Fuck its silent in here.......

[R-V]

So the bank loaned someone money to purchase an office building, and they bought the office building, but the bank was supposed to know that it was a hand shake deal instead of investment?  How the hell would the bank know that? 

By asking their client.  "What are you going to use the money for?"

"Rehab the building."

"OK, show me contractor's statements."

"Oh, contractor's statements?  Heh.  We really meant we are using the building as collateral to use the money elsewhere."

In my job, my next line is, "No thanks.  I want my loan repaid by income generated by the asset I'm lending against."

We ask those questions.  That's why my employer didn't take TARP and isn't on the Watch List.

We get it, your bank doesn't suck. But lots of banks did suck. Especially in the early 2000s. And lots of politicians are morons who were born with silver spoons up their arse.

It looks to me like Alexi is a simpleton who went into politics because his family had money and he played basketball with Obama. Doesn't make him a crook.

Let's say you are right and he's just stupid.  This makes him look really stupid.  And too stupid to get my vote for US Senate.

That's totally fine. As Pre said, until the Trib has any actual new details on the situation, why not just write some articles about how dumb he is?

[Pre]

Well, the bank made loans to mobsters while Alexi had a senior position with the bank where he knew nothing about those loans.  That means some combination of:

1) Alexi's position wasn't so senior and really was a "Give your brother a desk and a salary" job because he's really skill-less.
2) Alexi's job was senior and he's lying about not knowing.
3) Alexi's job was senior and he didn't do his due diligence which means he's incompetent.

So, is he stupid, a liar or incompetent? Or is he all three?

There's plenty of other options if you want to go that route, employees not following company policy,
Alexi not establishing a policy, Alexi or his boss not allowing policies to be put in place because they
cost money.  There's a boatload of specific reasons why that bank sucked.  I'm sure Alexi shared some
level of responsibility, but none of us or the media investigators seem to know if it's .0001% or 50% of
the blame.  Hell, I have no idea.  I don't even like the guy.  But to claim that he somehow got a media
free pass on this stuff when it's been all over the news for at least a month is crazy talk.

[Chuck to Chuck]

But to claim that he somehow got a media free pass on this stuff when it's been all over the news for at least a month is crazy talk.

It was huge, above the fold in January?

Oh yeah. That's more than a month ago.

[Quality Start Machine]

Huh?

[Saul Goodman]

Cominsky Park was so beautiful it makes it hard to remember any of the players.

[MikeC]

Thats what you get when the teleprompter isn't handy. You forget all childhood memories unless someone types it in for you to read.

[Bort]

You know one thing I learned recently: apparently, Obama is the first politician in history to use a teleprompter. I never would have thought that...

[MAD]

You know one thing I learned recently: apparently, Obama is the first politician in history to use a teleprompter. I never would have of thought that...

Let's speak in a language he understands's.

[Quality Start Machine]

Thats what you get when the teleprompter isn't handy. You forget all childhood memories unless someone types it in for you to read.

There were too many names for him to write in his hand.

[fiveouts]

Thats what you get when the teleprompter isn't handy. You forget all childhood memories unless someone types it in for you to read.

BANG!  Take that, Libtards!  You just been Palin'd! Natch!

[R-V]

It's tax time! Some good mythbusting here, including this one:

2. Americans are overtaxed.
In 2007, federal, state and local taxes claimed about $3.8 trillion, or 27 percent of U.S. gross domestic product. That's nearly $13,000 for every American. Two-thirds of tax revenues went to the federal government.

It may sound like a lot, but other developed countries collect even more. In 2006, taxes in 30 of the world's richest countries averaged 36 percent of GDP; only Mexico, Turkey, South Korea and Japan had tax rates lower than ours. And taxes in many European countries exceeded 40 percent of GDP because these nations offer more extensive government services than the United States does.

Americans do pay far more in individual income taxes than residents of other wealthy nations. Nearly 37 percent of U.S. tax revenue came from personal income taxes in 2006, about 10 percentage points more, on average, than in other industrialized countries. But we pay much less in sales taxes; 17 percent of 2006 U.S. tax receipts were from taxes on goods and services, or about half the 32 percent average for rich countries.

Bottom line: We may hate our taxes, but we pay far less than people in other wealthy countries.

And some taxfaggotry in response to the latest blatherings of Jonah Goldberg here:

As shown in the second figure, which reports after-tax-and-transfer income distribution, of the 26 OECD countries the United States has the most maldistributed income of all 26. This doesn't mean that tax and transfer policies don't redistribute; they do, which is why the after-t+t coefficient of .38 is lower than the pre-t+t coefficient of .46.

But that's not particularly redistributive. In effect, Jonah Goldberg is complaining about the dangers of redistribution in the least redistributive first world nation. Tax-wise, he would be doing much worse as a columnist/author/speaker in almost any other country. But why let that stop him from complaining?

[Chuck to Chuck]

2. Americans are overtaxed.

We are not overttaxed.  How do we know this?  There is a budget deficit.

We are either undertaxed, over-serviced, or some combination thereof.

[Quality Start Machine]

Nobody wants to pay taxes.

Everyone wants the trash picked up.

[BH]

You guys and your comparisons to other countries are stupid. We are Americans. We are better then those other countries.

[Gilgamesh]

Daybreak, Jakarta. The proud men and women of the Navy are protecting America's interests overseas, but you're in Lubbock, Texas hosing down a statue, because your in the Naval Reserve. Once you complete basic training, you only work one weekend a month, and most of that time your drunk of your ass. The Naval Reserve: America's 17th line of defense, between the Mississippi National Guard, and the American League of Women Voters.


I didn't know where else to put this, Admiral Stupid.

PINHOLE LEAK!!!