Saturday, October 11, 2008

Who's to blame? OC's Cox makes CNN's list

For what it’s worth, CNN’s Anderson Cooper is presenting a series of reports about who’s to blame for our financial crisis (Ten Most Wanted: Culprits of the Collapse). Thursday night, Cooper explained that
This week and next week, every night, we will be adding a name to the list and telling you what they have done, and how much it’s costing you. It’s a rogues gallery of Wall Street executives, politicians, and government officials who did not do their jobs. It’s time you know their names, their faces, it’s time they be asked to account for their actions.
“Now is the time to talk about blame,” argues Cooper. I'm sure he's right about that.

I don't know enough about this crisis to judge the fairness of CNN's list (only 3 of the 10 "culprits" have been revealed thus far). Time will tell, I suppose. 

It's a sure bet, though, that all ten on their list are deserving of blame. 

My guess: the American consumer/debtor will make the list.

#10: AIG/Joe Cassano
($120 billion. Remember their St. Regis [OC] retreat?)


#9: Lehman Brothers/Richard Fuld


#8: SEC Chairman, Republican Chris Cox
(of Orange County!)

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

But Chris Cox is SO cute! How could he do anything that bad?

Anonymous said...

And Chris Cox is so gay. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Anonymous said...

no barney frank, chris dodd, franklin raines, jim johnson, meeks, obambi, Acorn, CRA?

must be fair and balanced then. None of the real guilty ones are identified.

Anonymous said...

Didn't McCain himself point out Cox's responsibility and ask for him to be fired?

Anonymous said...

5:12 -- you are so sadly deluded by your hatred, and your comment is completely illogical.

This is all driving you crazy, isn't it? I'm not just talking about your losing candidate. I'm talking about how practically everything you and your party stand for have proven to be bunk. Fiscal responsibility? Smaller government? Lower taxes for the wealthy? Nobody's buying it anymore. You're going the way of the Dodo.

torabora said...

5:12 Dictatorship of the left is coming. We'll wish we were never born.

Anonymous said...

How terrible it would be to have health care for everyone. How awful to grow our economy by building an environmental-friendly infrastructure.

The idea of that makes you wish you were never born? Seriously?

Get a life.

torabora said...

It's (Socialism's) inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.

W. Churchill

9:50
Witness the millions dead in Hitler's National Socialist Europe, Lenin's Russia, and Mao's China. All those nations had "universal health care".

I have a small piece of the Berlin Wall, stolen by me in 1967. If everyone had taken a piece of it, it would have been swiss cheese by the time it fell. Your point of view is plugging the holes in that wall. You believe freedom means freedom from failure and want. You believe in a world that has no risk. You believe that the environment cares about you. You believe reality can be conjured up out of desire.

The left's belief system is political alchemy. It is the same with this latest notion that printing more money will solve bankruptcy.Only 25 Senators understand this. Sheer madness.

There is no right wing in this election. It is between left and lefter.

Anonymous said...

TB 10:21>TB 8:56

And I usually agree. But half of that 10:21 is... alarming.

Anonymous said...

Yes, what about Barny Frank's affair of several years with the leader of Fanny? Isn't that a huge conflict of interest and violation of public trust? What about all the kickbacks Frank, Dodd and many other dem congressmen received from Fanny? What about the $50 million in federal education funds William Ayers (the terrorist) & Obama gave out as an incentive program to radicalize leftist students? What about ACORN?

Anonymous said...

wow!

someone has been listening to right wing radio in the middle of the night!

woo boy!

Anonymous said...

Barney Frank and Chris Dodd come to mind along with the left's bankrupt ideology.

Anonymous said...

The right wingers' responses here are typical of those who don't have a real argument, so they change the subject. Blaming Barney Frank for the economic mess? That's a good one.

And universal health care has been shown to work in many, many countries. Naming Hitler's Germany as an example of what happens with universal healthcare is a really lame ploy. I don't think healthcare led to the Holocaust, dear. Nor do I think that the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust were treated to Hitler's universal health care.

For the record, Torbora, I have a feeling you're wearing camouflage pants right now. If not, you wore them in the very recent past, and not in combat. Am I right? My point is that I believe you are living in a fantasy world. Hence the name.

Bohrstein said...

Geez TB, what exactly do you have against socialism? Come to think of it, I have never completely understood what the downsides of socialism were anyways. Often the arguments seem to be as non sequitur as yours, where they are often related to some other assholes doing some assholish things, where the coincidence lies in the fact that the society was a socialistic one.

Besides all that, it is not as if anyone is suggesting the United States submerge itself in "socialistic ways," it seems instead that the idea is to simply borrow ideas to "patch" our failing ways (we're not pure capitalism anyways; we've "patched" with the socialistic cloth before). Honestly, this doesn't seem the least bit unreasonable. Does it?

Besides, it's not like capitalism is exactly #1 in the world right now - looks like the "strong" are just stupid and strong, and they are pulling everyone else down with them... I bet people like Churchill never foresaw the effects of people loaning on loans, on loans. From what it seems, capitalism is just a way for the few to spread misery amongst the many.

Anonymous said...

If anyone recalls, when Cox was our congressman from Irvine, he was continually pushing legislation to make corporations immune from lawsuits from shareholders, and from tort claims.

W then appoints him head of the SEC (another in a
string of dismal appointments) and he becomes the proverbial fox guarding the henhouse.

If any of you woted for W, you're to blame and should be on the list.

Anonymous said...

This is a bit extreme, isn't it, TB?

"Dictatorship of the left is coming. We'll wish we were never born."

Have you ever talked to people who live in Scandinavia, where the level of happiness is quite high, despite living under the hideous oppression of socialism?

And regardless, many of us have lived with the nightmare of the W years for almost a decade, so now it's your turn. Suck it up. Unless the Republicans steal another election, that is.

Anonymous said...

10:35...Finland, Sweden, and Norway all have higher suicide rates than the USA.

Let's see, any other Scandinavian countries mmmmm....nope!

China has 9 times the rate of America. It's uber socialistic too.

Happiness is an early death I guess in the liberal world.

Looks like socialism = suicide ;o

Anonymous said...

I don't know about the rest of you, but I totally want to kill myself when I think about socialistic programs, like quality child care and health care.

Don't even get me started on taxpayer funded projects like roads and schools. And libraries? The very thought of a library is enough to make me wish I'd never been born.

And if my house catches fire during these winds, I will not call the local fire department. That would be a socialistic thing to do. I'll turn on the hose and hope for the best.

Actually, I'll pray. It seems that's all we need in today's day and age. Prayer will fix all of my problems.

Anonymous said...

The other person forgot to also mention Iceland and Denmark.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I totally want to kill myself when I think about socialistic programs"

Socialism = much less freedom.

"Don't even get me started on taxpayer funded projects like roads and schools."

People die while waiting at least 20 hrs. to see a doctor in England under their universal health care program. Have you ever noticed all those Brits have bad teeth?

"And if my house catches fire..."

It would probably take a fire crew 20 hrs. to show up to put out the fire under socialism. By then your house would be gone! If they finally did show up, they most likely wouldn't have the equipment or manpower needed to put out your fire.

Yes there is such thing as the European third way, but from what I've heard, the people who make the big bucks there either leave to work in the US or stash all their earnings in a Swiss bank account to avoid being taxed out of existence.

Bohrstein said...

[The other person forgot to also mention Iceland and Denmark.]
What and who the hell are you talking about?

[Socialism = much less freedom.]
What the hell are you talking about?

["Don't even get me started on taxpayer funded projects like roads and schools."

People die while waiting at least 20 hrs. to see a doctor in England under their universal health care program. Have you ever noticed all those Brits have bad teeth?]

Non Sequitur, and oh, what the hell are you talking about? And what the hell are you talking about (Brits have bad teeth? Generalize much?)!?

["And if my house catches fire..."

It would probably take a fire crew 20 hrs. to show up to put out the fire under socialism. By then your house would be gone! If they finally did show up, they most likely wouldn't have the equipment or manpower needed to put out your fire.]

...Really? Come on.

[Yes there is such thing as the European third way, but from what I've heard, the people who make the big bucks there either leave to work in the US or stash all their earnings in a Swiss bank account to avoid being taxed out of existence.]

OKAY, so let me get this straight: they LEAVE Europe (whichever country they are a part of) where the Euro is the main currency (in that area) and has a value greater than that of the dollar, to come to a place where they will make LESS money. I think what you heard is probably wrong.

I don't claim to understand economics much. But, what I really don't understand is how you can link things like a house burning down because it is probably going to take 20 hours for a fire truck to show up, and seemingly vacuous statements like: "less freedom," to a socialist economy. And also, my understanding is that there is no such thing as a "pure socialist" or a "pure capitalist" government. As I've said before, even the United States patches its economic blanket with socialist cloth.

I don't understand economics fully, but I don't think anyone else here does either.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Bohrstein for the responses--good work.

Remember here in the glorious free market capitalistic system we privatize profit, no matter how egregious the method, and then socialize the debt. The perpetrators get to keep their ill gotten gains, though. Quite a fine system we have here.

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...