AIG Mess Explained
Those millions of tax dollars in bonuses that AIG is going to give out have done something remarkable, something we haven't seen since the first days after 9/11: they have unified the American people. Democrats, Republicans, atheists and Bible-thumpers, young and old, black and white -- everybody is outraged.
Some of this financial stuff gets so complicated an ordinary person can't understand what has happened or what should be done about it. So thanks to The Business Insider for pointing us toward a congressman's comprehensible explanation. Congressman Gary Ackerman, a Democrat from New York, spoke at this morning's hearings on AIG. Here are a few gems from his presentation.
Ah, now I understand it.
Some of this financial stuff gets so complicated an ordinary person can't understand what has happened or what should be done about it. So thanks to The Business Insider for pointing us toward a congressman's comprehensible explanation. Congressman Gary Ackerman, a Democrat from New York, spoke at this morning's hearings on AIG. Here are a few gems from his presentation.
- "Most members of Congress didn't know what CDS is. I want to make sure I understand it," Ackerman said. "Two guys on a life raft. A storm blows up. There are sharks in the water and waves 10 feet high. First guy says, I'm scared, so the second guy sells him a policy. You're selling something with nothing to back you up, no money in wallet, if everything goes right, you're collecting a premium."
- "It's like snake oil salesman, and they don't even have the oil in the jar".
- "There's a great company called I can't believe it's not butter. This is insurance without being insurance, but if they called it "I can't believe it's not insurance" maybe nobody would buy it. How is this suddenly an industry?...How did we allow this to happen? You're playing "I can't believe we're not regulators." And we're playing "we can't believe we're not oversight."
Congressman Says AIG Sold Snake Oil Without Even Having The Oil
Ah, now I understand it.
posted by JimK at 6:47 PM
18 Comments:
Barry's crazy. Maryland will win it all this year:
"GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Risking criticism that he acts more like a wannabe sports-talk caller than a fix-the-nation savior, President Obama -- Barry from Bethesda? -- filled out a March Madness bracket this week.
Like the rest of us, he made a mad mess of the thing, reassessing and scratching out names.
One of his original decisions, for instance, involved North Carolina losing to Pitt in the Final Four and Louisville winning the national championship.
But then, somehow, Obama went with a repeat hunch.
Even though Carolina blew it for him last year, losing to Kansas in the semifinals, he's picking the Tar Heels again. "Now, for the Tar Heels who are watching, I picked you all last year -- you let me down," Obama said as he finished his selections for ESPN.com. "This year, don't embarrass me in front of the nation, all right? I'm counting on you. I still got those sneakers you guys gave me.""
What ADHD you have, Anon.
The TTF era continues to raise teen pregnancy rates.
If you'll recall, oh about four years ago, groups like TTF began sprouting up nationwide pushing the idea that abstinence education was ignorant. Children were treated to the spectacle of their parents getting up at PTA and school board meetings saying things like "kids are going to have sex anyway, let's teach them how to use condoms better".
Truth is, the kids all knew about condoms anyway. What was new was a bunch of parents acting like they expected most teens to have sex.
Teens got the message.
After falling for years as abstinence programs spread across the country, teen pregnancy rates have now increased for a second year.
Thanks, TTF.
If you'll recall, oh about four years ago...
In 2005, CBS News reported the 88% failure rate of the Bush-era abstinence pledge programs. "Based on those interviews with more than 20,000 young people who took virginity pledges, Bearman found that 88 percent of pledgers broke their pledge and had sex before marriage."
This 60 Minutes episode followed shortly after Representative Henry Waxman's 2004 study of Bush's federally funded abstinence-only programs found them to contain medically inaccurate information that threatened the safety of students enrolled in them.
Spin all you want, barryo. The fact is, as the abysmal results of Bush-era abstinence-only education programs were documented and reported to the public, states dropped the funding like hot potatoes because they did not want to endanger the youth in their states.
and the result is higher rates of teen pregnancy
because, not only does "comp sex ed" not successfully encourage the thing it promotes, so, in that regard, it's no less of a failure than ab-only but it also promotes the idea that casual sex is an inevitable part of society
A type of comp sex ed, reviewing the history and worldwide view of sexual morality, but it hasn't been tried
the type of comp sex ed TTF espouses is unhealthy for any society
that's no spin but when comp sex ed is on the rise, the unrefutable, indisputable fact is:
it happens
Anonymous just makes things up (4 years ago groups like TTF starting springing up: where did that come from?) and then draws fallacious illogical conclusions from that created data.
As C.S. Lewis asked,what do they teach in these schools nowadays?
"Anonymous just makes things up (4 years ago groups like TTF starting springing up: where did that come from?)"
I guess we all just imagined that, Robert.
"and then draws fallacious illogical conclusions from that created data."
Oh yeah, how illogical. We start a public debate about how worthless and unreasonable abstinence programs are and, shortly thereafter, the teen pregnancy rate starts climbing.
Same as the early 70s when comp sex ed programs were first introduced in America and the teen pregancy rate exploded.
It's all just a big coincidence.
Kind of like the AIDS infection rate in D.C. is being described by health officials as an epidemic and TTF thinks the solution is to tell D.C. residents about this new-fangled device called a condom that these people have apparently never heard of.
Please.
Robert, Derrick got he head checked out.
Maybe you should too!
The teen pregnancy rate had been dropping for 14 years. It was not until a few years after Bush began his ever increasing push to fund medically inaccurate and ineffective abstinence-only education that the teen pregnancy rate rose by 3%. In a few years, once all those worthless programs are eradicated and replaced with sex education programs as comprehensive as MCPS's, the rate will once again decrease.
FOX News reports:
While teen pregnancy is up, the percentage of teens having sex has remained stable for the past few years at 46 percent, according to the report.
That can only mean one thing; fewer teens are using condoms, which is one of the findings of Bruckner and Bearman, who found:
abstinence "pledgers are significantly less likely to have used a condom at first intercourse than nonpledgers"
Why? Because the Bush funded abstinence-only sex education programs were not allowed to mention condoms except their failure rate. Shamefully, no teen in any such program was taught to use condoms correctly and consistently, as recommended by the CDC.
Further Bruckner and Bearman found:
"pledgers were less frequently tested [for STDs]....Most notably, nonpledging females are almost twice as likely as females who pledged to be tested"
So we have teens coming from these abstinence-only courses having unprotected sex and failing to get themselves tested for STDs. Sounds like a good way to create an epidemic IMHO.
"It was not until a few years after Bush began his ever increasing push to fund medically inaccurate and ineffective abstinence-only education that the teen pregnancy rate rose by 3%."
Actually after 6 years but the immediate cause was the movement that TTF is part of.
Bush didn't start ab-only programs. The increase began soon after the media latched onto the "abstinence doesn't work" story and the wonderful Congressman Waxman gegan his campaign for encouraging promiscuity.
In a few years, once all those worthless programs are eradicated and replaced with sex education programs as comprehensive as MCPS's, the rate will once again decrease.
Bush didn't start ab-only programs.
That's right, Bush didn't start these programs themselves, but he did change them. What Bush initiated was the requirement that these programs include no information or instruction on contraceptives other than their "failure rates". It was under his watch that HHS made its infamous A-H requirements for abstinence-only programs to qualify for federal funding. In addition, Bush's HHS made the following requirements for abstinence-only program curriculum content in order for a program to qualify for funding:
...Material must not promote contraception and/or condom use...
...A curriculum must not promote or encourage the use of any type of contraceptives outside of marriage...
...Information on contraceptives, if included, must be age-appropriate and presented only as it supports the abstinence message being presented. Curriculum must not promote or endorse, distribute or demonstrate the use of contraception or instruct students in contraceptive usage...
...Teaches that contraception may fail to prevent teen pregnancy and that sexually active teens using contraception may become pregnant.
Teaches the published failure rates associated with contraceptives relative to pregnancy prevention, including "real use" versus trial or "laboratory use," human error, product defect, teen use and possible side effects of contraceptives. (References for information must be provided with the curriculum.)
Does not promote or encourage the use or combining of any contraceptives in order to make sex "safer."...
Teaches the limitations of contraception to consistently prevent STDs...
When sex education programs teach what the CDC recommends, namely correct and consistent use of condoms for every instance of sexual contact, whether oral, anal, or vaginal, then the high unplanned pregnancy rates as well as the high STD rates will decrease.
"When sex education programs teach what the CDC recommends, namely correct and consistent use of condoms for every instance of sexual contact, whether oral, anal, or vaginal, then the high unplanned pregnancy rates as well as the high STD rates will decrease."
That's what all sex ed courses taught starting in the early 70s and the result was an exploding teen pregnancy rate.
Until MCPS approved its new sex ed curriculum, the correct usage of condoms was never fully demonstrated to teens who took human sexuality classes here. There used to be about 3 minutes of animation and incomplete information on condom use in the 1992 film Hope Is Not a Method, which also covered contraceptives no longer on the market. Now, instead of incomplete outdated information, there is an MCPS produced film and an entire class devoted to teaching how to properly use condoms, that adhere to the CDC's recommendations. Our teens deserve the best information about protection we can teach them, whether they are abstinent or not.
Most parents do not agree with Denny Pattyn, founder of Silver Ring Thing abstinence-only lessons, who said:
"My own daughter, my 16-year-old daughter, tells me she’s going to be sexually active. I would not tell her to use a condom," says Pattyn. "I don't think it'll protect her. It won’t protect her heart. It won’t protect her emotional life. And it’s not going to protect her. I don’t want her to get out there and think that she’s going to be protected using a condom."
What's up with that? Does he think unplanned pregnancy and STDs will protect her emotional life better than condoms could?
I'll take information about safety for my daughters and sons from the CDC over kooks like that who are willing to risk their own daughters' health because of their beliefs. I don't share beliefs with Christian Scientists who allow their kids die from easily treatable diseases like diabetes, either.
Schools should teach the facts, not the beliefs.
"correct" usage is not so much a fact as a technique and there's no evidence that teaching the technique affects behavior enough to counteract the very harmful impression given to kids that society expects that they'll be promiscuous during their teen years
every since this impression was created by comp sex ed classes in the 70s, teen pregnancy has been much higher than before
it began to abate with the spread of ab programs in the 90s but that was a trend not a restoration
ab programs were never that widespread in public schools
the most significant factor is what kind of lifestyle we are telling our kids is normal
that will go further than futile attempts to sharpen condom techniques
hey, I've got an idea
instead of telling kids not to freebase cocaine, let's teach them the safest way to do it
that's a great idea
and instead of telling them not to speed, we'll show them a film by Kevin Harvick about how to do it safely
this could be a revolution in education
thanks again, TTF!
Wow barryo, drinking Jack Daniels, smoking pot, freebasing cocaine. That's a lot of self-medicating for a happy-go-lucky Vigilance commenter like yourself.
and instead of telling them not to speed, we'll show them a film by Kevin Harvick about how to do it safely
Well, in driver's education classes, we teach them to wear seatbelts every time they drive (correctly and consistently use condoms) so using your logic, we already are telling them to speed (be promiscous).
every [sic] since this impression was created by comp sex ed classes in the 70s, teen pregnancy has been much higher than before
Well if you only look at part of history, your "story" makes sense. However you are missing a very important fact that is part of the story, a little thing called The Sexual Revolution. Maybe you prefer shotgun weddings to teaching teens how to prevent pregnancy, unless you prefer single teen motherhood, which I doubt. But you should know, the CDC has found:
First marriages of teenagers disrupt faster than the first marriages of women who were ages 20 years and older at marriage.
Relying on teen marriage as the cure for teen pregnancy is most likely only going to increase the divorce rate, which is already ridiculously high.
And teens who experience unplanned pregnancy like Bristol Palin did, show us that even though a shotgun wedding may be planned, it doesn't always work out. Bristol and Levi have called off their engagement. Remember what Bristol said:
VAN SUSTEREN: Teen pregnancy -- what's your thought on that?
BRISTOL: I think everyone should just wait 10 years....
BRISTOL: It's not something to strive for, I guess. It's just -- I don't know. I'm not the first person that it's happened to and I'm not going to be the last. But I don't know. I'd love for -- to be an advocate to prevent teen pregnancy because it's not, like, a situation that you want to strive for, I guess...
BRISTOL: No. I don't want to get into detail about that. But I think abstinence is, like -- like, the -- I don't know how to put it -- like, the main -- everyone should be abstinent or whatever, but it's not realistic at all.
"Wow barryo, drinking Jack Daniels, smoking pot, freebasing cocaine"
this is quite a profile Bea has compiled
just in case anyone else is as interested as Bea apparently is, I can't remember the last time I had a Jack Daniels; a few years ago, it was the drink I'd have at holiday parties; we used to have a bottle at home that someone gave me but I recently noticed it's not in the cabinet anymore; I'm blaming the dog
I was a daily user of pot for about a year and a half while in high school, which I must tell you was some time ago
as for cocaine, never went near the stuff
any other pharmalogical questions, just post 'em up
There was no pharmalogical question posed, barryo, but I have heard confession can be good for the soul. I'm not sure if it works when its done anonymously though.
Post a Comment
<< Home