap our current disaster of tax policy in favor of a flat tax, provided that all income, regardless of source, was taxed at the same rate.

I’d also require a generous exclusion/deduction/whatever you wanna call it before the ‘flat’ tax kicked in.

Basically, I’m more in favor of a flat tax than the (mostly) regressive system that we have in place now. It would be an improvement, which is a really sad commentary.

By: BargainCountertenor

BargainCountertenor — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:09:19 +0000

I knew you didn’t mean me, personally. And I didn’t mean me, personally, when I said my problem was trickle down economics is really pissing on economics. I meant our problem.