World Politics

[patricknd]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43035172/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts


Typical socialist

 

[redtreviso]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43035172/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts


Typical socialist

who??????------------------------------
Typical Conservative
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/terry-krepel/right-wingers-give-limbau_b_193635.html

 

[redtreviso]

Speaker of the House..

a drunk

""It only took the Speaker of the House about 12 seconds to start crying about things like football coaches, family, God, signs from the Virgin Mary, you get the picture. Watch below""

http://gawker.com/5801943/john-boehner-cried-to-college-kids-today

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Yes, yes. It's their fault. The "other side" is more corrupt, therefore we should not discuss what "our side" may have done. Nor do we need to offer any solutions.

Now, give me campaign money so I can get re-elected and continue doing this.

 

[redtreviso]

Neut

""Newt Gingrich doubled down on his clever new slur against President Obama as "the food stamp president." He tried the line in a Friday speech to the Georgia Republican convention, and he used it again on "Meet the Press Sunday." It's a short hop from Gingrich's slur to Ronald Reagan's attacks on "strapping young bucks" buying "T-bone steaks" with food stamps. Blaming our first black president for the sharp rise in food-stamp reliance (which resulted from the economic crash that happened on the watch of our most recent white president) is just the latest version of Rush Limbaugh suggesting that Obama's social policy amounts to "reparations" for black people.

But when host David Gregory suggested the term had racial overtones, Gingrich replied "That's bizarre," and added, "I have never said anything about President Obama which is racist." That's not quite as extreme or silly as Donald Trump declaring "I am the least racist person there is," but it's up there. He also told Georgia Republicans Friday that 2012 will be the most momentous election "since 1860," which happens to be the year we elected the anti-slavery Abraham Lincoln president, and he suggested the U.S. bring back a "voting standard" that requires voters to prove they know American history -- which sounds a lot like the "poll tests" outlawed by the Voting Rights Act.

Just last week Gingrich said Obama "knows how to get the whole country to resemble Detroit," which just happens to be home to many black people. And last year Gingrich accused Obama of "Kenyan anti-colonialist behavior" that made him "outside our comprehension" as Americans, spreading Dinesh D'Souza's idiocy that Obama inherited angry African anti-colonialism from the Kenyan father he never knew. “This is a person who is fundamentally out of touch with how the world works, who happened to have played a wonderful con, as a result of which he is now president,” Gingrich told the National Review Online last year.

All this from the guy who's supposed to be the "smart" candidate for the GOP nomination?""

 

[ChrisE]

Neut

""Newt Gingrich doubled down on his clever new slur against President Obama as "the food stamp president." He tried the line in a Friday speech to the Georgia Republican convention, and he used it again on "Meet the Press Sunday." It's a short hop from Gingrich's slur to Ronald Reagan's attacks on "strapping young bucks" buying "T-bone steaks" with food stamps. Blaming our first black president for the sharp rise in food-stamp reliance (which resulted from the economic crash that happened on the watch of our most recent white president) is just the latest version of Rush Limbaugh suggesting that Obama's social policy amounts to "reparations" for black people.

But when host David Gregory suggested the term had racial overtones, Gingrich replied "That's bizarre," and added, "I have never said anything about President Obama which is racist." That's not quite as extreme or silly as Donald Trump declaring "I am the least racist person there is," but it's up there. He also told Georgia Republicans Friday that 2012 will be the most momentous election "since 1860," which happens to be the year we elected the anti-slavery Abraham Lincoln president, and he suggested the U.S. bring back a "voting standard" that requires voters to prove they know American history -- which sounds a lot like the "poll tests" outlawed by the Voting Rights Act.

Just last week Gingrich said Obama "knows how to get the whole country to resemble Detroit," which just happens to be home to many black people. And last year Gingrich accused Obama of "Kenyan anti-colonialist behavior" that made him "outside our comprehension" as Americans, spreading Dinesh D'Souza's idiocy that Obama inherited angry African anti-colonialism from the Kenyan father he never knew. “This is a person who is fundamentally out of touch with how the world works, who happened to have played a wonderful con, as a result of which he is now president,” Gingrich told the National Review Online last year.

All this from the guy who's supposed to be the "smart" candidate for the GOP nomination?""

Crying "racism" all the time starts taking the gravity out of the word, and makes people passive when real racism takes place.

Instead of providing fodder for us to post about, why doesn't the press ask Gingrich head on what he means and poke holes in his gibberish real time, and make the term stick more easily?

The logical next question from Gregory today would be "well Newt unemployment is down since he took office so why do you brand him that way?" That would give Gingrich more rope and not let him weasle out of the racism charge as he so easily did.

Instead, Gregory probably sat there with his thumb in his **** because he is an idiot, or he wanted to appear "fair and balanced" by not jamming the wingnut.

 

[redtreviso]

Crying "racism" all the time starts taking the gravity out of the word, and makes people passive when real racism takes place.

Instead of providing fodder for us to post about, why doesn't the press ask Gingrich head on what he means and poke holes in his gibberish real time, and make the term stick more easily?

The logical next question from Gregory today would be "well Newt unemployment is down since he took office so why do you brand him that way?" That would give Gingrich more rope and not let him weasle out of the racism charge as he so easily did.

Instead, Gregory probably sat there with his thumb in his **** because he is an idiot, or he wanted to appear "fair and balanced" by not jamming the wingnut.

David Gregory is an Idiot.. Newt's keyword innudedo-ing is well known..It almost goes without saying..This is what Newt does and what he is. Gregory was just as likely to ask Newt about the moral character of someone who would serve their wife divorce papers in a cancer ward as to question his suggestive use of words. Newt knows what his whiskey tango audience wants to hear.

"""I know how to get the whole country to resemble Texas…President Obama knows how to get the whole country to resemble Detroit.""--Newt Gingrich

yea.. El Paso, Texas

 

[redtreviso]

Koch brothers give a big ENRON *&^% $#@

""Yep, I guess all the speculatory fraud apologists at Cato are totally right. There’s nothing evil or sinister about billionaires who physically hoard oil supplies to drive up prices. No sir, nothing wrong with it. It’s all a necessary part of the new market economy, where speculators, billionaires, small farmers, young professionals and nice old pensioners all come together in harmony to find prosperity and happiness. Sure, commodities might come with a built-in billionaire tax. But so what? We can’t expect a free capitalistic society to be free. It costs an extra buck or two per gallon.""

http://exiledonline.com/koch-industries-lackeys-admit-to-manipulating-oil-prices-and-gloat-about-it-too/

 

[redtreviso]

Dead Peasant

""House Speaker Pro Tem Joel Robideaux said Thursday that he is uncertain whether he will push forward with legislation that would allow the state to insure the lives of state workers.

House Bill 386 generated criticism by state retirement system officials, some of whom called the proposal morbid.
Robideaux, No Party-Lafayette, said the uproar is not influencing him. He said he is uncertain whether the proposal pitched to him by lobbyists for tax attorneys would even work.

“I’m not convinced it’s a good investment,” he said.

HB386 would give the state retirement systems what is known as an insurable interest in its members and retirees.
Insurable interest determines who can apply for life insurance policies. The law limits who can be the beneficiary on such policies. Spouses can insure spouses. Parents or guardians can insure children in their care.

The limitations stem from a once common corporate practice of using life insurance policies as tax shelters. Companies would take out policies on employees without their knowledge and without any payout for their families. The benefits were derided as “dead peasant” policies because they often targeted low income workers.

Under HB386, the state retirement systems would pay the premiums on life insurance policies in exchange for receiving a portion of the proceeds when a member dies. Workers and retirees could cancel the policies as long as they object within a 10-day timeframe."""

http://www.2theadvocate.com/blogs/politicsblog/121717974.html

 

[Anonymous]

Dead Peasant

""House Speaker Pro Tem Joel Robideaux said Thursday that he is uncertain whether he will push forward with legislation that would allow the state to insure the lives of state workers.

House Bill 386 generated criticism by state retirement system officials, some of whom called the proposal morbid.
Robideaux, No Party-Lafayette, said the uproar is not influencing him. He said he is uncertain whether the proposal pitched to him by lobbyists for tax attorneys would even work.

“I’m not convinced it’s a good investment,” he said.

HB386 would give the state retirement systems what is known as an insurable interest in its members and retirees.
Insurable interest determines who can apply for life insurance policies. The law limits who can be the beneficiary on such policies. Spouses can insure spouses. Parents or guardians can insure children in their care.

The limitations stem from a once common corporate practice of using life insurance policies as tax shelters. Companies would take out policies on employees without their knowledge and without any payout for their families. The benefits were derided as “dead peasant” policies because they often targeted low income workers.

Under HB386, the state retirement systems would pay the premiums on life insurance policies in exchange for receiving a portion of the proceeds when a member dies. Workers and retirees could cancel the policies as long as they object within a 10-day timeframe."""

http://www.2theadvocate.com/blogs/politicsblog/121717974.html

I doubt the insurance companies involved will see an insurable interest (which is the basis for any insurance product).

The only way the State could argue there to be an insurable interest would be if each State worker was so valuable to the State in terms of their job function that the employees death would cause financial harm to the State. We know this is not true, so I don't think this will fly.

This seems to be a clever way to bolster the State pension fund in future years when former workers die. If this were presented to me and I were a State worker I would be all for this.... if, by actuary, it would keep the defined benefit plan in place.

If I were the insurance company I would say "no thanks."

 

[redtreviso]

I doubt the insurance companies involved will see an insurable interest (which is the basis for any insurance product).

The only way the State could argue there to be an insurable interest would be if each State worker was so valuable to the State in terms of their job function that the employees death would cause financial harm to the State. We know this is not true, so I don't think this will fly.

This seems to be a clever way to bolster the State pension fund in future years when former workers die. If this were presented to me and I were a State worker I would be all for this.... if, by actuary, it would keep the defined benefit plan in place.

If I were the insurance company I would say "no thanks."

If it could be correlated to health care overhead it could be a bonanza..The insurable interest would be the employee's potential to cause financial harm. Someone with a persistent cough perhaps, or one getting blood sugar tests.
This sounds similar to the analogy about credit default swaps being like someone being able to buy fire insurance on someone else's house. Like the neighbor who keeps gas cans on the porch.........

 

[redtreviso]

""Newt Gingrich, a fiscal conservative? Not when it comes to Tiffany’s.

In 2005 and 2006, the former House speaker turned presidential candidate carried as much as $500,000 in debt to the premiere jewelry company, according to financial disclosures filed with the Clerk of the House of Representatives.

Gingrich, who represented Georgia in Congress for two decades, retired in 1999. But his wife, Callista Gingrich, was employed by the House Agriculture Committee until 2007, according to public records. She listed a “revolving charge account” at Tiffany and Company in the liability section of her personal financial disclosure form for two consecutive years and indicated that it was her spouse’s debt. The liability was reported in the range of $250,001 to $500,000.

When asked by POLITICO whether Gingrich has settled this debt, and why he owed between a quarter-million and a half-million dollars to a jeweler, Rick Tyler, Gingrich’s spokesman, declined to comment."""

 

[redtreviso]

death-derivatives


""(Bloomberg) Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), which bundled and sold billions of dollars of mortgage loans, now want to help investors bet on people’s deaths.

Pension funds sitting on more than $23 trillion of assets are buying insurance against the risk their members live longer than expected. Banks are looking to earn fees from packaging that risk into bonds and other securities to sell to investors. The hard part: Finding buyers willing to take the other side of bets that may take 20 years or more to play out.

“Banks are increasingly looking to offer derivative solutions,” said Nardeep Sangha, 43, chief executive officer of Abbey Life Assurance Co., a London-based Deutsche Bank unit that helps pension funds manage the risk of retirees living longer than expected. “Making the long maturity of the risks palatable for investors, including sovereign wealth funds, private-equity firms and specialist funds, is the challenge.”

As insurers reach the limit of how much pension-fund liability they’re willing to shoulder, companies such as JPMorgan and Prudential Plc (PRU) last year set up a trade group aimed at establishing and standardizing a secondary market for so- called longevity risks. They’re also developing indexes that measure mortality rates and securities to let pension funds pay fixed premiums to investors in return for coverage against major deviations from projections.""

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-16/death-derivatives-emerge-from-pension-risks-of-living-too-long.html

 

[Anonymous]

death-derivatives


""(Bloomberg) Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), which bundled and sold billions of dollars of mortgage loans, now want to help investors bet on people’s deaths.

Pension funds sitting on more than $23 trillion of assets are buying insurance against the risk their members live longer than expected. Banks are looking to earn fees from packaging that risk into bonds and other securities to sell to investors. The hard part: Finding buyers willing to take the other side of bets that may take 20 years or more to play out.

“Banks are increasingly looking to offer derivative solutions,” said Nardeep Sangha, 43, chief executive officer of Abbey Life Assurance Co., a London-based Deutsche Bank unit that helps pension funds manage the risk of retirees living longer than expected. “Making the long maturity of the risks palatable for investors, including sovereign wealth funds, private-equity firms and specialist funds, is the challenge.”

As insurers reach the limit of how much pension-fund liability they’re willing to shoulder, companies such as JPMorgan and Prudential Plc (PRU) last year set up a trade group aimed at establishing and standardizing a secondary market for so- called longevity risks. They’re also developing indexes that measure mortality rates and securities to let pension funds pay fixed premiums to investors in return for coverage against major deviations from projections.""

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-16/death-derivatives-emerge-from-pension-risks-of-living-too-long.html

This is actually a little scary. When (if) life spans begin to shorten dramatically you will have a pretty good idea why.

 

[redtreviso]

This is actually a little scary. When (if) life spans begin to shorten dramatically you will have a pretty good idea why.

Just think of the equities themselves.. Imagine 2 issues of bundled pension overhead potential debty things.. One group frequents baskin robbins a lot and also buys products from RJ Reynolds and Budweiser.. The other group frequents starbucks and buys products from Pinarello and Vittoria.. The later represents the biggest risk to the pension fund..

 

[Anonymous]

Just think of the equities themselves.. Imagine 2 issues of bundled pension overhead potential debty things.. One group frequents baskin robbins a lot and also buys products from RJ Reynolds and Budweiser.. The other group frequents starbucks and buys products from Pinarello and Vittoria.. The later represents the biggest risk to the pension fund..

Exactly. That's the scary part as the financial incentive will be to manipulate the actuary to lessen the pressure on the pension.

But how do you have an ebola outbreak on only those below 20% body fat??

 

[redtreviso]

Exactly. That's the scary part as the financial incentive will be to manipulate the actuary to lessen the pressure on the pension.

But how do you have an ebola outbreak on only those below 20% body fat??

I don't know about ebola outbreaks but the general well being of the below 20% body fat could be taken down by causing as much economic turmoil as possible.. The baskin robbins/Bud/Marlboro backed issues will take care of themselves.

 

[Cobblestones]

I've to say I'm warming up a bit to this Gingrich guy. He calls the Ryan budget 'radical right wing social engineering'. Can't argue much with that.

 

[Anonymous]

Maybe someone can explain this to me.

The Obama administration approved 204 new waivers to Democrats' healthcare reform law over the past month, bringing the total to 1,372.

http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/161203-hhs-approves-200-more-new-healthcare-reform-waivers-

Beyond irony: Nursing homes need waivers from Obamacare

http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2011/05/beyond-irony-nursing-homes-need-waiver-obamacare

Other common waiver recipients were labor union chapters, large corporations, financial firms and local governments. But Pelosi’s district’s waivers are the first major examples of luxurious, gourmet restaurants and hotels getting a year-long pass from Obamacare.

http://dailycaller.com/2011/05/17/nearly-20-percent-of-new-obamacare-waivers-are-gourmet-restaurants-nightclubs-fancy-hotels-in-nancy-pelosi%E2%80%99s-district/

 

[patricknd]

Maybe someone can explain this to me.



http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/161203-hhs-approves-200-more-new-healthcare-reform-waivers-




http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2011/05/beyond-irony-nursing-homes-need-waiver-obamacare




http://dailycaller.com/2011/05/17/nearly-20-percent-of-new-obamacare-waivers-are-gourmet-restaurants-nightclubs-fancy-hotels-in-nancy-pelosi%E2%80%99s-district/

i'm just thankful nancy won't have to pay more than $59 for her porterhouse.

 

[redtreviso]

Maybe someone can explain this to me.



http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/161203-hhs-approves-200-more-new-healthcare-reform-waivers-




http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2011/05/beyond-irony-nursing-homes-need-waiver-obamacare




http://dailycaller.com/2011/05/17/nearly-20-percent-of-new-obamacare-waivers-are-gourmet-restaurants-nightclubs-fancy-hotels-in-nancy-pelosi%E2%80%99s-district/

Here's a hint for you.. Anyone using the word "obamacare" is probably a LIAR

 

[redtreviso]

Just a little while longer and then its off to Switzerland where Phil Gramm has been holding his 500 million of ill bootin gotti in a USB account..Woooo hoooo!!!


""Federal prison officials have moved the former finance chief of failed energy giant Enron Corp. from a prison in Louisiana to a halfway house in Houston.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons website shows Andrew Fastow was moved from a Pollack, La., prison to a low-security community corrections facility in Houston. The Houston Chronicle reports he'll likely remain there until Dec. 17.

Fastow is considered the mastermind behind the financial schemes that doomed Enron. He has been serving a six-year prison term since 2006 on conspiracy convictions. The reduced sentence was for testifying against former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling and Chairman Kenneth Lay.

Lay and Skilling were convicted of fraud and conspiracy. Lay died in July 2006 before entering prison. Skilling awaits resentencing after the Supreme Court overturned his 24-year sentence.""

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43075644/ns/business-us_business

 

[Bala Verde]

death-derivatives


""(Bloomberg) Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), which bundled and sold billions of dollars of mortgage loans, now want to help investors bet on people’s deaths.

Pension funds sitting on more than $23 trillion of assets are buying insurance against the risk their members live longer than expected. Banks are looking to earn fees from packaging that risk into bonds and other securities to sell to investors. The hard part: Finding buyers willing to take the other side of bets that may take 20 years or more to play out.

“Banks are increasingly looking to offer derivative solutions,” said Nardeep Sangha, 43, chief executive officer of Abbey Life Assurance Co., a London-based Deutsche Bank unit that helps pension funds manage the risk of retirees living longer than expected. “Making the long maturity of the risks palatable for investors, including sovereign wealth funds, private-equity firms and specialist funds, is the challenge.”

As insurers reach the limit of how much pension-fund liability they’re willing to shoulder, companies such as JPMorgan and Prudential Plc (PRU) last year set up a trade group aimed at establishing and standardizing a secondary market for so- called longevity risks. They’re also developing indexes that measure mortality rates and securities to let pension funds pay fixed premiums to investors in return for coverage against major deviations from projections.""

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-16/death-derivatives-emerge-from-pension-risks-of-living-too-long.html

I thought this was reported by the NYT in 2009 already.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/business/06insurance.html

It truly is a casino.

 

[Merckx index]

It truly is a casino.

Maybe not such a casino:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/s...at-tells-you-how-long-youll-live-2284639.html

 

[redtreviso]

Fiscal Conservatives

""Current GOP Leaders Voted 19 Times To Increase Debt Limit By $4 Trillion During Bush Presidency

After pushing the government to brink of shutdown last week, Republican Congressional leaders are now preparing to push America to the edge of default by refusing to increase the nation’s debt limit without first getting Democrats to concede to large spending cuts.

But while the four Republicans in Congressional leadership positions are attempting to hold the increase hostage now, they combined to vote for a debt limit increase 19 times during the presidency of George W. Bush. In doing so, they increased the debt limit by nearly $4 trillion.

At the beginning of the Bush presidency, the United States debt limit was $5.95 trillion. Despite promises that he would pay off the debt in 10 years, Bush increased the debt to $9.815 trillion by the end of his term, with plenty of help from the four Republicans currently holding Congressional leadership positions: Speaker John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl. ThinkProgress compiled a breakdown of the five debt limit increases that took place during the Bush presidency and how the four Republican leaders voted:

June 2002: Congress approves a $450 billion increase, raising the debt limit to $6.4 trillion. McConnell, Boehner, and Cantor vote “yea”, Kyl votes “nay.”

May 2003: Congress approves a $900 billion increase, raising the debt limit to $7.384 trillion. All four approve.

November 2004: Congress approves an $800 billion increase, raising the debt limit to $8.1 trillion. All four approve.

March 2006: Congress approves a $781 billion increase, raising the debt limit to $8.965 trillion. All four approve.

September 2007: Congress approves an $850 billion increase, raising the debt limit to $9.815 trillion. All four approve.
"""