VPILF

Well, just conjecturing and a quick gander at the Fortune 500, these companies:

1.*Wal-Mart Stores
2.*Exxon Mobil
3.*Chevron
4.*General Motors
5.*ConocoPhillips
6.*General Electric
7.*Ford Motor
8.*Citigroup
9.*Bank of America
10.*AT&T
11.*Berkshire Hathaway
12.*J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
13.*AIG
14.*Hewlett-Packard
15.*IBM
16.*Valero Energy
17.*Verizon Communications
18.*McKesson
19.*Cardinal Health
20.*Goldman Sachs
 
is this the right place for policy discussion too?

AIG was bailed out, despite not being under direct regulatory control, because it was deemed to big to fail, and its failure would have caused fallout economy-wide.

what else is too big to fail? should there be controls in place to prevent firms becoming "too big to fail" in the first place? doesn't letting them become massive gorillas that must be saved by the government put them in a position where they may be as irresponsible as they like?

i'm not specifically saying that AIG in particular was irresponsible, there were a lot of factors, but why give any firm the option?
You don't get it, do you? While true some of these firms are so big that their collapse would cause a chain reaction that might bring down the entire US (and possibly the entire world) economy. That isn't why the US stepped in. They stepped in because someone from China or other major holder of this debt said "you won't like us if you don't pay us back", much in the same way you get a friendly reminder from some dude named Guido if you default on a loan from the mafia. No one wants to try and quell civil unrest at home (because riots would surely break out if the economy completely fell apart) and try to defend themselves from "debt collection" at the same time. It's especially an easy decision when you can just print money out of thin air.

Keep this in mind when you vote. Phil Gramm, who authored the Commodity Futures Modernization Act which took any regulation or inspection of credit default swaps (big part of the current mess) and allowed Enron to happen and who authored Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act which is the other main component in this mess wrote John McCain's economic policy. Although he's not officially part of the campaign anymore, he still works for them "unofficially" and I'm sure you'll see him in a cabinet level position if McCain wins.
 
You don't get it, do you? While true some of these firms are so big that their collapse would cause a chain reaction that might bring down the entire US (and possibly the entire world) economy. That isn't why the US stepped in.
every discussion and article i've read says that is exactly why they stepped in.
 
every discussion and article i've read says that is exactly why they stepped in.

Do you think anyone wants to report we're so in debt up to our eyeballs that we can be controlled by other countries? It may never get reported, but if you don't think the White House got a call from Beijing, I've got a bridge in Alaska I'd like to sell you.
 
Do you think anyone wants to report we're so in debt up to our eyeballs that we can be controlled by other countries? It may never get reported, but if you don't think the White House got a call from Beijing, I've got a bridge in Alaska I'd like to sell you.

how about an alaskan road to nowhere?
 
Do you think anyone wants to report we're so in debt up to our eyeballs that we can be controlled by other countries? It may never get reported, but if you don't think the White House got a call from Beijing, I've got a bridge in Alaska I'd like to sell you.
yes, i think there are people who would love nothing more than to report exactly that if it were true, as you are so obviously enjoying doing right now.
 
is this the right place for policy discussion too?

AIG was bailed out, despite not being under direct regulatory control, because it was deemed to big to fail, and its failure would have caused fallout economy-wide.

what else is too big to fail? should there be controls in place to prevent firms becoming "too big to fail" in the first place? doesn't letting them become massive gorillas that must be saved by the government put them in a position where they may be as irresponsible as they like?

i'm not specifically saying that AIG in particular was irresponsible, there were a lot of factors, but why give any firm the option?
Too late for me to read the rest of the posts, but we stand to make a nice hunk of change from AIG. Its assets (once the market finishes its correction) waaay outstrip it liabilities. And it will have to sell those assets and hand us the profits. They cornholed AIG and its stockholders to make a point.
 
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what the fuck

We can't bust heads like we used to, but we have our ways. One trick is to tell 'em stories that don't go anywhere. Like the time I took the ferry over to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for my shoe, so I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So, I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now to ride the ferry cost a nickel, but in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on them. 'Gimme 5 bees for a quarter,' you'd say. Now, where were we? Oh, yes.The important thing was, I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn't have white onions, because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones.
 
We can't bust heads like we used to, but we have our ways. One trick is to tell 'em stories that don't go anywhere. Like the time I took the ferry over to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for my shoe, so I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So, I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now to ride the ferry cost a nickel, but in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on them. 'Gimme 5 bees for a quarter,' you'd say. Now, where were we? Oh, yes.The important thing was, I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn't have white onions, because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones.

This is just plain awesome. :lol: