Fareed Interviews Michael Lewis

Part 1


Part 2

GOP Chases Wall Street Donors

Republicans are stepping up their campaign to win donations from Wall Street, trying to capitalize on an increasing sense of regret among executives at big financial institutions for backing Democrats in 2008.

In discussions with Wall Street executives, Republicans are striving to make the case that they are banks' best hope of preventing President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats from cracking down on Wall Street.

GOP strategists hope to benefit from the reaction to the White House's populist rhetoric and proposals, which range from sharp critiques of bonuses to a tax on big Wall Street banks, caps on executive pay and curbs on business practices deemed too risky.

Last week, House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio made a pitch to Democratic contributor James Dimon, the chairman and chief executive of J.P. Morgan, over drinks at a Capitol Hill restaurant, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Boehner told Mr. Dimon congressional Republicans had stood up to Mr. Obama's efforts to curb pay and impose new regulations. The Republican leader also said he was disappointed many on Wall Street continue to donate their money to Democrats, according to the people familiar with the matter.

(source: Wall Street Journal, 4Feb.2010)

Crazy Republicans

"In this sense, the tea parties are simply the latest manifestation of populism, which has arisen periodically throughout American history. In the 19th century populist anger was based in rural America and directed at the banks and railroads as well as government. Populists thought that free coinage of silver, an inflationary policy that would have raised prices for farm commodities, was the solution to their problems in the same way that today's Tea Party crowd thinks that the Federal Reserve, bailouts to big businesses and a looming government takeover of the health industry are at the root of our economic malaise. Tax cuts are like free silver--a one-size-fits-all policy response."

"Unfortunately for the Tea Party populists, there is no evidence in American history that populism has ever had a meaningful effect on policy. Even when the movement had a charismatic and articulate leader in William Jennings Bryan, the populists only elected a handful of members to Congress and never achieved the presidency. One reason is that the major parties co-opted populist issues and leaders, which bought time until the populist impulse burned itself out like a brush fire."

"Whatever the future of the Tea Party movement in American politics, it's a bad idea for so many participants to operate on the basis of false notions about the burden of federal taxation. It only takes a little bit of time to look at one's tax return to see what one is actually paying the Treasury, calculate the percentage of one's income that goes to taxes, and compare it with what was paid last year and the year before. People may then discover that their anger is misplaced and channel it into areas where it is more likely to bring about positive change."

-- by Bruce Bartlett is a former Republican Treasury Department economist and the author of Reaganomics: Supply-Side Economics in Action

GOP Bailouts

More Republican Administrations used public funds (taxpayer money) to bailout private corporations.

Let's take a look at the record shall we:

1. Penn Central Railroad -- 1970-- Republican Nixon ($3.2 billion)
2. Lockheed -- 1971 -- Republican Nixon ($1.4 billion)
3. Franklin National Bank -- 1974 -- Republican Ford ($7.8 billion)
4. New York City -- 1975 -- Republican Ford ($9.4 billion)
5. Chrysler -- 1980 -- Democrat Carter ($4.0 billion)
6. Continental Ill. Bank and Trust -- 1984-- Republican Reagan ($9.5 billion)
7. Savings & Loan -- 1989-- Republican BushI ($293.3 billion)
8. Airline Industry --2001-- Republican BushII ($18.6 billion)
9. Bear Stearns -- 2008 -- Republican BushII ($30 billion)
10. Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac -- 2008 -- Republican BushII ($400 billion)
11. American International Group (A.I.G.) -- 2008 -- Republican BushII ($180 billion)
12. Auto Industry -- 2008 -- Republican BushII ($25 billion)
13. Troubled Asset Relief Program-- 2008 -- Republican BushII ($700 billion)
14. Citigroup-- 2008 -- Republican BushII ($280 billion)
15. Bank of America -- 2009 -- Democrat Obama ($142 billion)

Republicans have spent $1.9582 TRILLION DOLLARS on corporate bailouts
Democrats have spent $146 Billion Dollars on bailouts.

What's wrong with the hysterical response to this picture?

Teabaggers: Political Psychos

Teabaggers: Political Psychos

Tea Party: Public Psychotic Episodes in groups.

The best way to describe psychosis is that it's like losing contact with reality. Your mind plays tricks on you and causes you to experience unusual thoughts, feelings and behaviors.

When someone is experiencing psychosis they may have:

*Delusions (unusual beliefs) -- like "Keep the government out of my Medicare!"

*Hallucinations (your senses experience things that aren't really real) "Obama is a Muslim, commie, socialist, anarchist, Nazi, foreigner, etc."

*Paranoia (believing that everything is directed at you) "Obama wants death panels".

*Unusual and disorganized thoughts and behavior: "Universal Health care is Armageddon!"

*Flat emotions "Bush bailed out is cronies--yawn...We're spending trillions of dollars in an unnecessary war in Iraq--yawn...Soldiers don't have the proper equipment--yawn ".

*Bizarre reactions to everyday situations.--this goes without comment.

*Things they say don't always make sense to others.

Bankers

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Predicting Crisis: Dr. Doom & the Black Swan