Countdown: Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi, on new House Speaker John 'Bagman' Boehner

[akhalif68]

Sadly Boehner is your A rated Washington insider & bag man for the corporations

[biggydx]

@FiredoglakeTV We missed you Jane!

[bosshog7169]

This guy is going to cry every time he doesn't get his way to appeal to liberals sensitivity. Boehner (pronounced Boner) is such an unbeliveably ridiculous person that I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. He cries on camera in front of everyone like once a week and is an obviously insane individual, yet we put him in charge of running our country. How can this be happening seriously, it boggles the mind. He is a manic depressive insane crybaby!

[12345678tube]

Stupid liberals just hate the free market. Too bad these bleeding hearts dont understand economics.

[woostopalypse]

@12345678tube What free market? The market is controlled by corporate monopolies that corrupt our politicians. There is nothing free about it.

[12345678tube]

@woostopalypse Agreed. If government wasnt so powerful (i.e. constrained by the constitution), then there would be no point in bribing politicians because they couldnt do you any favors.

Big government is and has always been the source of corruption, the cause of most homicides, the enslaver of its populace, and the biggest thief in existence.

[theconservativelib]

@12345678tube You're kidding right? If you understand economics then you are well aware of the corporate welfare we have in America. Privatize profits and socialize the losses. Subsidies, bailouts and literally changing laws over night to benefit one corporation is not a free market. I can't speak for all "liberals" but I'm fucking pissed about America being ONLY for the wealthy and always looking to the bottom line for answers. Free market? After what just happened in housing? Jesus. 

[12345678tube]

@theconservativelib What just happened in housing? This is why I hate liberalism - over opinionated, and under educated on the issues. Fannie and Freddie are GSEs. GOVERNMENT sponsored enterprises. The risk was removed so "underrepresented" (i.e. black) people could buy homes that they couldnt afford. If the mortgages were bad, so what, they thought. The government bought them and backed them. 100 cents on the dollar. This is GOVERNMENT distortion of a market. I agree, the market isnt free.

[theconservativelib]

@12345678tube I'm referring to securitizing mortgages into shady CDOs and then passing them off the like it's a hot potato until we the people get it. That was the banks in my opinion. It was the banks (and yes gov.) who encouraged people to take on loans they couldn't handle. Greenspan fucked us all by encouraging ARMs and then raising rates right after that. It was also the banks that wanted laws like AIG not having to actually back up the CDS they were making. Free market screwed us all.

[jjason1985]

@theconservativelib Stop saying free market and then describing government interventions. Just stop. It is dishonest.

The thousands of mortgage defaults and foreclosures in the subprime housing market is the direct result of thirty years of government policy. The 1977 Community Reinvestment Act, which compels banks to make loans to low-income borrowers that they might not otherwise make based on purely economic criteria was a forceful distortion and therefore NOT A FREE MARKET.

[theconservativelib]

@jjason1985 Yes government played a huge role in pushing poor people into housing they couldn't afford but what about the other stuff? Gov made banks securtize those mortgages to sell off with crappy ratings from moodys and whatnot? That was gov. fault? Gov made AIG take CDS without actually having the money on hand to pay back that insurance? Gov forced pension funds to put money into risky assets just to call themselves "diversified"? These things had nothing to do with greedy banks?

[jjason1985]

@theconservativelib If the government distorts the market, then bad things happen. If there is no chance of losing money (i.e. loans are backed by fannie and freddy (aka government)) then banks will behave differently than if in a free market. A free market has a ying and yang aspect to it - greed motivates people to work or come up with creative things, fear of loss makes them think twice. When you take away fear, as the government did, stupid risks are taken, as we have seen.

[theconservativelib]

@jjason1985 Jason, that is easily the best argument for a free market that I have ever encountered. Kudos. Unfortunately I am still convinced that if left to their own devices Wall st. bankers would eat each other alive and pillage everything not tied down in the name of a quick profit. What was the loss of risk before the TARP program (besides F&F)? Greenspan helping out all his buddys? Did all those firms have that much appetite for risk because of guaranteed bailout or greed?

[theconservativelib]

@jjason1985 Sorry to beat a dead horse here, but one other reason I'm not crazy about the free-market is because of monopolies. In my opinion if government had restricted companies to one business (like allowing insurance giants to merge with banks) we wouldn't have created a system where anything is too big to fail. They would have been in check rather than growing out of control and buying all the competition. That's just my opinion though, curious what your take on it is.

[jjason1985]

@theconservativelib Besides f&f? Well there was basically zero risk after the govt backed the loans. What more could be done to remove risk? It was not insignificant.

Monopolies are very inefficient. The only monopolies that lasted in history were backed by government (laws twisted in their favor or against their competition). Otherwise, those businesses dont last for very long. And if they do, they must be doing things better than any one else. Research Herbert Dow for a great example.

[theconservativelib]

@jjason1985 Yeah, I guess I was referring more to anti-trust laws that from what I understand were put in place because of price fixing, the result of unregulated utilities (which do fail). Specifically how the McCarran-Ferguson Act seems to allow insurance companies to band together and destroy any smidgen of competition coming into the market. Public option? No way. Paying Katrina victims back? Only after the courts make them. Would giving these people more freedom get rid of that?

[jjason1985]

@theconservativelib When the government makes everything right (at our expense of course), there is no incentive to go to reputable insurers. Did you read about Dow? The German producers banded together to destroy competition and fix prices. If you read what I suggested, your question would have been answered. People vote with their dollars. If you control the market, you tend to give less and charge more, creating great incentive (basically greed) for others to serve the needs of consumers best

[theconservativelib]

@jjason1985 I read it I just think it's great in theory and am still waiting for it to be applied to insurance companies. I didn't see anybody step up in Mississippi when they were screwing people left and right over Katrina claims. Anthem actually gave their employees bonuses for denying people medical coverage and nobody is stepping in to fill that gap their greed is leaving. I want to vote with my dollars but these companies have gotten so big the choice is "screwed" or "screwed more."

[jjason1985]

@theconservativelib Capitalism is not perfect, but it is the best system for channeling human greed for good. While it is not 100%, those cheated by insurance companies can use the court system, which is one of the few legit functions of govt. Is it better to have government do things, and then have no accountability? The government is all powerful and not liable for its actions.

Medical insurance has been totally f*cked up by government intervention. There isnt enough room to go into that tho

[jag10]

He has a good turn and holds his finish, but his hands release a little low.

[Aiden057]

Orange John is going to be fun, but he's also dangerous and now he has a really big, big, big hammer (gavel). Someone pass me a tissue...sniff.