Idiot – Page 2 – The Burning Platform

QUOTES OF THE DAY

“The risk that the economy has entered a substantial downturn appears to have diminished over the past month or so.”

Ben Bernanke – June 10, 2008

“It is not the responsibility of the Federal Reserve – nor would it be appropriate – to protect lenders and investors from the consequences of their financial decisions.”

Ben Bernanke – October 31, 2007

“All that said, given the fundamental factors in place that should support the demand for housing, we believe the effect of the troubles in the subprime sector on the broader housing market will likely be limited, and we do not expect significant spillovers from the subprime market to the rest of the economy or to the financial system. The vast majority of mortgages, including even subprime mortgages, continue to perform well. Past gains in house prices have left most homeowners with significant amounts of home equity, and growth in jobs and incomes should help keep the financial obligations of most households manageable.”

Ben Bernanke – May 17, 2007

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“At this juncture, however, the impact on the broader economy and financial markets of the problems in the subprime market seems likely to be contained. In particular, mortgages to prime borrowers and fixed-rate mortgages to all classes of borrowers continue to perform well, with low rates of delinquency.”

Ben Bernanke – March 28, 2007

“Despite the ongoing adjustments in the housing sector, overall economic prospects for households remain good. Household finances appear generally solid, and delinquency rates on most types of consumer loans and residential mortgages remain low.”

Ben Bernanke – February 15, 2007

“With respect to their safety, derivatives, for the most part, are traded among very sophisticated financial institutions and individuals who have considerable incentive to understand them and to use them properly.”

Ben Bernanke – November 15, 2005

OUR PROBLEM IS LOW SELF-ESTEEM, NOT A $2 BILLION BUDGET DEFICIT

Our problem is electing morons like Wolf to run the State. His master plan to revive PA was to tax the shit out of shale energy companies. Oops!!! That plan is DOA, as these companies will be going bankrupt over the next two years. He is a Democrat. Therefore, he will want to spend more of my money on useless shit. His new solution will be to tax the shit out of me and every other working Pennsylvanian so he can funnel money to his Democratic paradises of Philly and Pittsburgh. It’s for the children, don’t you know. That’s how you get re-elected in 2018. Low self esteem my fat ass. I have no esteem for idiots like Wolf and the rest of the bought off politicians in the bankrupt state capital of Harrisburg.

Pennsylvania’s problem? Low self-esteem, Wolf says

WASHINGTON – As he begins his tenure facing a $2 billion budget gap, struggling schools, and aging bridges and roads, Gov. Wolf said there’s another key area to improve: his state’s self-esteem.

“I think one of the responsibilities that leadership in Pennsylvania [has] to address head on – not only the structural issues in education, transportation, all those things, but also the psychological issues that keep us, hold us, back,” Wolf told other governors during a panel discussion of their states’ economic challenges. “So low self-esteem actually is a big problem.”

His comments came during a Saturday afternoon roundtable at a governors’ conference, and on Monday had Harrisburg buzzing. State Republicans poked fun at the Democratic governor, saying he should focus his attention elsewhere.

Wolf stood by his words Monday, though he didn’t use self-esteem. Instead, he cited an “excess of modesty.”

“The only people that really don’t believe that Pennsylvania should be the dominant state are Pennsylvanians,” Wolf said in an interview. “We have an excess of modesty, and in a lot of ways, modesty is a wonderful trait, but I think it keeps us from recognizing the amazing things that we are capable of, so I think we are an underachiever.”

At one point during Saturday’s panel at the National Governors Association conference, Wolf called self-esteem the state’s biggest economic problem.

When Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker chuckled and pointed to Pennsylvania’s highly touted universities, Wolf said he wasn’t aiming for a laugh. “We’re an underachiever,” Wolf said.

Continue reading “OUR PROBLEM IS LOW SELF-ESTEEM, NOT A $2 BILLION BUDGET DEFICIT”

Obama’s Latest Handout: Two Years Of Free Community College For Everyone

We already have millions of morons taking up space in colleges across the country who can’t read at a 7th grade level because Obama has doled out $1.2 trillion of student loans, 50% of which will never be repaid, and his solution is to spend hundreds of billions more to allow the even more stupid to attend some 3rd rate community college where they can major in African Studies or the History of Lesbians in America. And you get to pay for it. The Republicans don’t want to alienate the stupid vote, so they’ll increase the cost of this legislation and pass it right away. We should give each community college graduate a free FHA loan so they can live the American dream of owning a house without saving to pay for it. Amurika. Ain’t it great?

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/08/2015 20:01 -0500

With the number of college graduates working minimum wage jobs nearly 71% higher than it was a decade ago, and the average graduate leaving college with $29,400 in debt (crushing their hopes of leveraging up to buy that American Dream-creating house), President Obama has unleashed a double whammy of ideas in the last few days. Reducing mortgage insurance and cutting down-payment restrictions for FHA loans (i.e. providing huge leverage to segments of society to repeat the mistakes of the last housing bubble); and now, as The LA Times reports, President Obama says he is rolling out a plan to make two years of community college free, or nearly so, to every student across the country. Because it’s “fair”?

As The LA Times reports,

Continue reading “Obama’s Latest Handout: Two Years Of Free Community College For Everyone”

The Head of the CDC Was Behind the Big Gulp Soda Ban In New York

Submitted by George Washington on 10/16/2014 08:38 -0400

“Hey Bloomberg, here’s a big gulp of…..FREEDOM” by Anthony Freda

Bloomberg the Nanny, by William Banzai

Libertarians were outraged by New York City Mayor Bloomberg’s “Big Gulp” ban (which a state court ultimately struck down). They slammed it as a “Nanny State” measure.

But it was current Centers for Disease Control head Tom Frieden who was actually behind the ban.

The New York Times reported in 2004:

Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the city’s health commissioner,
has turned out to be an active policy advocate among the city’s
department heads, the outspoken architect of some of the Bloomberg
administration’s more controversial policies.

Although Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is more closely associated with a
law that bans smoking citywide, the legislation was actually developed
by Dr. Frieden, who was also given responsibility for helping to push it
through the City Council.

***

Even Mayor Bloomberg’s partnership with Snapple to sell juice in vending machines in schools has not gone without his notice.

“I would have preferred water,” he admitted, although he added that he liked the money that the agreement will raise.

He is almost certainly the only city agency head who keeps a bowl of condoms in the reception area of his office.

And the Daily Caller reported in 2010:

In 2009, Frieden took to the pages of the New England Journal of
Medicine to sell the need for a soda tax. “It is difficult to imagine
producing behavior change of this magnitude through education alone,
even if government devoted massive resources to the task,” Frieden
wrote. “Only heftier taxes will significantly reduce consumption.”

In 2010, after Obama tapped Frieden to head up the Centers for
Disease Control, Bloomberg announced his support for a soda tax. “The
soda tax is a fix that just makes sense,” he said in a March 2010 radio
address. “It would save lives. It would cut rising health care costs.
And it would keep thousands of teachers and nurses where they belong: in
the classrooms and clinics.” Three years earlier, Bloomberg said he was
opposed to a soda tax.

THE WISDOM OF NANCY PELOSI

Professor Krugman Nails It Again: VA “Is Huge Policy Success Story Which Offers Important Lessons For Future Health Reform”

Somebody give this guy another Nobel. His brilliance is breathtaking to behold.

From David Stockman

Presented without comment because Krugman speaks best for himself!

Here is Paul Krugman, writing in 2006:

American health care is desperately in need of reform. But what form should change take? Are there any useful examples we can turn to for guidance?

Well, I know about a health care system that has been highly successful in containing costs, yet provides excellent care. And the story of this system’s success provides a helpful corrective to anti-government ideology. For the government doesn’t just pay the bills in this system — it runs the hospitals and clinics.

No, I’m not talking about some faraway country. The system in question is our very own Veterans Health Administration, whose success story is one of the best-kept secrets in the American policy debate.

Here is Krugman again, in 2011:

What Mr. Romney and everyone else should know is that the [Veterans Health Administration] is a huge policy success story, which offers important lessons for future health reform. And yes, this is “socialized medicine” — although some private systems, like Kaiser Permanente, share many of the V.H.A.’s virtues. But it works — and suggests what it will take to solve the troubles of U.S. health care more broadly.

This argument has been fairly popular in liberal circles for years. Phillip Longman has written extensively about how great the VA healthcare system is and why it should serve as a model for broader healthcare reform.

http://www.rightwisconsin.com/featured/the-daily-obamacare-train-wreck-may-23-2014-260334161.htmlideas.”

DO YOU TAKE SELFIES & LAUGH LIKE A BLITHERING IDIOT AT A FUNERAL?

This is the fucking leader of the free world? WTF happened to the people of this country that they could possibly elect this fucking lightweight imbecile – TWICE?

He truly does represent the inner soul of the American people.

“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” – H.L. Mencken

Tuesday (Un)Humor: Selfies At A Funeral

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/10/2013 19:29 -0500

Probably the largest and most watched funeral (memorial service) of the modern era and it appears President Obama just could not resist a selfie with Denmark’s leggy blond PM (oh and David Cameron)… as an aside, it seems FLOTUS was not amused.