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OT: Politics and other stuff that is sure to piss everyone off

Hokie200proof

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Grad, I'll respond when I've got a little more time. I wanted to post this first in case anyone hadn't heard... and I'm fairly sure you haven't as it's suspiciously under-reported, but has HUGE ramifications, WAY bigger then JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs making big money off of the 2008/09 market/economy crash...

Guy who broke the story - Matt Taibbi

Taibbi talking on Spitzer (I saw this on Reddit, never would watch this crap normally)
[YOUTUBE]0oV2mI0IYp8#![/YOUTUBE]

Explainer: Why The Libor Scandal Is A Bigger Deal...


Basically boils down to - Barclays, other big banks, perhaps UK and US financial regulators, all played games with the bank-to-bank interest rates to manipulate markets... and it's been going on a for a LONG time. Could have cost millions of people billions.
 

VTscores

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The "Too Big to Fail" thing is just out of control.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but we need transparency and government regulation back. I believe in the free market, but I think we should insist on seeing some people hang for these financial crises. Nobody hung from the highest tree in 2008, and I don't believe for a second that nobody should have. Is government doing their job? We should be holding the Obama administration responsible.

It's like Vegas. Every game has a sucker. If you're in a game and don't know who the sucker is, it's you.
 

Hokie200proof

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The "Too Big to Fail" thing is just out of control.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but we need transparency and government regulation back. I believe in the free market, but I think we should insist on seeing some people hang for these financial crises. Nobody hung from the highest tree in 2008, and I don't believe for a second that nobody should have. Is government doing their job? We should be holding the Obama administration responsible.

It's like Vegas. Every game has a sucker. If you're in a game and don't know who the sucker is, it's you.

If the reports are to be believed, this goes all the way back to the Clinton administration. Which explains, in part, how both parties are bought and paid for. The criminal activity here absolutely deserves investigation, trial and punishment if proven true.

And yet... Not a big story.
 

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Yea, I guess people are too busy trying to process the TomKat breakup, and the implications regarding Scientology. You know, important stuff.

Besides, LIBOR just sounds too complicated. Much either to pick one of the two parties, and focus on how right that party is and how wrong the other one is. It never occurs to people that some things, like banking deregulation, couldn't have happened without some level of complicity from both parties.
 

hokiegrad

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You're right that this is a huge deal and has been under reported, but it's not new news (well, there are certainly new and very important developments, but the root of LIBOR being based on lies isn't new). Here are a couple pieces from 2008 if you want to dig back a bit further. Further emphasizes your point about it being under reported!

Libor Set for Overhaul as Credibility Is Doubted (Update1) - Bloomberg
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Schwab Sues Bank of America, Citigroup for Manipulating LIBOR Rates; IMF Notes that LIBOR Underpins $400 Trillion in Financial Derivatives

btw, I highly recommend reading that last blog on a regular basis. It gives a very different take on the economy compared to what you'll get from the major news outlets.
 

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No, it's not new news, but the latest revelations are pretty convincing and undeniable...
 

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Interesting that the Barclay's chief's approach is to blame the regulators.

He may have a point, but some people should go to jail over this.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...es-scandal/2012/07/04/gJQALdCmNW_story_1.html

I like this response, though:

John Mann, a lawmaker from the opposition Labor Party, pointed out to Diamond that the Quakers who found Barclays had done so with the motto “honesty, integrity and plain dealing.” He then offered to have that statement tattooed on Diamond’s knuckles.

“You’re in charge,” Mann said. “People were suggesting impropriety. And you did not investigate it. Either you were complicit or you were grossly negligent or you were grossly incompetent.”
 
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Hokie200proof

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One of the consistent objections that some here have raised in the discussion of "Obamacare" or the Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act (that went in effect, in part, in 2010) was that it was going to cost us all a lot more money and do so at the cost of our financial and perhaps even physical/health well-being (lower quality of healthcare).

Found this to be interesting considering that objection/premise...
Insurance rebates totalling $1.3 billion could be on the way this summer, study says - The Washington Post
 

Hokie200proof

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Looks like I have to be the one to revive this bad boy.




Nothing new to report or piss people off with. I'm somewhat amazed this wasn't bumped during the Presidential Election... then again, we were all probably coming here to avoid that shit.



My prediction from the outcome of the election... same as in 2008. Not much difference and the rich will get richer.
 

robV703

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Looks like I have to be the one to revive this bad boy.

Nothing new to report or piss people off with. I'm somewhat amazed this wasn't bumped during the Presidential Election... then again, we were all probably coming here to avoid that shit.

My prediction from the outcome of the election... same as in 2008. Not much difference and the rich will get richer.

I've lost all interest in trying to discuss anything government-related with people on this board. I've been reduced to leaving quippy comments on the politics board.
 

Hokie200proof

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I've lost all interest in trying to discuss anything government-related with people on this board. I've been reduced to leaving quippy comments on the politics board.

It might be for the best... but still sad to hear. You'd think we could all get along knowing that, whatever political leanings you might have, Hokie domination of the world is the ultimate goal.
 

robV703

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It might be for the best... but still sad to hear. You'd think we could all get along knowing that, whatever political leanings you might have, Hokie domination of the world is the ultimate goal.

I don't want any bad blood between hokies. 757 and I post on the politics board occasionly. 757 is a huge troll though :bolt:
 

Hokie200proof

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You're joking. The guy who made this the tits thread (I think it was him) like 7 pages back is a troll on another politics board?
 

robV703

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You're joking. The guy who made this the tits thread (I think it was him) like 7 pages back is a troll on another politics board?

Yeah who woulda thunk lol.

Edit: I checked, it was VT_Football_Fan not 757
 
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757Hokie83

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I don't want any bad blood between hokies. 757 and I post on the politics board occasionly. 757 is a huge troll though :bolt:

george-clooney-bertstare-eccbc87e4b5ce2fe28308fd9f2a7baf3-1000.gif


Yeah who woulda thunk lol.

Edit: I checked, it was VT_Football_Fan not 757


dancing-eccbc87e4b5ce2fe28308fd9f2a7baf3-2287.gif
 

huskers1217

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Sorry, but criminal behavior is defined by breaking the law, not by a court charging you with the behavior.

Rangel failed to report income and misused government resources, both of which are crimes. You can go to jail for those offenses. I'm not even sure why you brought up the 5th amendment. You said yourself that the head of the Ethics committee was a Democrat, so it's hard to see that those ethics violations were simple partisanship.

As for Waters, she improperly supported a bailout for a bank that her husband had a financial interest in. There is no clearer conflict-of-interest than that. It's unethical behavior, and not racism that is making those charges stick.

When charged with an ethics violation (or a crime), people are quick to claim that it's politics or racism, but the fact is that if a violation was committed, it should be prosecuted.

Since you're being very critical of my examples of clown-like behavior on the left, I'll point out some examples that you CAN'T deny:

Rod Blagojevich attempting to sell Obama's Senate seat.

Anthony Weiner sexting young women.

John Edwards denying fathering a child, and using campaign contributions to support his girlfriend. (It was a waste of taxpayer funds to prosecute him because he was already out of politics, but it was unethical behavior.)



Even the Daily Show couldn't deny the humor in those stories.


SCOTUS rejects former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's appeal of his corruption convictions
 
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I was in New Mexico fresh out of VT when the thread started. I can say first hand it is a whole different element than VA, but NM is a pretty cool place if you give it a chance. All I read out of the thread cause I got lazy reading all the long rebuttals and such. I do hope this process doesn't get worse this year because I'm not in favor of the "favorite" candidates this go around.
 
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