[RedSpawn]

Winstonm, on 2018-March-26, 07:25, said:

Isn't it funny the pivot away from Reagan and anti-trust laws to Clinton and banking regulations.

Please note that I said "banking conglomerates" in my answer. . . which means there was a string of bank mergers that should have NEVER occurred under anti-trust laws.

The Department of Justice remained silent and didn't protest the big bank mergers.

Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Chase and Citibank (formerly Citigroup) should have NEVER allowed to bust through anti-trust laws and become banking behemoths.

I don't consider my answer a pivot once you see that I said "BANKING CONGLOMERATES".

Reagan may have provided the "theory" for anti-trust relaxation and deregulation but Robert Rubin and Congressional Democrats provided the "practice" by bending over backwards to accommodate Republicans by voting to repeal the Glass-Steagal Act.

Source: https://en.wikipedia...%93Steagall_Act

Quote

On January 4, 1995, the new Chairman of the House Banking Committee, Representative James A. Leach (R-IA), introduced a bill to repeal Glass–Steagall Sections 20 and 32.[134] After being confirmed as Treasury Secretary, Robert Rubin announced on February 28, 1995, that the Clinton Administration supported such Glass–Steagall repeal.[135] Repeating themes from the 1980s, Leach stated Glass–Steagall was “out of synch with reality”[136] and Rubin argued “it is now time for the laws to reflect changes in the world’s financial system.”[135] (italics and bold mine)

Source: http://money.cnn.com...nomy/index.html

Quote

Under Clinton, Rubin was head of the National Economic Council for two years, then served as Treasury secretary from 1995 to 1999. It was a time of strong economic growth, but Rubin was later criticized for deregulation and for failing to identify risks that helped cause the 2008 financial crisis (italics and bold mine).
Source: http://money.cnn.com...nomy/index.html
After he left government, Rubin joined Citigroup as a top executive. In the decade that followed, Citi ramped up its exposure to risk, notably in the housing market. In November 2008, the bank nearly collapsed before the U.S. government announced a massive rescue package. Rubin stepped down in January 2009. (italics and bold mine)

I think it's fair to say that Rubin never learned his lesson about systemic risk to Citigroup and the broader economy.

[Winstonm]

Reagan used way more than theory to change Sherman Anti-trust enforcement.

Quote

According to a memorandum by Treasury Secretary James A. Baker III, chairman of the President's Economic Policy Council, Reagan has approved a five-point legislative program recommended by his chief economic advisers to change the antitrust laws, which govern major areas of corporate activity.

The paradox is that libertarians should support the Sherman Anti-trust Act as it guarantees individuals the right to compete in free markets without facing giant competitors, but because it is an action by government the libertarian free-marketers have trapped themselves into having to be against it.

[Al_U_Card]

barmar, on 2018-March-26, 08:31, said:

But they didn't wait for the completion of the audit before giving them the biggest budget increase since the Reagan administration.

TO COVER ANY SHORTFALL, silly!

[Al_U_Card]

Winstonm, on 2018-March-26, 07:25, said:

Isn't it funny the pivot away from Reagan and anti-trust laws to Clinton and banking regulations.

6 of one, 1/2 dozen of the other
They are all just lackeys serving their corporate overlords... and certainly not us.

[Al_U_Card]

RedSpawn, on 2018-March-26, 09:15, said:

Please note that I said "banking conglomerates" in my answer. . . which means there was a string of bank mergers that should have NEVER occurred under anti-trust laws.

The Department of Justice remained silent and didn't protest the big bank mergers.

Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Chase and Citibank (formerly Citigroup) should have NEVER allowed to bust through anti-trust laws and become banking behemoths.

I don't consider my answer a pivot once you see that I said "BANKING CONGLOMERATES".

Reagan may have provided the "theory" for anti-trust relaxation and deregulation but Robert Rubin and Congressional Democrats provided the "practice" by bending over backwards to accommodate Republicans by voting to repeal the Glass-Steagal Act.

Source: https://en.wikipedia...%93Steagall_Act


Source: http://money.cnn.com...nomy/index.html


I think it's fair to say that Rubin never learned his lesson about systemic risk to Citigroup and the broader economy.

Rubin, Sommers and Bernanke. The troika of debt.

[MrAce]

War of the source links!

Who is winning?

[kenberg]

MrAce, on 2018-March-26, 17:28, said:

War of the source links!

Who is winning?

I am.

[Al_U_Card]

kenberg, on 2018-March-26, 20:04, said:

I am.

And I bet you still have and wear cuff links too!

[RedSpawn]

barmar, on 2018-March-26, 08:31, said:

But they didn't wait for the completion of the audit before giving them the biggest budget increase since the Reagan administration.

I agree wholeheartedly. Trump put the cart in front of the horse with the FY18 Department of Defense appropriation. He wanted to keep his base and military leaders happy and LOYAL. Thus, he "hooked them up" and bought their loyalty by giving them MORE $$$ than they asked Congress for!

[y66]

Warning: This news source is biased. So?

While Trump Deals With A Porn Star, Congress Passes Barack Obama's Budget.

[Winstonm]

kenberg, on 2018-March-26, 20:04, said:

I am.

Yeah, but you had a head start.

[Winstonm]

y66, on 2018-March-27, 11:48, said:

Warning: This news source is biased. So?

While Trump Deals With A Porn Star, Congress Passes Barack Obama's Budget.

WaPo:

Quote

Trump privately presses for military to pay for border wall

Whose military?

[y66]

I see that former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who is also a former DC metro area bridge club player, has decided to weigh in on gun control reform:

Quote

During the years when Warren Burger was our chief justice, from 1969 to 1986, no judge, federal or state, as far as I am aware, expressed any doubt as to the limited coverage of that amendment. When organizations like the National Rifle Association disagreed with that position and began their campaign claiming that federal regulation of firearms curtailed Second Amendment rights, Chief Justice Burger publicly characterized the N.R.A. as perpetrating “one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word fraud, on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime.”

In 2008, the Supreme Court overturned Chief Justice Burger’s and others’ long-settled understanding of the Second Amendment’s limited reach by ruling, in District of Columbia v. Heller, that there was an individual right to bear arms. I was among the four dissenters.

That decision — which I remain convinced was wrong and certainly was debatable — has provided the N.R.A. with a propaganda weapon of immense power. Overturning that decision via a constitutional amendment to get rid of the Second Amendment would be simple and would do more to weaken the N.R.A.’s ability to stymie legislative debate and block constructive gun control legislation than any other available option.

That simple but dramatic action would move Saturday’s marchers closer to their objective than any other possible reform. It would eliminate the only legal rule that protects sellers of firearms in the United States — unlike every other market in the world. It would make our schoolchildren safer than they have been since 2008 and honor the memories of the many, indeed far too many, victims of recent gun violence.

The dude abides.

[kenberg]

Al_U_Card, on 2018-March-27, 02:35, said:

And I bet you still have and wear cuff links too!

I wish to report abuse. Al has accused me of wearing cuff links.

[Al_U_Card]

kenberg, on 2018-March-27, 13:13, said:

I wish to report abuse. Al has accused me of wearing cuff links.

All part of the sausage (links) making...lol

[RedSpawn]

Did we play our gunboat diplomacy cards well with North Korea?

Will Kim get status as an equal player on the world stage?

https://www.cnn.com/...isit/index.html

[barmar]

kenberg, on 2018-March-27, 13:13, said:

I wish to report abuse. Al has accused me of wearing cuff links.

Report noted by this ineffectual moderator.

But I kind of imagine someone from your generation wearing a suit and tie to read the forums. But there we go again, lumping people into categories....

[Winstonm]

barmar, on 2018-March-28, 08:53, said:

Report noted by this ineffectual moderator.

But I kind of imagine someone from your generation wearing a suit and tie to read the forums. But there we go again, lumping people into categories....

There are no categories: peace

[ldrews]

So,in the last few months the US public has received a tax cut and numerous bonuses, consumer confidence is at an all time high, unemployment is at a 17 year low, black and hispanic unemployment are at the lowest ever recorded, investment money and factories are pouring into the US, GDP is running at 3+%, NATO countries are now contributing more of their share of expenses, ISIS has been decimated, and now North Korea wants to talk to the US and is offering to de-nuclearize.

Anyone think that perhaps Trump knows what he is doing?

[blackshoe]

ldrews, on 2018-March-28, 14:03, said:

Anyone think that perhaps Trump knows what he is doing?

Impossible. He's Trump. It all must be a fluke.