Politics!

[Berliner]

Did Kentock's reply disappear?

Edit: nevermind

[Adult Ed]

I just read Liar's Poker, where Michael Lewis implies that John Gutfreund's decision to make Salomon Brothers go public was one of the most fundamentally harmful decisions in the history of investment banking. The bankers went from truly dedicated stewards of their company's health to short-sighted, bonus oriented dealmakers.

In other words, they behaved like the managers of almost every publicly held company. The only difference is, when the CEO of a publicly traded tool-and-die maker steals from the company, there aren't too many ripples. When broker bonuses are based on short-term profit and executive pay is based on short-term share price improvement, there is a self-perpetuating descent into very, very dangerous activity.

It is totally anathema to the way Americans think of capitalism but regulation of executive pay - not absolute amount, but the way incentives are structured - is probably the best solution to the problem.

[Berliner]

I talk to a lot of people in finance/business, and it's kind of interesting how gung ho and alpha maleish they seem to me sometimes. If they ask me how to do business in China, I will always say that there's a lot of opportunity in China, that it's growing tremendously fast and has a huge consumer base, but there are also huge risks, including rampant government corruption, an inability of the courts to enforce contracts, weak legalism, rampant intellectual property theft and piracy, enviromental issues, possible government instability, etc. Usually I try to drill home the fact that a huge number of businesses have gone into China and failed miserably, but they really focus only on positives. I guess you have to have a taste for risk taking (aka full of testosterone) to succeed in business, but I feel like there's a difference between calculated risk taking what I encounter.

[Berliner]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2...re-debates.php

I was in a class with a girl who said she was Leiberman's finance staffer when he was still a Democrat. I'm not sure if I believe her because she seemed pretty bad at math and seemed too young. Anyhoo, she said that Leiberman won't be running for Senate next term and plans to move to Isreal with his wife.

[Umlaut]

That's good news, Berliner, but I feel like it can get better...

Anyhoo, she said that Leiberman won't be running for Senate next term and plans to move to a dark corner of the universe, never to be heard from again.

There.

[Berliner]

I don't know if I'd call it good news. It will be when he leaves, but in the meantime, someone who's not running for reelection doesn't have to care about how much his constituents hate him, outside of his alleged job of serving the interests of people of Connecticut. But if he cared about that, he wouldn't have gotten rid of the public option.

[Berliner]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...d=opinionsbox1

[bridgetosolace]

I've started listening to Common Sense with Dan Carlin, and over the four episodes I've listened to, I've adopted 6 or 7 new opinions about politics and the world. It's really great. Occasionally objectionable, but always interesting.

[Berliner]

Oh my gawd, this Coakley woman is terrible.

[Adult Ed]

Oh my gawd, this Coakley woman is terrible.

Elaborate, please. All I know is that she is running against a guy with Rush Limbaugh's politics in Donald Draper's body.

[Berliner]

She is running an very ineffective campaign and is seen by many as an very weak unlikeable candidate. Polls are very widespread, but there are some that say she will lose. Considering that she's a democrat running for Ted Kennedy's seat in Taxachussetts, that's pretty bad. Obama is now going to campaign for her, which means he'll have her stink on him if she loses.

The guy that's running against her isn't Limbaugh level. He said he's pro choice and some other stuff that's pretty moderate. He does say that he'll be the one to destroy Health Care if he gets the seat though. They could probably pass everything before then through reconcilation, but its making it all pretty risky.

[bridgetosolace]

I live in Massachusetts and am utterly uninformed. I guess if it's down to maintaining health care or not, I'll have to vote for the lady >_>

The vibe I got from my dad is that the dem is slightly worse than the rep, though.

[Berliner]

People are going to have to hold their noses and vote for her.

[willweldon]

Lieberman is saying that the Dems have to become more centrist in the wake of Coakley's very possible loss.

Is Lieberman familiar with what left wing parties are like just about anywhere else in the world? Because if he was he would realize the Democrats are already pretty fucking centrist.

I... I just fucking hate him so much, because he seems to be enjoying riding his last term out pissing off every single progressive. And he's just doing it because he can. I don't think I can verbalize my rage towards Lieberman. Fuck him.

[Berliner]

I kind of want Coakley to lose at this point. It'll teach the Democrats to actually field good candidates in the future, and it might actually light a fire under the House's ass to pass the bill already. If there's one lesson to be drawn from all this, it's that if you have the votes to ram something through, just do it. Don't try to slow down to make anything bipartisan, because the Republicans will oppose it without looking at it. This bill should have been passed three months ago.

[bridgetosolace]

Has anyone ever heard of Miracle fruit?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_fruit

Basically, it makes sour things taste sweet. As in completely eliminating sugar from our diet.

I've rarely ever been driven do something about anything, but why don't we have this!?

Japan Does!

[nathansmart]

so is healthcare fucked?

[Berliner]

Not really unless the House lets this thing psyche them out. They just need to pass the already passed Senate bill unchanged.

[nathansmart]

I was reading that they could just pass what we have and then make the needed changes later - but the article also said that a "changing session" (I don't know what it's called) would be unlikely to happen so Democrats aren't betting on it.

Why would that be unlikely to happen?

[ProfessorShutYoMouth]

Not really unless the House lets this thing psyche them out. They just need to pass the already passed Senate bill unchanged.

If there is one thing that most Democratic House reps are, it is easily scared. Double that for the Senate.

This is already psyching them out, and unless the arm twisters in the Democratic party stop dicking around then health care is dead.

Democrats are once again proving their ineptness at the political game. I still have faith in Obama, he didn't win the Presidency by being naive. But they really have to figure out how to neutralize this populist anger that the Republicans have co-opted so handily, and stop trying to promote themselves as the Ambassadors of Bipartisanship.