OK, I don't undestand why banks wouldn't want to help the people who have mortgages they can't pay at the current rate get into one they could pay. Wouldn't that give the people who lent the money a more consistent stream of money rather than months of no payments? Yeah, people shouldn't have gotten into something they couldn't afford but these banks needs to take some of the credit for lending to people who didn't have a way to pay them back.
The more I hear about Sheila Bair the more I like her. She's realistic and logical.
"She's shown you can be concerned about consumers and not skimp on your job as a regulator"
What is Barney Frank smoking. It is the job of regulators to be concerned about consumers. (Not that they necessarily are in practice, but...) The FDIC exists to protect depositors' money; the SEC exists to protect investors; FERC protects energy consumers...
@pantsless economist: and yeah, i also realize regulators are also charged with promoting competitive markets but still! consumer protection is a huge part of the job description, and he acts like it isn't
I really hope she is Obama's choice for Treasury, and she makes sense for what his priorities are supposed to be.
Larry Summers, beyond his sexist assholery (a huge count against him in my book), is way, way too friendly with Wall Street. I suspect his ideas will be more of the same and the last thing the country needs.
@BrutallyHonestBabes: everytime someone talks about a manual, it's my jackassy time to shine and say, "Que? You want a manual? Let me go get my brother--HIS NAME is Manuel."
Not only does she not get a pass, she has harmed the status of women in politics. I worry that every hard-won step Hillary Rodham Clinton made as a terrific female candidate has been swept over by this ignorant egotist.
I'm rereading Studs Terkel's "Race," and a woman makes the point, early on, that if you appoint someone to a position solely as a token, you harm the person who comes along and has earned that job, making it that much harder for her to succeed. I'm afraid that's what Palin will have done. And worse yet, if it is, it's a win for the Republican party anyway, as their entire agenda has always struck me as anti-woman. She'll have done their bidding through her own incompetence.
@Sunflowercat: I get the concern, but I think that while she's been for a few months the most prominent woman in politics, as her (very long) 15 minutes fade away, all those other prominent women are still there, with a batch of new ones taking office soon. If anything, she's hurt the republican woman brand, but the democratic women look even better by comparison.
@MegSpencer: I hope you're right. I despise her so much it's hard for me to let go of it -- she's exactly like someone I used to work for: ignorant and hateful with a little handful of power. It's an ugly combination and seeing it on a national scale did nothing for my anger management issues.
@Sunflowercat: On the other hand, I think Clinton is used to illustrate a stark contrast to Palin. If Palin was our only example of a woman making waves in politics, I'd be a little more concerned. At this point I think Palin is to most, a bad dream. Clinton set the bar pretty high.
@Sunflowercat: I think it would be worse if women had voted republican in greater numbers - then there'd be grounds for talking heads to say that we "fell for her" or whatever. But Obama won the ladies, so that argument doesn't hold water.
@shewar: And there are plenty of other strong women in politics (Snowe and Pelosi to name two) who will no doubt offset any damage Palin may have done.
I see the Governor returning to her kingdom and staying there -- I think her foray into politics in the lower 48 told her it was not a nice place to be.
I don't think these attacks against Palin are sexist. Maybe because I worked in politics. I have never heard of a candidate refusing to do interview prep. Or of a candidate for national office not knowing Africa was not a continent. If she were a man and was this difficult we would have been hearing the same thing.
Remember after Hillary lost and we heard all about how Mark Penn and Ickes HATED each other and their battles for power?
Sorry Palin does not get a pass because she is a woman....that is sexist.
@nyc-caribbean-ragazza: Sorry Palin does not get a pass because she is a woman....that is sexist.
I'm not sure anyone's saying that attacking her is sexist. I think that what's sexist is the type of things they're focused on. It's one thing to call her a shameless egomaniac and another to call her a diva. It's one thing to call her out for being ill-informed and anti-intellectual and another to call her a clotheshorse (the spending of campaign funds was problematic, but if the campaign wants to criticize her for something, they have far bigger and better things to use). The point is their criticisms seem to be downplaying the fact that she was a politician instead of criticizing her approach to the campaign itself. That's what's sexist.
Remember John Edward's hair cut...and that was his own money. I don't think saying she refused interview prep, NAFTA etc. is sexist. If Palin was a man and we were hearing all these things about him we wouldn't be so quick to defend him. And believe we would be hearing about it.
How a candidate approach a campaign is important and she failed. Like I said she should have never been picked but once it went down she should have been about the ticket, not herself.
@nyc-caribbean-ragazza: Remember John Edward's hair cut...and that was his own money. I don't think saying she refused interview prep, NAFTA etc. is sexist. I don't, either. Those aren't the things I'm referring to. I thought the fuss over John Edwards' hair cut was dumb and I said so at the time to anyone who would listen.
I don't remember anyone else having anything to attack him for then, except his relative youth. People generally harp on stupid things when they can't think of weightier things to throw around. That's not the case with Sarah Palin. Talk about her refusing interview prep. Talk about her lack of knowledge about NAFTA. I defended those kinds of attacks in my original comment.
Using diva as a smear is more gender-specific. Talk about the clothes in the context of her abusing the campaign money and talk about it in the context of her having a history of abusing power-- that's not sexist. However, using the shopping thing as a way to give the impression that that's what she was in it for because that's what chicks do; they shop, and they're divas and they're too emotional on the campaign trail? Those things seem to be attempts not only to smear her (which I approve of, and aren't really even smears because they're true) but to diminish the fact that she's a politician and emphasize that she's just some dumb chick.
She's not just some dumb chick. She's an anti-intellectual, power hungry, corrupt politician. Those are harsh words that I approve of that would be applied to her if she were a man. Let's use those. Not diva. She's not a pop singer.
@robot ninja spy: new and improved, less ranty! Thanks, Obam...: However, using the shopping thing as a way to give the impression that that's what she was in it for because that's what chicks do; they shop, and they're divas and they're too emotional on the campaign trail? Those things seem to be attempts not only to smear her (which I approve of, and aren't really even smears because they're true)
Okay, I was unclear here. The part that's true is not the stuff in the beginning of that sentence, but the stuff I wrote about before that.
"And now I have a mental vision of the McCain campaign as a baby calf, crying inside its cowl after having been deposited, bloody and foul, onto the barn room floor." And baby calves all over the world are offended.
I can't express how happy I am that McCain's handlers picked Palin.
His staff speaking out now has nothing to do with McCain. Like Yellow Dog said they are free agents. And remember she tried to blame them for the clothes disaster.
I'm glad they are talking. What is wrong with her? She thought she would speak at his concession speech? I'm just blown away by her ill directed "moxie".
@nyc-caribbean-ragazza: I'm torn between thinking it's all in poor taste and supporting it with the hope it will prevent her from ever returning to the national stage.
But she's certainly not the only one to blame for the failed campaign. I realize McCain's staff is trying to salvage their careers, but come on, this is kind of embarrassing.
@shewar: I didn't think he was a gracious loser! I thought his concession speech talked about race in way that was creepy and vaguely marginalizing. (Not that he shouldn't have mentioned race, but that it was kind of passive aggressive for it to be basically the first thing he mentioned.)
@samethingwedoeverynightpinky: I'm with you. McCain doesn't think it's awesome that a black man was elected president. He said it because he knew he was expected to, but was so bitterly sarcastic during his campaign that I am not about to think him gracious now.
I will stop publicly despising Palin just long enough to say I really, really hope Robert Kennedy Jr. ends up as head of the EPA. That's the best prediction for any post I've heard of yet.
11/10/08
The more I hear about Sheila Bair the more I like her. She's realistic and logical.
11/10/08
What is Barney Frank smoking. It is the job of regulators to be concerned about consumers. (Not that they necessarily are in practice, but...) The FDIC exists to protect depositors' money; the SEC exists to protect investors; FERC protects energy consumers...
11/10/08
11/10/08
11/10/08
Larry Summers, beyond his sexist assholery (a huge count against him in my book), is way, way too friendly with Wall Street. I suspect his ideas will be more of the same and the last thing the country needs.
11/10/08
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11/10/08
You can keep your $20, dad. Smoking got me through college.
11/10/08
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11/10/08
Yes, please!
11/10/08
Sorry, I just need to go check my manual and make sure that's right....
11/10/08
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11/10/08
It totally doesn't work on the interwebs.
11/10/08
(I have appointed myself, btw, head of the ABLS movement - Anyone But Larry Summers.)
11/10/08
11/10/08
(Also, p.s., I don't like anybody who's super-chummy with the Wall Street set.)
11/10/08
But I do hate Larry Summers.
11/10/08
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11/10/08
11/06/08
[video.yahoo.com]
11/06/08
I'm rereading Studs Terkel's "Race," and a woman makes the point, early on, that if you appoint someone to a position solely as a token, you harm the person who comes along and has earned that job, making it that much harder for her to succeed. I'm afraid that's what Palin will have done. And worse yet, if it is, it's a win for the Republican party anyway, as their entire agenda has always struck me as anti-woman. She'll have done their bidding through her own incompetence.
11/06/08
11/06/08
11/06/08
11/06/08
11/06/08
I see the Governor returning to her kingdom and staying there -- I think her foray into politics in the lower 48 told her it was not a nice place to be.
11/06/08
Remember after Hillary lost and we heard all about how Mark Penn and Ickes HATED each other and their battles for power?
Sorry Palin does not get a pass because she is a woman....that is sexist.
11/06/08
I'm not sure anyone's saying that attacking her is sexist. I think that what's sexist is the type of things they're focused on. It's one thing to call her a shameless egomaniac and another to call her a diva. It's one thing to call her out for being ill-informed and anti-intellectual and another to call her a clotheshorse (the spending of campaign funds was problematic, but if the campaign wants to criticize her for something, they have far bigger and better things to use). The point is their criticisms seem to be downplaying the fact that she was a politician instead of criticizing her approach to the campaign itself. That's what's sexist.
11/06/08
Remember John Edward's hair cut...and that was his own money. I don't think saying she refused interview prep, NAFTA etc. is sexist. If Palin was a man and we were hearing all these things about him we wouldn't be so quick to defend him. And believe we would be hearing about it.
How a candidate approach a campaign is important and she failed. Like I said she should have never been picked but once it went down she should have been about the ticket, not herself.
11/06/08
Well neither are any of us. Seriously, try to understand what exactly people are claiming.
11/06/08
I don't remember anyone else having anything to attack him for then, except his relative youth. People generally harp on stupid things when they can't think of weightier things to throw around. That's not the case with Sarah Palin. Talk about her refusing interview prep. Talk about her lack of knowledge about NAFTA. I defended those kinds of attacks in my original comment.
Using diva as a smear is more gender-specific. Talk about the clothes in the context of her abusing the campaign money and talk about it in the context of her having a history of abusing power-- that's not sexist. However, using the shopping thing as a way to give the impression that that's what she was in it for because that's what chicks do; they shop, and they're divas and they're too emotional on the campaign trail? Those things seem to be attempts not only to smear her (which I approve of, and aren't really even smears because they're true) but to diminish the fact that she's a politician and emphasize that she's just some dumb chick.
She's not just some dumb chick. She's an anti-intellectual, power hungry, corrupt politician. Those are harsh words that I approve of that would be applied to her if she were a man. Let's use those. Not diva. She's not a pop singer.
11/06/08
Okay, I was unclear here. The part that's true is not the stuff in the beginning of that sentence, but the stuff I wrote about before that.
11/06/08
And baby calves all over the world are offended.
I can't express how happy I am that McCain's handlers picked Palin.
11/06/08
11/06/08
11/06/08
His staff speaking out now has nothing to do with McCain. Like Yellow Dog said they are free agents. And remember she tried to blame them for the clothes disaster.
I'm glad they are talking. What is wrong with her? She thought she would speak at his concession speech? I'm just blown away by her ill directed "moxie".
11/06/08
But she's certainly not the only one to blame for the failed campaign. I realize McCain's staff is trying to salvage their careers, but come on, this is kind of embarrassing.
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This has had me in hysterics ALL morning.
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