Dow Down 777 - Guess Who's At Fault?

[Rumple Foreskin]

The Dow dropped 777 points today after the Republican sponsored bailout plan failed when two-thirds of House Republicans voted against the bill.

Who's at fault?

Who else, say Republican leaders, but them danged Democrats.

Republicans blamed Pelosi's scathing speech near the close of the debate — which attacked Bush's economic policies and a "right-wing ideology of anything goes, no supervision, no discipline, no regulation" of financial markets — for the vote's failure.

"We could have gotten there today had it not been for the partisan speech that the speaker gave on the floor of the House," Minority Leader John Boehner said. Pelosi's words, the Ohio Republican said, "poisoned our conference, caused a number of members that we thought we could get, to go south."

Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., the whip, estimated that Pelosi's speech changed the minds of a dozen Republicans who might otherwise have supported the plan.

That was a remarkable accusation by Republicans against Republicans, said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee: "Because somebody hurt their feelings, they decided to punish the country."

I luvs it.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Relax.

It was a terrible bill that rewarded all the wrong people. A good bill will protect the middle-class, the current one didnt.

A good bill should hurt the villains NOT reward them. And there are plenty of villains.

We need to stop rewarding political and business and social leaders who treat tax-paying, bill-paying, hard-working middle class like chumps and patsies.

 

[rgraham666]

That's one of the nice things about being an ideologue. You're never, ever at fault.

It's the evil brain slugs from Uranus that cause bad things to happen. Or whatever else is convenient.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Newsflash ROB

Thats all they know to do.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Just FWIW, the good, bad, and/or ugly of the bill wasn't the subject of the opening post.

What I love is the way GOP leaders immediately blamed Pelosi and Democratic "partisanship" for the bill's failure when two-thirds of House Republicans voted against the bill although it was sponsored by their own party and pushed by their leaders including the Republican President.

Not saying Democrats wouldn't have done the same thing had the situation been reversed. But the contention that some sensitive Republicans in the House may have changed their vote bacause Speaker Pelosi might have hurt their feelings is priceless politics.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[BOSTONFICTIONWRITER]

If they don't pass a bailout, I forsee a run on the banks. What do you think?

There are plenty of folks still living who remember the great depression. They never like banks after that and still don't.

Only, I have a Termperedic mattress and the thing is too heavy to lift to squirrel away all my cash, besides it wouldn't fit anyone (lol).

They need to bring back the thousand dollar bill. Fuck the drug dealers, which is why the biggest denomination we can get now.

Whose picture is on the thousand dollar bill? Does anyone know? It's been so long since I've seen one.

You have to feel sorry for Bush, though. They made him look like the horses ass that he is.

I think the Republicans can kiss the presidency away with this fiasco.

 

[cloudy]

I think the Republicans can kiss the presidency away with this fiasco.

Add to it McCain's Mighty Mouse routine last week, and yeah....they've got problems.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

BFW

Prediction: Pension and Insurance defaults, first. Then local government bankruptcies. Who in hell has any money to put under a mattress?

 

[Katyusha]

I saw a lot of statements from people on CNN that all ran along the same theme: "How is this going to help ME? I'm having problems paying my bills and my retirement account is gone because of this and they want to bail out the corrupt?"

In the end, it will be us middle class schlubs who pay most dearly for this, because in the end we pay for everything. We're not rich investors or corporate bigwigs, therefore we don't do much to help keep this country running. We're not poor, so we don't deserve any breaks. Or so the current mentality of a lot of politicians is these days.

 

[john-the-author]

If they don't pass a bailout, I forsee a run on the banks. What do you think?

There are plenty of folks still living who remember the great depression. They never like banks after that and still don't.

Only, I have a Termperedic mattress and the thing is too heavy to lift to squirrel away all my cash, besides it wouldn't fit anyone (lol).

They need to bring back the thousand dollar bill. Fuck the drug dealers, which is why the biggest denomination we can get now.

Whose picture is on the thousand dollar bill? Does anyone know? It's been so long since I've seen one.

You have to feel sorry for Bush, though. They made him look like the horses ass that he is.

I think the Republicans can kiss the presidency away with this fiasco.

It's Grover Cleveland. Actually, I had been under the impression when the $1000 was eliminated in the... late 60s? early 70s? that it wasn't the drug dealers but rather that there just wasn't a need for the $1000 at the time and the cost of making it was rather considerable per unit. $10,000 was a relatively small stack of $100 bills and $10,000 was a considerable amount of money.

I find it impossible to feel sorry for Bush. My only sorrows are that this humiliation seems wholly inadequate for the pain he's caused and that he didn't suffer such a humiliation much sooner.

There's no doubt in my mind that Obama's going to have a technicolor hell as president, far worse than Hoover did, but I love listening to him speak. It'll be nice to have someone in the White House who is actually capable of speaking the English language. Or even say "nuclear" and not "nook-you-ler" like some pissants.

 

[BOSTONFICTIONWRITER]

Add to it McCain's Mighty Mouse routine last week, and yeah....they've got problems.

Much like Bush did against Kerry in his debate, McCain just waved the American flag.

Did you see him get angry, though. Boy, he's got a short fuse. We need someone like him with his finger on the big button.

"Kaboom!"

 

[BOSTONFICTIONWRITER]

It's Grover Cleveland. Actually, I had been under the impression when the $1000 was eliminated in the... late 60s? early 70s? that it wasn't the drug dealers but rather that there just wasn't a need for the $1000 at the time and the cost of making it was rather considerable per unit. $10,000 was a relatively small stack of $100 bills and $10,000 was a considerable amount of money.

I find it impossible to feel sorry for Bush. My only sorrows are that this humiliation seems wholly inadequate for the pain he's caused and that he didn't suffer such a humiliation much sooner.

There's no doubt in my mind that Obama's going to have a technicolor hell as president, far worse than Hoover did, but I love listening to him speak. It'll be nice to have someone in the White House who is actually capable of speaking the English language. Or even say "nuclear" and not "nook-you-ler" like some pissants.

I think I really like you.

 

[BOSTONFICTIONWRITER]

BFW

Prediction: Pension and Insurance defaults, first. Then local government bankruptcies. Who in hell has any money to put under a mattress?

I'm afraid you may be right.

I always have extra cash lying around. You never know when you'll need some in a hurry.

 

[Belegon]

It's Grover Cleveland. Actually, I had been under the impression when the $1000 was eliminated in the... late 60s? early 70s? that it wasn't the drug dealers but rather that there just wasn't a need for the $1000 at the time and the cost of making it was rather considerable per unit. $10,000 was a relatively small stack of $100 bills and $10,000 was a considerable amount of money.

Right, although "eliminated" is a relative term. Such a bill would still be legal tender, although in all likelihood it would also be worth more than face value to a collector. It wasn't so much eliminated as phased out. They quit making new ones and culled all the ones that came through central vaults. Same way they take all old bills out of service.

Not sure on the actual time frame. But your neighborhood bank should have the reference materials if you want to see a picture of one. We also had a website we could go to if we needed to check the serial numbers and see if such a bill were outstanding and whether there was a history of counterfeiting. But in my nearly ten years I never saw a bill over $100.

They would love to phase out the penny and the $1 bill (in favor of coins) but they are too worried about public reaction.

 

[jomar]

Stop the insanity...

NPR was reporting Repubs were backing away and Pelosi said the Dems aren't getting saddled with it, and it had to be bipartisan or no go.

 

[3113]

It's Grover Cleveland.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/91/President_Grover_Cleveland.jpg/225px-President_Grover_Cleveland.jpg

No wonder they phased it out

Though it sounds like we could use him now:

From Wiki: As a leader of the Bourbon Democrats, he opposed imperialism, taxes, subsidies and inflationary policies, but as a reformer he also worked against corruption, patronage, and bossism. Some of Cleveland's actions caused controversy even within his own party. His intervention in the Pullman Strike of 1894 in order to keep the railroads moving angered labor unions, and his support of the gold standard and opposition to free silver alienated the agrarian wing of the Democrats.[2] Furthermore, critics complained that he had little imagination and seemed overwhelmed by the nation's economic disasters—depressions and strikes—in his second term.[2] Even so, his reputation for honesty and good character survived the troubles of his second term.

 

[Belegon]

No wonder they phased it out

There's a legend that a number of the unaccounted for $1000 bills are due to a habit of Al Capone's...

When needing to really impress someone with his power and influence, he would light his cigar with one.

I have no idea if it is true, but it's a fun story. Although it's not like gangsters to waste money that way.

 

[starrkers]

You're still using $1 notes???
Struth, we phased them out in the 80s in favour of coin. $2 too.
And 1c and 2c pieces have gone the way of the ark too.

 

[3113]

You're still using $1 notes???
Struth, we phased them out in the 80s in favour of coin. $2 too.
And 1c and 2c pieces have gone the way of the ark too.

1$ got a nice picture of Pres. Washington on them and they're so much fun to glide into candy machines which then spit them out a few times before failing to deliver the candy.

Seriously, for some reason, Americans just ain't into 1$ coins. The mint tries over and over again to put out such coins, but ever since they phases out the over-sized dollar coins for ones closer to "quarter" sized, the public just refuses to use them. Maybe because they put women on them? Maybe if they put Sara Palin on one....

 

[Just-Legal]

We're in the middle, have coins for £1 and £2 but also still have 1p and 2p coins.

 

[rgraham666]

Oh yes, Grover. Now I remember.

When he intervened in the rail strike, sending in the Army, it was not at the request of the mayor of Chicago. Or the governor of Illinois. The strikers had been peaceful. They just were not allowing trains with Pullman cars to be moved.

The head of the railways asked him to break the strike. And he did.

Nice guy.

 

[starrkers]

I miss the 1c and 2c coins - they had a possum and a frilled neck lizard on them.
They're still technically legal tender, but they're not currency. If you take a bunch of them to a bank (in a money box or something) to deposit, they'll take 'em and credit you, but you can't use 'em day to day anymore.
But goods in stores are still priced by 1c increments. they round the total up or down to the nearest 5c when you pay cash. If you use a card, they go by the actual total.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Or even say "nuclear" and not "nook-you-ler" like some pissants.

You came close, John, he (mis)pronounces it: NEW-CUE-LUR. It's sort of a Texas, southern thing, bless his heart.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Pure]

This vote is amazing.

Bush and Paulson did not convince 2/3 of the Republicans! Talk of squandered capital.

Further, the Republican leaders plainly miscalculated and/or hoped some people would blink. This outcome was predictable. It's evidence of incompetence and party disintegration: there are over a hundred 'no' voters, why weren't they consulted and/or bought of.

I think, though, the defeat may be a good thing. Clearly the people back home are saying "If you bail out the bankers, why not me? If you vote 'yes' you will be defeated this november."

 

[3113]

NPR was reporting Repubs were backing away and Pelosi said the Dems aren't getting saddled with it, and it had to be bipartisan or no go.

Well, the repubs can always go back to blaming their old standby: The 60's

http://www.orlok.com/hair/holding/poster2.jpg