

So what if subprime blows up? (July 16, 2007) - pw0ncakes
http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=BVl9SQ-KVmE&feature=fvw

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fnid2
Mark Twain said, "You need two things to survive in this world: Ignorance and
Confidence."

Jim Cramer has a lot of both.

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prbuckley
How does Jim Cramer still have any scrap of credibility?

~~~
pw0ncakes
How do Republicans? Or corporations? Or the concept of private health
insurance?

Too Big to Fail-- not just for firms, but for people and ideas as well.

~~~
ryandvm
Can the Daily Kos talking points. There is plenty to not appreciate about
single payer healthcare systems. Private health insurance done correctly (much
like auto insurance) would be an excellent solution.

It's the misguided legislation like tax benefits for employers providing
healthcare that causes things to break down.

Here's an excellent article (I think I found it here) about how health care
could be done right:

[http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/2009/09/how-
americ...](http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/2009/09/how-american-
health-care-killed-my-father/7617/)

*Edited thanks to mcantor.

~~~
pw0ncakes
_I see reddit has arrived._

I see Autoadmit has arrived.

 _Private health insurance done correctly (much like auto insurance) would be
an excellent solution._

I can't take this seriously. You've got to be kidding. From any reasonable
ethical standpoint, how is it a "solution", rather than a severe indignity, to
accept a regime that requires people to buy insurance policies _on their own
bodies_? That's fucking morbid.

Car insurance is fair and generally works because people have the right to
choose how much insurance they need. If you don't want to pay or can't afford
premiums to insure your $250,000 Ferrari, then don't buy one. On the other
hand, no one chooses how much health care he or she needs; we'd obviously like
it best to need none.

~~~
orangecat
_From any reasonable ethical standpoint, how is it a "solution", rather than a
severe indignity, to accept a regime that requires people to buy insurance
policies on their own bodies? That's fucking morbid._

I'm having a hard time seeing the outrage. We "require" people to buy food and
shelter and clothes for their own bodies, all of which are even more necessary
than health care.

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pw0ncakes
For a bit of historical trivia, July 26, 2007 was when debt markets began
panicking, causing the meltdown of Bear Stearns hedge funds, thus leading to
the collapse of Bear and Lehman, thus bringing on the crash of 2008.

So this is like saying "So what if an Archduke gets shot?" in early June,
1914.

~~~
adamhowell
And of course Kramer followed up nuggets of wisdom like this with "Bear Sterns
is fine!" just 5 days before they were sold for $2 a share:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUkbdjetlY8>

I really thought his Daily Show appearance would be the beginning of the end
for him, but obviously I overestimated the long-term memory of the average
CNBC viewer.

~~~
hga
BZZZT!

He said something to the effect that brokerage accounts at Bear Sterns were
safe, _not_ that the firm, its stockholders or bondholders were safe.

That's what "don't take your money out" means, vs. "don't sell your Bear
Sterns stock or bonds".

A very different thing, and from what I've heard in the worst case he still
would have been right. And you'll note that he called the subsequent buyout
correctly ... and that very statement shows that he's not saying the firm "is
fine".

