I've only been able to read some excerpts of what he said, but Ahmadinejad makes some pretty good points. After all, the United States (and other Western powers) have been intervening in Iran for over half a century. While Iran is demonized, I can't blame them for some of their sentiments.

Quote :

"In his remarks, Ahmadinejad called the September 11, 2001, attacks "mysterious" and said they were a pretext for a U.S.-led war against Afghanistan and Iraq. "

Yep. The Bush admin had drawn up plans to topple the Taliban prior to 9/11. Rumsfeld set those plans into motion as soon as 9/11 happened, even though no concrete information had come to light connecting Al Qaeda and the attacks.

Quote :

"He also placed blame on the United States for numerous global problems including the financial crisis, criticizing it for dominating the world's "policy-making establishments," overspending on the military, and "printing trillions of dollars" that triggered inflation, according to an English translation of his speech provided by Iran's U.N. mission."

This is all factual. I mean, it really is. He hit the nail on the head.

Quote :

"Ahmadinejad said the U.S. government views Zionism as "sacred," and that "European countries still use the Holocaust after six decades as the excuse to pay (a) fine or ransom to the Zionists.""

Are you even denying that this is the case? Our entire political establishment attempts to "protect Israel", and does everything it can to hinder progress in surrounding nations.

You're a nationalist, man. Most people are. When the myth that "we're the good guys" is perpetuated by everyone, you begin to believe it. The reality is that the United States is not a force for good. The United States has caused a lot of damage. It's funny to see you towing the same line as Sean Hannity, though.

^Austerity is a bad consequence of the boom. We want to prevent the boom.

[Edited on September 22, 2011 at 5:13 PM. Reason : ]

9/22/2011 5:12:26 PM

Quote :

"Austerity during times of high unemployment is a disaster. We're repeating 1937."

There is no free lunch. Austerity now just sets up the stage for a true recovery, not one fueled with printed dollars. I realize you likely don't have any savings to your name but by purging bad debt and cutting back now in places that aren't value added the economy will eventually return to normal and even low risk investments will still produce modest returns (5% vs 0%). Instead, we just muddle along not getting worse, not getting better. Those unemployed don't get re-employed, those with jobs don't make anything on their savings, and the government continues to make it where business has no fucking idea what is coming next.


But, don't worry little one, you'll eventually grow up and get a big boy job and realize just how stupid print money and hope doesn't work.

9/22/2011 5:29:29 PM

I fail to see how food stamps, education, and modest unemployment benefits would fuel a "false" recovery or how cutting them allows bad debt to be purged any faster.

9/22/2011 6:15:22 PM

Quote :

"There is no free lunch. Austerity now just sets up the stage for a true recovery, not one fueled with printed dollars. I realize you likely don't have any savings to your name but by purging bad debt and cutting back now in places that aren't value added the economy will eventually return to normal and even low risk investments will still produce modest returns (5% vs 0%). Instead, we just muddle along not getting worse, not getting better. Those unemployed don't get re-employed, those with jobs don't make anything on their savings, and the government continues to make it where business has no fucking idea what is coming next. But, don't worry little one, you'll eventually grow up and get a big boy job and realize just how stupid print money and hope doesn't work."

lol You're funny. Why don't you provide evidence and sources for your ridiculous claims, rather than resorting to puerile name calling.

9/22/2011 7:16:25 PM

Quote :

"I fail to see how food stamps, education, and modest unemployment benefits would fuel a "false" recovery or how cutting them allows bad debt to be purged any faster."

Even eliminating those entirely doesn't have us on the road to having our debts under control. That's how bad the budge situation is.

Quote :

"Why don't you provide evidence and sources for your ridiculous claims"

How about just about every recession in history? It's when the government meddles excessively in the economy do unprecedented things happen.

Quote :

"rather than resorting to puerile name calling"

I'll stop resorting to name calling when you get a clue about what you're posting. You seem like the type of guy that actually has no idea why he is a progressive.

9/22/2011 7:57:11 PM

Quote :

"How about just about every recession in history? It's when the government meddles excessively in the economy do unprecedented things happen."

Wrong. Allowing the free market to go unregulated by government caused the Crash of 1929 and the subsequent Great Depression and it led to our current Bush Great Recession.

You seem like a guy that has no ideas.

9/22/2011 8:01:31 PM

Quote :

"Wrong. Allowing the free market to go unregulated by government caused the Crash of 1929 and the subsequent Great Depression and it led to our current Bush Great Recession."

Economics is never so black and white. Progressives routinely claim the reasons for the GD are as such and will use their favorite anecdotes/stats/whathaveyou and the case is seemingly compelling. Free marketers think the opposite and also make a fairly compelling case. To anyone with even a modicum of critical thinking skills, the very fact that two nearly equally compelling narratives of the same event exist should make you question the idea that either one of them are entirely accurate.

The question you're not asking yourself is "what is a crash and should the government take unprecedented steps to try and fix things after they happen"?

The answer is categorically NO because the governement simply does a shitty job at it for a multitude of reasons. You can stomp your feet and decry evil rich people all you want, but the facts stand that government has done a terrible job at trying to control the economy.

Recessions simply aren't the end of the world. The Depression wasn't the end of the world until the government fucked up and severely contracted the money supply.

9/22/2011 8:22:12 PM

Bullshit. If the SEC had done its job over the past decade, the Enron debacle would not have happened nor the mortgage derivative crisis.

When government agencies are staffed by competent people, it improves the economic and well-being of society.

Witness the appointments of Bush cronies to positions they had no right to staff!

9/22/2011 8:48:21 PM

Quote :

"If the SEC had done its job over the past decade"

You're so blindly by your own misguided partisan ideology that you can't comprehend the fact that

MORE GOVERNMENT ISN'T THE SOLUTION TO FIX GOVERNMENT

The only feedback mechanism to shitty government is the population being ever diligent about kicking out the screw ups. And, I don't know if you noticed it, people are WAY more interested in blowharding on a message board than they are about actually trying to make a change.

Quote :

"the Enron debacle would not have happened"

$11 billion in losses to stockholders isn't shit and investors should never been invested such that the failure of any one company causes them real harm.

Quote :

"nor the mortgage derivative crisis"

All precipitated when the government continued to intervene in the market triggering greedy people (from execs to former felons turned mortgage broker) to do risky things to get cash.

Quote :

"When government agencies are staffed by competent people"

So lets see, SEC grunt makes 80-100k a year and gets to hob knob with people making 100x that and eventually gets to get in that very same club if he does not rock the boat. Just what the fuck do you expect?

[Edited on September 22, 2011 at 10:04 PM. Reason : .]

9/22/2011 10:03:17 PM

Quote :

"MORE GOVERNMENT ISN'T THE SOLUTION TO FIX GOVERNMENT"

Government is there to protect the people, dumbass. The SEC, FEMA and other agencies are in place to prevent the exploitation of Americans by hucksters, protect them from foreign invasions and help them in times of crisis.

What the fuck do you think the government is supposed to do???

Quote :

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

9/22/2011 10:26:56 PM

^ doesnt mean all those aforementioned agencies havent already been infiltrated/corrupted by special interests.

9/22/2011 10:36:35 PM

Quote :

"Government is there to protect the people, dumbass."

The fuck it is. This is where progressive-ism and big governement hits this wall called reality. I hear you and all the other socialists as you wax philosophical on the idea of a noble and moral government. Who here wouldn't sign up for a group of people who truly guided us to a better life? This is what you think government is and worse think it is the ONLY solution for what ails us. And reality simply disagrees with you.

Quote :

"What the fuck do you think the government is supposed to do???"

Your idea of protection is to have the government take money from everyone else and give it to you when you made a bad investment? How stupid are you?

9/22/2011 10:47:30 PM

Quote :

"The fuck it is. This is where progressive-ism and big governement hits this wall called reality. I hear you and all the other socialists as you wax philosophical on the idea of a noble and moral government. Who here wouldn't sign up for a group of people who truly guided us to a better life? This is what you think government is and worse think it is the ONLY solution for what ails us. And reality simply disagrees with you"

Read the Constitution and TRY to understand what the role of government is supposed to be.

Quote :

"Your idea of protection is to have the government take money from everyone else and give it to you when you made a bad investment? How stupid are you?"

This is where the incompetence took place. Bush gave away billions with the TARP to the banksters and the fucking rich! How stupid are you?



[Edited on September 22, 2011 at 10:58 PM. Reason : edit]

9/22/2011 10:56:44 PM

Quote :

"Read the Constitution and TRY to understand what the role of government is supposed to be."

Dude, you trolling here or what? This isn't an argument. This is the type of shit people post on GOLO and other forums where the intelligence level is that of a gnat. Would you even know liberty if it hit you in the head?

Quote :

"Bush gave away billions with the TARP to the banksters and the fucking rich! How stupid are you?"

Government gave it away. Democrats haven't done a fucking thing for the middle class. Thats what is so sad about all your rants against free marketers and conservatives. You're too dumb to realize your own fucking party, either through incompetence or the same malice you accuse the right of having, doesn't have your best interests at heart either.

9/22/2011 11:11:11 PM

It was the neo nazis of course.

9/22/2011 11:22:39 PM

Quote :

"Government gave it away. Democrats haven't done a fucking thing for the middle class. Thats what is so sad about all your rants against free marketers and conservatives. You're too dumb to realize your own fucking party, either through incompetence or the same malice you accuse the right of having, doesn't have your best interests at heart either."

I agree with you. The Dems have not done anything for the middle class, but that's because they've been moving to the right! Our government has become owned by corporations. What we need today is an FDR!

Quote :

"The Nation looked to Government but the Government looked away. Nine mocking years with the golden calf and three long years of the scourge! Nine crazy years at the ticker and three long years in the breadlines! Nine mad years of mirage and three long years of despair! Powerful influences strive today to restore that kind of government with its doctrine that that Government is best which is most indifferent. For nearly four years you have had an Administration which instead of twirling its thumbs has rolled up its sleeves. We will keep our sleeves rolled up. We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace--business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob. Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me--and I welcome their hatred."

9/22/2011 11:27:48 PM

Quote :

"What we need today is an FDR!"

Sure. "Bold persistent experimentation." That will certainly restore stability to the economy.

Tell me. Which of FDR's policies should we today copy, given that back then they never managed to get unemployment anywhere near today's comparatively low rate?

9/23/2011 3:04:02 AM

Fdr is the only president that may have been worse than obama.

He caused the depression to last 25 years and stole every citizens gold and then jacked the price up and offered to sell it back to them.

You are a fucking lunatic

9/23/2011 10:11:47 AM

Quote :

"Allowing the free market to go unregulated by government caused the Crash of 1929 and the subsequent Great Depression and it led to our current Bush Great Recession."

Bullshit on the Bush thing. You cant pin this solely on him, there is plenty of blame to go around starting with Clinton and expanding the role of Freddie and Fannie, making it a "right" to own a home instead of a "privilege" Clinton forced banks to make high risk loans to low income people so they could buy a house when they didnt have the income to back it up. Its called CRA. Who can blame banks for being stingy with lending now? They got fucked the first go round, now rates are so low they dont make dick on spreads, so why would they not cherry pick to mitigate losses?

9/23/2011 1:15:09 PM

Quote :

"Fdr is the only president that may have been worse than obama. He caused the depression to last 25 years and stole every citizens gold and then jacked the price up and offered to sell it back to them. You are a fucking lunatic"

Are you talking about Executive Order 6102?

[Edited on September 23, 2011 at 1:34 PM. Reason : ...]

9/23/2011 1:26:34 PM

Quote :

"Bullshit on the Bush thing. You cant pin this solely on him, there is plenty of blame to go around starting with Clinton and expanding the role of Freddie and Fannie, making it a "right" to own a home instead of a "privilege" Clinton forced banks to make high risk loans to low income people so they could buy a house when they didnt have the income to back it up. Its called CRA. Who can blame banks for being stingy with lending now? They got fucked the first go round, now rates are so low they dont make dick on spreads, so why would they not cherry pick to mitigate losses?"

I'll agree that Clinton signing the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act set the ball rolling towards the crisis and it needs to be put BACK into effect.

9/23/2011 1:29:20 PM

Quote :

"Clinton signing the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act set the ball rolling towards the crisis"

How? None of the FDIC banks that failed had investment houses, and none of the investment banks that failed engaged in consumer banking. On the contrary, it seems the few banks that violate Glass-Steagall (mostly Canadian banks doing branch business in America) turned out to also be among the few that avoided the whole fiasco.

9/23/2011 1:44:26 PM

Time to load up wikipedia and see the basic argument

9/23/2011 3:42:02 PM

What inflation is Ahmadinejad talking about? Has he been reading Peter Schiff posts or something?

9/23/2011 3:58:06 PM

Quote :

"CONGRESS PASSES WIDE-RANGING BILL EASING BANK LAWS By STEPHEN LABATON Published: November 05, 1999 Congress approved landmark legislation today that opens the door for a new era on Wall Street in which commercial banks, securities houses and insurers will find it easier and cheaper to enter one another's businesses. "

Quote :

"The decision to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 provoked dire warnings from a handful of dissenters that the deregulation of Wall Street would someday wreak havoc on the nation's financial system. The original idea behind Glass-Steagall was that separation between bankers and brokers would reduce the potential conflicts of interest that were thought to have contributed to the speculative stock frenzy before the Depression."

[Edited on September 23, 2011 at 4:13 PM. Reason : http://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/05/business/congress-passes-wide-ranging-bill-easing-bank-laws.html]

9/23/2011 4:11:25 PM

^^ Wikipedia seems to show the same arguments I have seen before. It was repealed about the time the housing bubble began to speed up, ignoring that other bad policies were implemented around that time whose connection to the crisis is far more than circumstantial. It also allowed some large banks to get larger, none of which failed or traded heavily in the crisis.

So I say it again. Other than sheer coincidence, how did Glass-Steagall "set the ball rolling towards the crisis"?

9/23/2011 4:17:31 PM

Quote :

"The decision to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 provoked dire warnings from a handful of dissenters that the deregulation of Wall Street would someday wreak havoc on the nation's financial system."

And those dissenters have so far been wrong. The repeal of Glass-Steagall (GS) did not dump consumer bank deposits into the stock market, as was feared. Banks lost their money by issuing bad mortgages, an activity GS in no way regulated. Investment banks lost their money by investing in mortgages, an activity similarly unaffected in any way by GS.

Look, if I predict John is going to burn your house down using gasoline and matches, then a meteor strike destroys your house, you cannot turn around and blame John for the loss of your house. Similarly with GS: until you have some credible mechanism through which GS caused our troubles you cannot blame them, no matter how many quotes you have from the past predicting GS would cause troubles. I have just as many quotes from the past predicting Fannie and Freddie would cause troubles, the difference is that we have a defensible mechanism for Fannie and Freddie to have actually caused our troubles: under-pricing of risk, erosion of lending standards, and protection of bond holders, all perpetrated with government money.

9/24/2011 1:05:54 AM