Open Line Friday!

6 thoughts on “Open Line Friday!”

1. You remember TARP? It was the feds' $700 billion program to rescue the US economy from a correction. Neil Barofsky was in charge of it. So we decided to go down and ask him how it turned out…

   So… where did the $700 billion go? Did that fix the magneto trouble?

   "I wondered the same thing," he said (from memory). "It was amazing to me that no one knew. We gave it to the banks. But no one knew what they did with it. I proposed to Tim Geithner that we find out. He was outraged. He cursed me out, using the F-word. He said it would bring the whole banking system down, if I asked.

   "I went ahead and sent out a letter. I didn't really have the authority or the staff to insist. But all of the big banks wrote back. And most of them gave me dodgy responses or gave me the brush-off.

   "What did they do with the money? They were supposed to increase lending to help bring about a recovery. None of them did that. Instead, they used it to repay each other's loans. In other words, they used it to reduce the amount of credit available… not increase it. And they bought US agency bonds… just as you'd expect. And they paid out their bonuses.

   "In other words, they looked out for themselves… just as you'd expect. I didn't know this information was going to bring down the banking system…http://lewrockwell.com/bonner/bonner604.html

    

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   1. Half the value of US stock market created between 1817 – 2009.

      The other half created under Barack Obama

       

      And that is all I have to say about that.

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2. What everyone has been waiting for – the results of the 2nd semi-final (I didn't pick the article title).

   And here's the Romanian entry (can't decide if this is amazing or awful):

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   1. Sorry – wrong link!!! You have to see it as it was presented at the semi-final – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV3xp5ZXSYA

      And one of theose lights in the audience as it started – that was me!

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      1. I stopped viewing your Euro-trash videos years ago but my wild guess, sight unseen, would be awful?

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         1. You should give this one a look. No scantily clad women (or men). And the singer is an opera star. Not sure how to classify the song. If any song becomes a surprise winner – it's this one.

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