What gives with these lawmakers

[SmallieBigs]

OK not to start an argument here, but I see a lot of democrat bashing here. You guys do realize that our state legislature was controlled by republicans forever before this last session, and Bush was running the country for the 8 years before Obama was elected right?

I agree that fed and state government is bloated and state worker union legacy payments are drowning this state, but you can't blame democrats for all the problems going on, just like I can't blame republicans for all the problems going on either. You all may not agree with the approach but I believe the Obama administration is doing all they can to help the country get going again. It will take more than a couple years to fix more than a decades worth of irresponsible government.

BTW I can't find the study right now but in my American Gov course a few semesters ago I saw a study that was done on state freedoms; NYS was ranked as the least free state in the US based on amount of restrictive laws and taxation.

[fishing mechanic]

I am not bashing Dem's, Rep's, Indy's, or any one! Right now I think they all stink, and our whole governmental system needs to be flushed and brought back to some sort of acceptable meaning. Cause right now...we are the friggin laughing stock of the world. And that is the truth. Who is to blame.....me and you for letting them leeches get this far!

[esox v]

OK not to start an argument here, but I see a lot of democrat bashing here. You guys do realize that our state legislature was controlled by republicans forever before this last session, and Bush was running the country for the 8 years before Obama was elected right?

I agree that fed and state government is bloated and state worker union legacy payments are drowning this state, but you can't blame democrats for all the problems going on, just like I can't blame republicans for all the problems going on either. You all may not agree with the approach but I believe the Obama administration is doing all they can to help the country get going again. It will take more than a couple years to fix more than a decades worth of irresponsible government.

BTW I can't find the study right now but in my American Gov course a few semesters ago I saw a study that was done on state freedoms; NYS was ranked as the least free state in the US based on amount of restrictive laws and taxation.

George bush spent like a democrat... The reality is that Bush and obama are both progressives. obama is a progressive on steroids.

[esox v]

 And i think its a joke that your sill blaming Bush. obama spent a trillion dollars on a bailout and next year we will be in the same boat just a trillion more dollars in debt. Because he didn't change anything just did what bush did but x10.

[esox v]

 This is what eventually led to the housing market crash that sent the whole economy into a death spiral.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Reinvestment_Act

[esox v]

this is when is started to go really bad.
From wikpedia
Legislative changes 1992
Although minor amendments were made directly to the Community Reinvestment Act concerning the consideration of minority and female owned institutions & partnerships during evaluations first established in 1991, other portions of the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 indirectly afftected the CRA practices at the time in requiring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government sponsored enterprises that purchase and securitize mortgages, to devote a percentage of their lending to support affordable housing.[4]

In October 2000, to expand the secondary market for affordable community-based mortgages and to increase liquidity for CRA-eligible loans, Fannie Mae committed to purchase and securitize $2 billion of "MyCommunityMortgage" loans.[49][50] In November 2000 Fannie Mae announced that the Department of Housing and Urban Development ("HUD") would soon require it to dedicate 50% of its business to low- and moderate-income families." It stated that since 1997 Fannie Mae had done nearly $7 billion in CRA business with depository institutions, but its goal was $20 billion.[51] In 2001 Fannie Mae announced that it had acquired $10 billion in specially-targeted Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) loans more than one and a half years ahead of schedule, and announced its goal to finance over $500 billion in CRA business by 2010, about one third of loans anticipated to be financed by Fannie Mae during that period.[52]

[SmallieBigs]

Esox I'm not going to argue with you about any of this because you've already made up your mind and are obviously very partisan.

I've taken many financial, accounting, financial markets, and economics courses. While that one thing you pointed out had a part in the default rate, repeal of the Glass Steigal Act (a republican move), banks leveraging at a 30:1 ratios, and getting insane with mortgage backed derivatives was the major cause of the financial meltdowns and subsequent bailouts. Believe it or not, they could have more than survived the defaults without a bailout if they had practiced restraint instead of outright greed. These are cold hard facts, not speculation, and backed up by most economists and financial professionals.

 

[esox v]

Esox I'm not going to argue with you about any of this because you've already made up your mind and are obviously very partisan.

I've taken many financial, accounting, financial markets, and economics courses. While that one thing you pointed out had a part in the default rate, repeal of the Glass Steigal Act (a republican move), banks leveraging at a 30:1 ratios, and getting insane with mortgage backed derivatives was the major cause of the financial meltdowns and subsequent bailouts. Believe it or not, they could have more than survived the defaults without a bailout if they had practiced restraint instead of outright greed. These are cold hard facts, not speculation, and backed up by most economists and financial professionals.

Then we agree ...They sould have not been bailed out and allowed to fail?
 

[esox v]

I wouldn't say that I'm partisan because i don't particularly like either side.... and i respect your opinion. It doesn't matter if you have an R or D after your name as long as your moving the country in the Right direction.

[SmallieBigs]

esox if the world was a perfect place I'd agree with you on the bailout.

I don't believe they deserved to be bailed out, but there is overwhelming evidence that if they weren't the economy would be headed for a textbook depression right now instead of a recession. As much as I hate that those greedy bastards got bailed out and are living high on the hog right now, the country as a whole would be much worse off if they hadn't been.

The truly sad story in this whole mess is that virtually nothing has changed to stop it from happening again until just recently. IMO they should have re-enstated Glass-Steigal and heavily regulated the derivative markets instead of the cob job that just went through. But that's a whole other story.

BTW I don't want to have to pay for inspections and register my boat every year!!!!  

[SmallieBigs]

I agree with you on the whole D and R thing. I just get sick of the blame games. I align myself with more of the D ideas than the R's but I am by no means a party line guy. There are obviously crooks and morons on both sides. I do believe that Obama is doing the best with what he has to work with. I don't know if that's saying too much though....

[esox v]

I agree with you on the whole D and R thing. I just get sick of the blame games. I align myself with more of the D ideas than the R's but I am by no means a party line guy. There are obviously crooks and morons on both sides. I do believe that Obama is doing the best with what he has to work with. I don't know if that's saying too much though....

Obama's tactics and ideas scare me..They just don't make sense to me. Both sides definitely took part in the collapse of our economy. Glad we could have a healthy debate about it.. tight lines BIG's   

[SNAGGER]

Esox I'm not going to argue with you about any of this because you've already made up your mind and are obviously very partisan.

I've taken many financial, accounting, financial markets, and economics courses. While that one thing you pointed out had a part in the default rate, repeal of the Glass Steigal Act (a republican move), banks leveraging at a 30:1 ratios, and getting insane with mortgage backed derivatives was the major cause of the financial meltdowns and subsequent bailouts. Believe it or not, they could have more than survived the defaults without a bailout if they had practiced restraint instead of outright greed. These are cold hard facts, not speculation, and backed up by most economists and financial professionals.

 

  I don't know alot about economic's, Smalliebigs what did you think of the 2 hour special called "the house of Cards" by David faber.?

  Funny screen name!!!

[SNAGGER]

   Statements from last year warning of deep water risks.

Transcript of Skytruth’s John Amos to Senate on Offshore Oil Drilling
Posted on November 19 2009 by Congressional Aid .The following is our transcription of the November 19, 2009 testimony of John Amos of Skytruth, a non-profit environmental imaging organization, to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.


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After more than a decade analyzing satellite imagery in the commercial sector for oil and gas exploration, I founded Skytruth, a non-profit corporation dedicated to investigating environmental issues using satellite images and other remote sensing technologies. We work to inform decisionmakers and the public about the risks posed by resource extraction so we can make better decisions about developing our resources, understand the worst-case scenarios implied by those risks, and insure that we can effectively respond to those scenarios. Our work investigating drilling mishaps severe storm damage and leaking pipelines demonstrates that major oil spills still occur today, including in US waters, despite significant advances in technology. This testimony addresses several instances of oil spills observed by Skytruth that very directly relate to current offshore and gas drilling production and the utility and effectiveness of mitigation efforts such as creating buffer zones.

Most recently, on August 21 2009, a production well at the Montara oil platform off the Northwest coast of Australia experienced a blowout, ejecting its cement plug and spraying oil and gas into the air and water. The platform and an attached West Atlas drill rig, seen in this photo, were evacuated. For the next 10 weeks oil and gas flowed unabated from the well. To plug the leak authorities decided to bring a second rig from Singapore and drill a relief well. On November 3, the spill was finally stopped by pumping heavy mud into the well. Concurrently, the platform and attached rig were engulfed in flames and burned for two days. The $250 million rig is reported to be a total loss, and engineers are assessing the integrity of the platform. Difficult work remains to install a permanent cement plug into the well.

Estimates of oil spilled range from 1.2 million gallons to more than 9 million gallons. Skytruth’s analysis of NASA images like the one here show that the oil slicks and sheen moved as far as 225 miles from the leaking well, and cumulatively impacted more than 24,000 square miles of ocean, an area the size of my state of West Virginia. Researchers documented impacts from this spill on sea birds and marine mammals. Indonesian and Australian fishermen cited fish kills and significant declines in catch, and news accounts report that fishermen are going bankrupt. The Australian government has launched an investigation into the causes of the blowout, effectiveness of the response, and environmental impact. The investigation is expected to take 6 months.

Severe storms pose another risk. In 2005, as Senator Dorgan noted, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita moved through oil fields in the Gulf as powerful Category 5 storms. Skytruth analysis of satellite images, including this image taken a few days after Katrina made landfall, reveal extensive slicks covering more than 700 square miles in the Gulf of Mexico. The Minerals Management Service reported that Katrina and Rita destroyed more than 100 platforms and damaged 450 offshore pipelines. These storms caused major spills from the on-shore facilities that support offshore production. The Coast Guard reported that on-shore infrastructure spilled 8 million gallons of oil into coastal wetlands, streams and communities. A single spill from a ruptured storage tank inundated 1700 homes in Louisiana with crude oil.

Infrastructure can fail even in the absence of storms. In calm weather in July 2009, a major pipeline operated by Shell sprang a leak about 30 miles off the Louisiana coast. Divers located a crack in the pipe, but 63 thousand galllons of oil spilled into the Gulf. The resulting slick covered 80 square miles. The failed pipeline was installed more than 30 years ago. In 2009, it began carrying oil from a new platform almost 200 miles south of New Orleans. In a common industry practice, the new platform was connected to the old pipeline network.

Offshore production in the Gulf began in the late 1940s. Today, as you can see on this map, the seafloor is crisscrossed by 25 thousand miles of active pipeline, connecting 3600 platforms to coastal facilities. As the pipeline network ages, structural failures and spills become increasingly likely.

    In summary, offshore drilling is an inherently risky venture. Accidents happen despite the most technologically advanced systems. Nature can create insurmountable situations, and infrastructure ages and becomes vulnerable. Recent history shows that when things go wrong the consequences can become severe. As the Senate debates the merits of opening new offshore areas to energy development, it is important to understand and carefully evaluate the risks posed by offshore oil drilling. The critical first step is acknowledging these risks to the environment and to communities that depend on healthy marine and coastal ecosystems for their economic well-being. I thank you for your attention today and would be happy to answer questions.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8336564.stm

[fishing mechanic]

Since everyone is on the "Bailout" subject. Here is a simple thought of mine.
What built this country?    Was it entreprenuership and small business or huge corps.? Were we founded on the idea's of not allowing monoplization? And did our forefathers do everting they could to build this country by them beliefs? Shoot, most or all of them were exactly stemmed from them roots, before they became politicians. And after their public service was done, they went right back to their business as usual for the most part. Right or wrong?

So my question is...why was the small businessman left in the dark during these trying times? My industry, and my personal business has seen the most trivial times finacialy since I was a schoolboy in Boces. No governmental institution was there to help any of us small guys out, we have to unbury on our own. With ever increasing taxes to boot. Study's still show that the mom and pop shops still carry the economy, and pay more tax than the big corp's. Talk about corrupt? So who is doing all the lobbying? And how shallow are we as people to think we don't live in the biggest pile of crap! And I still love my country...isn't that something!