American Politics

[Sirioja]

Even Murdoch's Wall Street Journal had to admit Trump essentially bent over, grabbed his knees, unable to touch his calves much less his ankles, and took it up the ass without KY-Jelly from Xi and All Of China:

The Great Trump Tariff Rollback.
The President started a trade war with Adam Smith. He lost.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/u-s-chin...nping-a561d16b

You know, it might be marginally ok for him to jerk himself and everyone else off when he is buying or selling one of his failed golf resorts from or to a gaggle of drunks.

But all of this in, out, confusion, incoherence, blithering blather, feigned or genuine incompetence doesn't work when he's dealing with real world businesses, the national and global economy.

Now, your dangerous Trump is dealing with djihadhists, with new air force from Qatar, when Boeing are not able. And with Syria?

[RamDavidson84]

The best motorcycle is the one you swing your leg over and are riding at the moment.

Which one do you own? You need to define best. Why do you think those models or best? I suspect you don't ride. You have never mentioned it. Only your hate of all things EV. I actually bought a AJEV scooter for running errands around town.

I am a poor (insert color of your choice here) man trying to make it in a (insert color of your choice here) man's world. Cash rules everything around me since I don't have much. I am looking to get the most for my dollar. Right now that is looking like CF Moto. The China Man is fucking the market up. In a good way! More tech, more power, less cost. That is why this topic is political. I see mother fucks posting about China this and China that. But those same mother fucks have exactly zero experience with Chinese motorcycles. That's cool. If they want to speak from a base that shows they have no knowledge on the issue that is fine.

I would like a BMW but that is a pure vanity purchase to have the symbol on my tank. No real reason to spend the money. I would argue from my personal research that Chinese are making the best bikes in the world market today.

But you haven't ridden a Chinese Bike but you have an opinion on it. Exactly how did you form your opinion?

It is my choice how as a grown man I spend my hard earned dollars RamDavison. That is magnanimous of you to grant me your permission to spend my money how I choose. It's called the pursuit of happiness. I suggest you check the Declaration of Independence (your country of origin) for further details.

ROTFLMAO!

I have made the mistake of trying to save a few bucks by going with a newer unproven brand and usually I end up regretting it, so for me personally I wouldn't gamble on a chinese bike. They may be great as I hear the evs coming out China are as good as teslas. I personally wouldn't know. For my money, if I was going to get a budget bike, I would go with used low mileage Jap bike, honda suzuke or a kawi. I grew up on atvs and dirt bikes and them Japs make a fuckin great reliable product that delivers. Also a huge dealer net work, good resale value, easy to find a mechanic who can work on it.

I would gamble on a royal enfield as I have heard good things about them and they are a budget friendly do it all bike. Great if you will be taking it on rough old roads or dirt trails.

[MarquisdeSade1]

Even Murdoch's Wall Street Journal had to admit Trump essentially bent over, grabbed his knees, unable to touch his calves much less his ankles, and took it up the ass without KY-Jelly from Xi and All Of China:

The Great Trump Tariff Rollback.
The President started a trade war with Adam Smith. He lost.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/u-s-chin...nping-a561d16b

You know, it might be marginally ok for him to jerk himself and everyone else off when he is buying or selling one of his failed golf resorts from or to a gaggle of drunks.

But all of this in, out, confusion, incoherence, blithering blather, feigned or genuine incompetence doesn't work when he's dealing with real world businesses, the national and global economy.

There Are Two Chinas, and America Must Understand Both.

The technological success that has captured the attention of many in the United States is one aspect of the Chinese economy. There's another, gloomy one.

Listen to this article · 8:25 min Learn more.

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In an illustration, shadowy sharks gather under a speedboat tethered to a large ship whose red hull is painted as the Chinese flag. The speedboat carries four people, one of them holding a large Chinese flag.

Credit. Dongyan Xu.

Li Yuan.

By Li Yuan.

May 13,2025.

Updated 1:16 am ET.

Two Chinas inhabit the American imagination: One is a technology and manufacturing superpower poised to lead the world. The other is an economy that's on the verge of collapse.

Each reflects a real aspect of China.

One China — let's call it hopeful China — is defined by companies like the A. I. Start-up DeepSeek, the electric vehicle giant BYD and the tech powerhouse Huawei. All are innovation leaders.

Jensen Huang, the chief executive of the Silicon Valley chip giant Nvidia, said China was "not behind" the United States in artificial intelligence development. Quite a few pundits have declared that China would dominate the 21st century.

The other China — gloomy China — tells a different story: sluggish consumer spending, rising unemployment, a chronic housing crisis and a business community bracing for the impact of the trade war.

President Trump, as he tries to negotiate a resolution of a trade war, must reckon with both versions of America's arch geopolitical rival.

The stakes have never been higher to understand China. It's not enough to fear its successes, or take solace in its economic hardships. To know America's biggest rival requires seeing how the two Chinas are able to coexist.

"Americans have too many imagined notions about China," said Dong Jielin, a former Silicon Valley executive who recently moved back to San Francisco after spending 14 years in China teaching and researching the country's science and technology policies. "Some of them hope to solve American problems using Chinese methods, but that clearly won't work. They don't realize that China's solutions come with a lot of pain. ".

Image.

Two factory employees working on elevated vehicles, both partially built, on a vehicle assembly line.

The vehicle assembly lines of Geely Automobile's Zeekr Factory in Ningbo, China. Credit. Qilai Shen for The New York Times.

Just like the United States, China is a giant country full of disparities: coastal vs. Inland, north vs. South, urban vs. Rural, rich vs. Poor, state-owned vs. Private sector, Gen X vs. Gen Z. The ruling Communist Party itself is full of contradictions. It avows socialism, but recoils from giving its citizens a strong social safety net.

Chinese people, too, grapple with these contradictions.

Despite the trade war, the Chinese tech entrepreneurs and investors I talked to over the past few weeks were more upbeat than any time in the past three years. Their hope started with DeepSeek's breakthrough in January. Two venture capitalists told me that they planned to come out of a period of hibernation they started after Beijing's crackdown on the tech sector in 2021. Both said they were looking to invest in Chinese A. I. Applications and robotics.

Want to stay updated on what's happening in China? Sign up for Your Places: Global Update, and we'll send our latest coverage to your inbox.

But they are much less optimistic about the economy — the gloomy China.

The 10 executives, investors and economists I interviewed said they believed that China's advances in tech would not be enough to pull the country out of its economic slump. Advanced manufacturing makes up about only 6 percent of China's output, much smaller than real estate, which contributes about 17 percent of gross domestic product even after a sharp slowdown.

When I asked them whether China could beat the United States in the trade war, nobody said yes. But they all agreed that China's pain threshold was much higher.

It's not hard to understand the anxiety felt by Americans frustrated with their country's struggles to build and manufacture. China has constructed more high-speed rail lines than the rest of the world, deployed more industrial robots per 10,000 manufacturing workers than any country except South Korea and Singapore and now leads globally in electric vehicles, solar panels, drones and several other advanced industries.

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A long field of solar panels, nine rows across and going far into the distance.

Solar panels in Ningbo, China. Credit. Gilles Sabrié for The New York Times.

Many of China's most successful companies have gained resilience from the economic downturn and are better prepared for the bad days ahead. "They've been DOGE-ing for a long time," said Eric Wong, the founder of the New York hedge fund Stillpoint who visits China every quarter, referring to the Trump administration's cost-cutting effort known as the Department of Government Efficiency. "By comparison, the USA Has been living in excess for a long time. ".

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But as we marvel at China's so-called miracles, it is necessary to ask: At what cost? Not just financial, but human.

China's top-down innovation model, heavily reliant on government subsidies and investment, has proved to be both inefficient and wasteful. Much like the overbuilding in the real estate sector that triggered a crisis and erased much of Chinese household wealth, excessive industrial capacity has deepened imbalances in the economy and raised questions about the model's sustainability, particularly if broader conditions worsen.

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The electric vehicle industry shows the force of the two Chinas. In 2018, the country had nearly 500 E. V. Makers. By 2024, about 70 remained. Among the casualties was Singulato Motors, a start-up that raised $2. 3 billion from investors, including local governments in three provinces. Over eight years, the company failed to deliver a single car and filed for bankruptcy in 2023.

The Chinese government tolerates wasteful investment in its chosen initiatives, helping fuel overcapacity. But it is reluctant to make the kind of substantial investments in rural pensions and health insurance that would help lift consumption.

"Technological innovation alone cannot resolve China's structural economic imbalances or cyclical deflationary pressures," Robin Xing, the chief China economist at Morgan Stanley, said in a research note. "In fact," he wrote, "recent advances in technology may reinforce policymakers' confidence in the current path, increasing the risk of resource and capital misallocation. ".

The Chinese leadership's obsession with technological self-reliance and industrial capacity is not helping its biggest challenges: unemployment, weak consumption and a reliance on exports, not to mention the housing crisis.

Officially, China's urban unemployment rate stands at 5 percent, excluding jobless migrant workers. Youth unemployment is 17 percent. The real numbers are believed to be much higher. This summer alone, China's colleges will graduate more than 12 million new job seekers.

Mr. Trump was not wrong in saying factories are closing and people are losing their jobs in China.

In 2020 Li Keqiang, then the premier, said the foreign trade sector, directly or indirectly, accounted for the employment of 180 million Chinese. "A downturn in foreign trade will almost certainly hit the job market hard," he said at the onset of the pandemic. Tariffs could be much more devastating.

Beijing is playing down the effect of the trade war, but as negotiators held talks last weekend with their USA Counterparts, its impact was obvious. In April, Chinese factories experienced the sharpest monthly slowdown in more than a year while shipments to the United States plunged 21 percent from a year earlier.

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All of the economic fallout will be shouldered by people like a man I spoke to, with the surname Chen, a former university librarian in a megacity in southern China. He asked that I not use his full name and where he lived to shield his identity from the authorities.

Mr. Chen lives in the gloomy China. He stopped taking the vaunted high-speed trains because they cost five times as much as a bus. Flying is often cheaper, too.

He lost his job last year because the university, one of the top ones in the country, was facing a budget shortfall. Many state-run institutions have had to let people go because many local governments, even in the wealthiest cities, are deeply in debt.

Because he's in his late 30's, Mr. Chen is considered too old for most jobs. He and his wife had given up on buying a home. Now with the trade war, he expects that the economy will weaken further and that his job prospects will be dimmer.

"I've become even more cautious with spending," he said. "I weigh every penny. ".

GOD (AKA Donald J Trump) is FUCKING GREAT.

[EihTooms]

Almost no more tax for Chinese products. Trump is really a dangerous, ridiculous clown. Bullshiting with no balls. Many Chinese toys are dangerous for children.

Even Murdoch's Wall Street Journal had to admit Trump essentially bent over, grabbed his knees, unable to touch his calves much less his ankles, and took it up the ass without KY-Jelly from Xi and All Of China:

The Great Trump Tariff Rollback.
The President started a trade war with Adam Smith. He lost.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/u-s-chin...nping-a561d16b

You know, it might be marginally ok for him to jerk himself and everyone else off when he is buying or selling one of his failed golf resorts from or to a gaggle of drunks.

But all of this in, out, confusion, incoherence, blithering blather, feigned or genuine incompetence doesn't work when he's dealing with real world businesses, the national and global economy.

[EihTooms]

Nah, Bill Maher just tells like it is and calls people out on their bullshit. If anything I would say for the longest time he leaned strong left, then left went to extreme for even him.

The right loves him because he lies about the Dems every week on his shows, repeats the most ridiculous MAGA-fabricated nonsense about them. I would say MAGAs should really love him considering the margin of victory for Trump in the only three swing states that mattered was so razor-thin it very likely could have hinged on just those MAGA lies Bill Maher repeated for them to his audience every week for the past two years.

Aside from the debunked lies he continued to repeat about the Dems, his criticism of what he objects to with Trump and the Repubs is emotionally detached, amused, delivered in a way so it would not be taken too seriously vs the criticism he has for the Dems, mostly lies, delivered with venom and disgust.

He has been practically 100% MAGA for a couple of years.

[EihTooms]

Your lame attempts to gaslight ISG are absurdly weak, give it up you're just wasting your electricity.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/202...-pakistan-war/

India rejects Trump's claim his trade concessions de-escalated India-Pakistan tensions.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/india-rej...BaEvSqCX5GQcgc

NEW DELHI (AP) The Indian government on Tuesday rejected U.S. President Donald Trumps claim that he helped broker a ceasefire between India and Pakistan in exchange for trade concessions.
..........
New Delhi also rejected Trump's offer for mediation on Tuesday.

We have a longstanding national position that any issues related to the federally controlled union territory of Jammu and Kashmir must be addressed by India and Pakistan bilaterally. There has been no change to the stated policy, Jaiswal said.

Wringing your hands and begging, "Come on you guys, just stop it" rarely wins anyone a Nobel Peace Prize.

Maybe Trump can buy one by lowering his ilegally-enacted tariffs on Norway.

[Sirioja]

Almost no more tax for Chinese products. Trump is really a dangerous, ridiculous clown. Bullshiting with no balls. Many Chinese toys are dangerous for children.

[MarquisdeSade1]

But but but Donnie Two Dolls is stealing all those Billions and Billions and Billions of dollars China was going to give us to pay for everything we want and need like Childcare because Childcare is Childcare and groceries, god I'm glad Trump invented that word, and make all Americans rich from those Trump Tariffs!

He denies America those Billions and Billions and Billions of free money from other countries every time he buckles and caves on 1 Tariff percentage point!

USA And China agree to slash tariffs for 90 days in major trade breakthrough.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/12/us-a...ndroidappshare

Oh, BTW, has somebody finally explained to Donnie Two Dolls than an illegally-enacted presidential Executive Order to raise, lower, raise, lower, buckle and cave, raise, lower, raise, buckle and cave, etc etc tariffs is not a "Trade Deal", whether it is enacted on goods from the United Kingdom, China, Mars, The Moon or anywhere else?

Your lame attempts to gaslight ISG are absurdly weak, give it up you're just wasting your electricity.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/202...-pakistan-war/

[RamDavidson84]

But now, best motos are Ducati, Aprilia and BMW, not anymore Japanese, nor US.

Especially adventure bikes. I think for everyday cost effective transportation, still can't beat them Japs though. A lot of really good bikes are being made these days. I would die to ride that V4 through Italy.

[SubCmdr]

The best motorcycle is the one you swing your leg over and are riding at the moment.

But now, best motos are Ducati, Aprilia and BMW, not anymore Japanese, nor US.

Which one do you own? You need to define best. Why do you think those models or best? I suspect you don't ride. You have never mentioned it. Only your hate of all things EV. I actually bought a AJEV scooter for running errands around town.

I am a poor (insert color of your choice here) man trying to make it in a (insert color of your choice here) man's world. Cash rules everything around me since I don't have much. I am looking to get the most for my dollar. Right now that is looking like CF Moto. The China Man is fucking the market up. In a good way! More tech, more power, less cost. That is why this topic is political. I see mother fucks posting about China this and China that. But those same mother fucks have exactly zero experience with Chinese motorcycles. That's cool. If they want to speak from a base that shows they have no knowledge on the issue that is fine.

I would like a BMW but that is a pure vanity purchase to have the symbol on my tank. No real reason to spend the money. I would argue from my personal research that Chinese are making the best bikes in the world market today.

Personally I would risk a Chinese bike, but that is your choice. I am not the expert but have driven a lot of bikes, just my two cents.

But you haven't ridden a Chinese Bike but you have an opinion on it. Exactly how did you form your opinion?

It is my choice how as a grown man I spend my hard earned dollars RamDavison. That is magnanimous of you to grant me your permission to spend my money how I choose. It's called the pursuit of happiness. I suggest you check the Declaration of Independence (your country of origin) for further details.

ROTFLMAO!

[Spidy]

I respect Buffett's investing wisdom, but I think he is a nut job politically. As for being hood winked, you are being hood winked if you think Buffett is a political genius.

As for not minding paying taxes, that is the biggest load of bullshit I have ever heard. I know someone in partnership with Buffett and he said Buffett was a cheap ass mother fucker.

WOW!...you must REALLY be, in some kind of excruciating PAIN?

What I mean is, after finding out, one of YOUR BIGGEST financial investor heroes, is in prefect alignment with what I'm saying, w/r to the billionaires and corporations paying their fair of taxes, for the social good and benefit of a well functioning society, must REALLY just eat you up inside! Arhhh...you poor thing!

As for the bullshit on raising taxes, he is just towing the Democratic company line. Someone who does math as well as he does knows you cannot tax your way out of the debt / deficit problem. The numbers do not add up. ...

To solve the deficit issue, all Americans are going to have to come together and sacrifice. For me, that means more in taxes. For you, that means lower handouts. I am willing to do my part if everyone else is willing to do theirs but not you. You keep making up these bogeymen. MAGA people need to make more. Corporations need to pay more. It is everybody but you, and I do not need to know anything else about you other than that to know what a loser you really are.

Get this, Elvis 2008:

A group of wealthy Canadians calling themselves 'Patriotic Millionaires' (May 11th, 2025) is banding together to lobby governments to increase the amount of taxes they must pay. https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/pat...axes-1.7530936

Yes, some Canadian millionaires are lobbying for a tax change! Why?...They want to pay more!

So even Canadians, are arguing and speaking up to the injustice that "...the system is rigged to tax wages more than wealth and the present inequality in taxes, don't benefit a proper balance in society as a whole". They truly understand and "get it", that "...good social services make Canada a better place to build businesses"

When one of the world's richest men and Canadian 'Patriotic Millionaires' (for example) are speaking out against unfair tax system and want to pay more, it obviously is not something, the so called, Elvis 2008 "Paycheck Superheroes", are EVER going to understand.

But by all means continue, to live in the self-inflicted myth, of the Repub "American Cowboy" and the nonsensical associated culture-wars, perpetrated by this toxic myth.

[RamDavidson84]

Bill Maher has never met an adult who thinks "a man can get pregnant. "

Nor has he ever met a Democratic Party leader pushing to "Defund the Police". Certainly not the way Repubs have tried to do that over and over again.

Bill Maher is a typically pro Repub "bothsider" MSM pundit happy to serve as a Public Relations tool for Trump and any other Repub if doing so will help Repubs win elections.

He has been that way at least since he was more responsible than any other pundit with a weekly GOP Election Rally tv show for getting the 2nd Worst President in USA History elected, GW Bush, back in 2000. His cuddly and lovable dinner date Donald J. Trump being The Worst.

Nah, Bill Maher just tells like it is and calls people out on their bullshit. If anything I would say for the longest time he leaned strong left, then left went to extreme for even him.

[RamDavidson84]

Republican Morons are like the owners of Harley-Davisons

The reason why they think they cannot open up their bikes on the twisties is because they don't know how to control their motorcycles. They know how to ride fast in a straight line.

I took a course to learn how to control my motorcycle. It concluded with a half day on there track. Where we put all of our lessons we learned in the control setting (acceleration, shifting, braking, hitting the apex of the curve by getting your body into the proper position for the lean.

Republican Morons cannot do that. All of the work that is done in that situation is done by the rider. There is not way for a Republican Moron to pay someone to do the work for them. Unless they are the owner of a race team. No, a Republican Moron cannot do the work for themselves to control the motorcycle and that is why they buy big, loud, heavy, overpriced machines in order to feel cool and go really fast in a straight line. A individual that knows how to ride really puts the work in themselves. There is simply no way around it. That is simply not in the character of Republican Moron.

Now tell me: How did Harley-Davison screw up a market where they had a monopoly? Because they failed to recognize the changing market in the Dis-United States of America.

- Credit AI.

Politics aside, I am speaking purely riding here. You can own a Harley / cruiser in Europe and you will get by just fine. Now if you want the best riding experience possible for cities and areas that have winding curvy roads and shorts areas to accelerate in, then a standard motorcycle or a sport bike is going to be immensely more enjoyable. You can burn through corners and winding roads all day, you simply can't do that with the lean angle and peg position of a Harley cruiser or even worse a bagger. The downside is after 30 minutes sitting on a sport bike your back and ass is going to be killing you. They are not set up for long rides, some are more than others. See the Kawsaki Versys 1100. Its the main reason why Harleys barely sell in Europe, its not the Tariffs, its a bike designed for American Highways. I ll buy a Triumph all day over a Harley if I lived in UK. That bike is perfectly suited for the roads of UK. You can be the greatest rider on Earth, but its still going to be a shitty ride taking a Harley through urban streets compared to a sport or standard bike.

Again, if your doing mostly highway miles, the cruiser set up is unmatched. The low rev torque and power of the engines will run strong all day and day after day. Its perfect for touring the country like many riders do. Its also designed to be as stable as possible at highway speeds for long periods of time. You can run a Harley for 500 miles straight at 90 mph with one hand. I have, its awesome. You can't do that on a sport bike, engine revs too high and will burn out prematurely as well as it will be super uncomfortable after your first tank of gas.

Decide what type of riding you want to do and where you want to do it and then choose a bike, but hey your money, do what you want at the end of the day.

As for Harley, they def dropped the ball not changing with the market, but sometimes shit just goes downhill and it is out of your control. No matter what, Americans just aren't getting into riding like they used to. Same thing happened to trains and whale oil once upon a time. Industries rise and fall as technology and societal needs and values evolve. American men ain't what they used to be.

[MarquisdeSade1]

"No, YOU couldn't be MORE WRONG!

Also Glass-Steagall, NEVER prevented or covered the derivatives explosion of credit default swaps and "legalized unregulated gambling", or the multi-billion dollar predatory leading that took place under firms like, Countrywide and Wells Fargo.

Everyone knows, as it's widely reported, that under the dumbass Republican admin of George W. "Bushitler" and Hank Paulson, the, and policy change, that let the banks over leverage and barrow 30 x their assets with mortgage-backed securities, something they were NEVER allowed to do, with regular securities.

USA Recessions began under Repub presidents, since the 1950's.

It is dis / misinformed answers like yours, WHY THE BILLIONAIRE CLASS, enjoys PICKING YOUR POCKETS!

Repeal of Glass-Steagall Caused the Financial Crisis.

The repeal of the law separating commercial and investment banking caused the 2008 financial crisis.

By James Rickards.

Aug. 27,2012, at 1:19 pm.

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USA News & World Report.

Glass-Steagall Repeal Caused '08 Crisis.

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James Rickards is a hedge fund manager in New York City and the author of Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisis from Portfolio / Penguin. Follow him on Twitter at at JamesGRickards.

The oldest propaganda technique is to repeat a lie emphatically and often until it is taken for the truth. Something like this is going on now with regard to banks and the financial crisis. The big bank boosters and analysts who should know better are repeating the falsehood that repeal of Glass-Steagall had nothing to do with the Panic of 2008.

In fact, the financial crisis might not have happened at all but for the 1999 repeal of the Glass-Steagall law that separated commercial and investment banking for seven decades. If there is any hope of avoiding another meltdown, it's critical to understand why Glass-Steagall repeal helped to cause the crisis. Without a return to something like Glass-Steagall, another greater catastrophe is just a matter of time.

History is a good place to begin. After the Depression of 1920-21, the United States embarked on a period of economic prosperity known as the Roaring Twenties. It was a time of innovation, especially in consumer goods such as automobiles, radio, and refrigeration. Along with these goods came new forms of consumer credit and bank expansion. National City Bank (forerunner of today's Citibank) and Chase Bank opened offices to sell securities side-by-side with traditional banking products like deposits and loans.

As the decade progressed, the stock market boomed and eventually reached bubble territory. Along with the bubble came market manipulation in the form of organized pools that would ramp up the price of stocks and dump them on unsuspecting suckers just before the stock collapsed. Banks joined in by offering stocks of holding companies that were leveraged pyramid schemes and other securities backed by dubious assets.

In 1929, the music stopped, the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began. It took eight years from the start of the boom to the bust. Subsequent investigations revealed the extent of the fraud that preceded the crash. In 1933, Congress passed Glass-Steagall in response to the abuses. Banks would be allowed to take deposits and make loans. Brokers would be allowed to underwrite and sell securities. But no firm could do both due to conflicts of interest and risks to insured deposits. From 1933 to 1999, there were very few large bank failures and no financial panics comparable to the Panic of 2008. The law worked exactly as intended.

In 1999, Democrats led by President Bill Clinton and Republicans led by Sen. Phil Gramm joined forces to repeal Glass-Steagall at the behest of the big banks. What happened over the next eight years was an almost exact replay of the Roaring Twenties. Once again, banks originated fraudulent loans and once again they sold them to their customers in the form of securities. The bubble peaked in 2007 and collapsed in 2008. The hard-earned knowledge of 1933 had been lost in the arrogance of 1999.

The bank supporters' attacks on this clear-as-a-bell narrative deserve a hearing to show how flimsy they are. One bank supporter says you cannot blame banks for fraudulent loan originations because that was done by unscrupulous mortgage brokers. This is nonsense. The brokers would not have been able to fund the loans in the first place if the banks had not been buying their production.

Another apologist says the fact that no big banks failed in the crisis proves they were not the cause of the problem. This is also ludicrous. The reason the big banks did not fail was because they were bailed out by the government. Clearly the banks would have failed but for the bailouts. Bank balance sheets were neck-deep in liar loans and underwater home equity lines of credit. The fact that banks did not fail proves nothing except that they were too big to fail.

Yet another big bank spokesman says that nonbanks such as Lehman and Bear Stearns were more to blame for the crisis. This ignores the fact that nonbanks get their funding from banks in the form of mortgages, repurchase agreements, and lines of credit. Without the big banks providing easy credit on bad collateral like structured products, the nonbanks would not have been able to leverage themselves.

It is true that the financial crisis has enough blame to go around. Borrowers were reckless, brokers were greedy, rating agencies were negligent, customers were naïve, and government encouraged the fiasco with unrealistic housing goals and unlimited lines of credit at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Yet, the fact that there were so many parties to blame should not be used to deflect blame from the most responsible parties of all—the big banks. Without the banks providing financing to the mortgage brokers and Wall Street while underwriting their own issues of toxic securities, the entire pyramid scheme would never have got off the ground.

It was Glass-Steagall that prevented the banks from using insured depositories to underwrite private securities and dump them on their own customers. This ability along with financing provided to all the other players was what kept the bubble-machine going for so long.

Now, when memories are fresh, is the time to reinstate Glass-Steagall to prevent a third cycle of fraud on customers. Without the separation of banking and underwriting, it's just a matter of time before banks repeat their well-honed practice of originating garbage loans and stuffing them down customers' throats. Congress had the answer in 1933. Congress lost its way in 1999. Now is the chance to get back to the garden.

You are just a want to be shill for Anti American Wall Street, just like ET.

If its very bad for America and Americans you love it.

If its very good for America and Americans you hate it.

CNBC links? Seriously? Why no WSJ links lolololol you're a lame ass want to be shill.

And you are a treasonous bastard that belongs in a cell with Bubba and his hideous husband, for giving Aid and Comfort to the enemy.

I hear DOGE / Elon is using AI to hunt online for Anti American activities online, I sure hope they get you.

[Spidy]

But you're wrong again of course.

Scumbag Bubba gutted Glass Steagall which caused the Global crisis in 2008 and Scumbag Barry swept all the dirt under the rug.

With the help of scumbags like Rahm Emanuel and Tim Geithner et al.

https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs...nancial-crisis

(...kkkk!) No, YOU couldn't be MORE WRONG!

Glass-Steagall, was put in place to protect the commercial banks. Of the biggest firms that FAILED under the Repubs/George W. "Bushitler" admin in 2008 Subprime Crisis, were the investment banks of Lehman, Bear Stearns and the insurer AIG, that NEVER relied on OR were ever covered under Glass-Steagall protections.

Also Glass-Steagall, NEVER prevented or covered the derivatives explosion of credit default swaps (CDS), collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and "legalized unregulated gambling", or the multi-billion dollar predatory leading that took place under firms like, Countrywide and Wells Fargo.

You know...for all your whining and whinging, you do, it won't detract or dismiss from the FACT, yet another recession, depression and financial crisis took place under a pitiful George W. "Bushitler" and Hank Paulson, clown show Repub admin.

Next time, THINK B4 U ANSWER!

2004 SEC Leverage Rule Change, that largely led to the 2008 Subprime Mortgage Crisis:

Everyone knows, as it's widely reported, that under the dumbass Republican admin of George W. "Bushitler" and Hank Paulson, the 2004 SEC Leverage Rule Change, and policy change, that let the banks over leverage and barrow 30x their assets with mortgage-backed securities, something they were NEVER allowed to do, with regular securities.

The SEC Rule That Broke Wall Street
https://www.cnbc.com/2012/03/21/the-...ll-street.html

In 2004, rule change at SEC set the stage for a credit crisis
https://theworld.org/stories/2013/08...-credit-crisis

So stop all the lying already it doesn't fool me.

STOP FOOLING YOURSELF! 10 of the last 11 U.S. recessions began under Repub presidents, since the 1950's. Repub presidents and admins have ALWAYS BEEN ASSOCIATED with bad economic disasters, in history.

It is dis/misinformed answers like yours, WHY THE BILLIONAIRE CLASS, enjoys PICKING YOUR POCKETS! (...kkkk!).