Hoop Shot

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"There's a moral and an ethical aspect to this, as well. And I think that's what has gotten everybody so fired up. But I think the most important thing that we can do is make sure that we put in a bunch of financial regulatory mechanisms to prevent companies like an AIG holding the rest of us hostage. Because that's... that's the real problem.

"The problem is not just what's happened over the last six months. The problem is what was happening for years, where people were able to take huge, excessive risks with other people's money, putting the entire financial system at risk -- and there were no checks, there were no balances, there was nobody overseeing the process.

"And so what we're going to be moving very aggressively on -- even as we try to fix the current mess -- is make sure that before somebody makes a bad bet you say, hold on, you can't do that."

Here's a complete transcript of the Obama-Leno conversation.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on March 20, 2009 at 11:30 AM

comment #1

televisiontears says ...

I enjoyed the "toaster exploding in your face" analogy.

Posted by televisiontears at March 20, 2009 11:57 AM

comment #2

Joshua Mooney says ...

"Shut the fuck up, Donny."

Posted by Joshua Mooney at March 20, 2009 12:19 PM

comment #3

Krazy Eyes says ...

From news reports you would think the most substantive thing Obama said was the joke about the retards.

Posted by Krazy Eyes at March 20, 2009 12:30 PM

comment #4

62Lincoln says ...

"From news reports you would think the most substantive thing Obama said was the joke about the retards."
The media always goes for the faux pas instead of the substantive. Poor choice of words on your part.

Posted by 62Lincoln at March 20, 2009 12:56 PM

comment #5

JT says ...

"try to fix?" Where's the plan at, BHO? I mean, the REAL plan, not the one where you just throw trillions of taxpayer dollars down the drain? Oh wait...o man...yikes.

IF Dubya had slammed special needs kids, the liberal media would've exploded today.

Posted by JT at March 20, 2009 1:12 PM

comment #6

Joshua Mooney says ...

What's your plan, JT?

Posted by Joshua Mooney at March 20, 2009 1:24 PM

comment #7

Josh Massey says ...

Is JT president?

Posted by Josh Massey at March 20, 2009 1:30 PM

comment #8

mccool says ...

It's not as though any one person, bank, or institution purposely set out to undermine the banking system or could even believe that their actions could precipitate such a disastrous outcome. Nothing will ever stop the collective, *incidental* force of individuals behaving in self-interested ways. There's just no way to stop it. The only thing unique about the current crisis is the catalyst, not the behavior.

The next crisis in ten or twenty years will usher in an entire new generation of pols promising to bring an end to this or that forever, and those promises will ring as hollow then as they do now. You prevent "too big too fail" from happening again and then it's another cause entirely the next time things go to hell.

Posted by mccool at March 20, 2009 1:43 PM

comment #9

Joshua Mooney says ...

So in other words, mccool, you're saying that greed, one of the "seven deadly sins," is acceptable? I mean, based on your post, you're either passively giving up entirely, or suggesting a radical amount of regulation heretofore unknown in the Constitutional democracy of the United States of America. Did I miss which side of this knife-blade you're on? I guess I'm just dull.

Posted by Joshua Mooney at March 20, 2009 1:59 PM

comment #10

SpinDozer says ...

"IF Dubya had slammed special needs kids, the liberal media would've exploded"

Yeah good thing he stuck with starting an illegal war, using torture, meeting with Jack Abramoff, increasing mercury in our drinking water, coal pollution in our air and the collapse of our financial system, he'd never cross the special needs kids line (esp. since Our Lady of Moosehead gets the media attention she undoubtedly deserves for the GOP).

By the way the only people I know who would compare Obama's depreciating his own bowling ability to that of the mentally and phsically challenged to "slamm[ing] special needs kids" are Republican Assholes. This is what the 3rd time you've brought it up?

Posted by SpinDozer at March 20, 2009 2:44 PM

comment #11

D.Z. says ...

BTW, Obama apologized about his remark. http://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-obama-apology20-tott-sl,0,6456035.story So when is Rush going to apologize for his crack against Michael J. Fox? And it's funny that people holding Obama to these kinds of standards had no problem when Bush swift-boated Kerry...

Posted by D.Z. at March 20, 2009 3:37 PM

comment #12

D.Z. says ...

Oh, yeah, and remember when Michael Savage called autism "fake"? I didn't see anyone boycott him.

Posted by D.Z. at March 20, 2009 3:42 PM

comment #13

JT says ...

illegal war? congress backed him! The ame bunch of scumbags who passed this stimulus bill w/o reading all of it.

Posted by JT at March 20, 2009 4:38 PM

comment #14

SpinDozer says ...

'illegal war? congress backed him! The ame bunch of scumbags who passed this stimulus bill w/o reading all of it.'

You've proven yourself uninformed repeatedly, so it's not surprizing that you are unaware that congressional approval does not make a war legal. And no, these are not the 'same bunch of scumbags who passed this stimulus bill w/o reading all of it'. That was 3 elections ago, some rollover and some that supported one of these issues did not support the other, and, even though its been stated a number of times in this very forum, bills that get read in there entirety by even a substantial number of represesentatives are few and far between.

Posted by SpinDozer at March 20, 2009 5:53 PM

comment #15

mccool says ...

Not acceptable, but inevitable. You must be very young or a poor student of history to believe we are experiencing something unique. Regulations responding to the current crisis may prevent a reoccurrence, but are not prophylactic against future crises of unknowable mechanisms.

My other point was that NO ONE engineered this destruction or *set out* to destroy the economy. Surely many must pay for their sins, but the way wall street is being demonized today is a little sickening considering how giddy these same stone throwers were just a few years ago when the dow was at 14k and their 401k's were soaring.

Posted by mccool at March 20, 2009 5:56 PM

comment #16

D.Z. says ...

JT: Technically, Congress didn't declare war.

mccool: Considering Wall Street encouraged that behavior, why shouldn't it be the scapegoat?

Posted by D.Z. at March 20, 2009 6:30 PM

comment #17

SpinDozer says ...

'You must be very young or a poor student of history to believe we are experiencing something unique.'

Do tell about the other crises following globalization, the development of India & China, Peak Oil, world population of 6.7 Billion, and LTV's at historically unprecedented levels, etc.

'Regulations responding to the current crisis may prevent a reoccurrence, but are not prophylactic against future crises of unknowable mechanisms.'

Wow, thanks for that unprecedented bit 'o' wisdom. Up until now, everyone thought that we'd pass a law with some regulations, and we'd never have to adjust again. Great thinking!

Posted by SpinDozer at March 20, 2009 8:12 PM

comment #18

mccool says ...

and the prize for most canned response goes to ...... spindozer!

Posted by mccool at March 20, 2009 8:38 PM

comment #19

SpinDozer says ...

Dude, you totally smoked me!

If you have the balls to explain how there's nothing unique about the current crisis, now would be a good time.

Posted by SpinDozer at March 20, 2009 9:35 PM

comment #20

Jonah says ...

"Is JT president?"

Are you for real?

Posted by Jonah at March 21, 2009 2:10 AM

comment #21

mccool says ...

the balls to explain? damn you really need to get laid. I'm responding not in reaction to your churlish cry of "chicken!!", but because you are such a smug, unlikeable prick with no friends that I take pity on you and want to give you your daily dose of human interaction.

It's not really worth a thorough examination of how wrong and idiotic you are. I'll say "A may be true, but don't confuse that with B" and then you'll regurgitate another list of A's.

Doper, how does reciting all of the buzz words you know like you're a 3rd grader trying to impress your father relate to my comment that conditions and mechanisms of economic retraction change, but never the underlying causes, those being over-speculation and/or over-leveraging. In your mad, foaming rush to be contentious, you missed the point entirely, and listed a bunch of conditions while ignoring the cause. Thank you for making it easy. The world is unique, the cause of the recession is not.

India! China! PEAK OIL!! Baby-boomers! Paranoid much?

Posted by mccool at March 21, 2009 6:45 AM

comment #22

SpinDozer says ...

Lets sum up then...conditions and mechanisms of economic retraction change, but never the underlying causes, those being over-speculation and/or over-leveraging (which are changeless). And tis but a fool's errand to try to change the corrupt and base nature of man. Thanks for those words of wisdom, here's a nickel, go get a cup of coffee.

Posted by SpinDozer at March 21, 2009 7:24 AM

comment #23

SpinDozer says ...

'India! China! PEAK OIL!! Baby-boomers! Paranoid much?'

Not me, but maybe the economists who have cited these issues as ones that differentiate this crisis from previous crises are, in fact, paranoid. I'm sure someone of your remarkable intellect can provide a thorough examination of how wrong and idiotic they are, even though its really not worth it...and who really needs that when one knows that the crisis was caused by people dong bad stuff, er, being Greedy?

Posted by SpinDozer at March 21, 2009 7:53 AM

comment #24