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Homero's avatar

di'int know that dynast was a word

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Robert Eckert's avatar

It's actually the source from which "dynasty" was formed, rather than the other way around

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Jen of Defense (War!)'s avatar

Willing to bet these people weasel out of their tax liability anyway

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Jul 19, 2023
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tempusfugit's avatar

LOVE your post. MORE PLEASE!

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Pixeloid's avatar

"remote work is 'unhealthy' and slowly killing you"

Really? I might be a weirdo, but that wasn't my experience at all. When I was working from home, my diet improved, my exercise increased, I lost some weight, was less stressed, and generally happier.

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Tina Mouse's avatar

I have seen some buildings where they convert the upper ten or so floors to housing.

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𝔅𝔢𝔢𝔩𝔷𝔢𝔟𝔲𝔟𝔟𝔞's avatar

Non-trivial conversion, at least in NYC, where rooms (unlike cubicles) are required to have windows.

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Tina Mouse's avatar

Limiting the amount converted the housing helps with the plumbing burden at least.

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Vagenda and Peeara's avatar

It's not so much that these assholes are going to lose their shirts, it's that they're going to give the keys to the buildings back to the bank. The banks now own buildings that are worth WAY less money than they lent out to the original rich assholes. So what's going to happen is that a bunch of banks are going to crash, and hopefully that won't happen right before the 2024 election, otherwise say "hello" to jailbird Donald Trump running the country from Rikers Island. Oh, and by the way, YOU will be paying for the bank bailouts, just like the last time, but you won't get shares in the banks, like you SHOULD be entitled too. Privatize the wealth, socialize the losses!

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𝔅𝔢𝔢𝔩𝔷𝔢𝔟𝔲𝔟𝔟𝔞's avatar

Poor people living on the streets are acceptable; but Bank CEOs must be maintained in their mansions. This is an article of faith in the GOP, and tacitly accepted by too many Dems.

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fakeconsultant's avatar

Just an FYI: the US Government did in fact get shares in banks, and we actually made money off those shares.

ProPublica reported in 2019 that the total recovered from those asset sales was about $1 billion more than the total that had been spent on the TARP program up until that date

https://www.propublica.org/article/the-bailout-was-11-years-ago-were-still-tracking-every-penny

Also need to note that ProPublica reported Fanny and Freddie had not repaid the principal on their loans, but they do make interest payments, which, as of '19, totaled about $360 billion. This amount increases every 90 days until principal is repaid.

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Vagenda and Peeara's avatar

What’s the ultimate answer to the question the paper poses—were the TARP returns fair?

From a purely risk-return perspective, the return on TARP securities was not fair. Of course, the bailout helped the economy by stabilizing the financial sector. So in a broader sense, it did help the taxpayers.

But the gains from the recovery were captured disproportionately by the recipient banks. Hence a nuanced interpretation of our results is that the TARP return was less-than-fair for the risk it imposed on the taxpayers, and the banks ended up getting a subsidy to the tunes of billions of dollars in the process.

What can we learn from these results for any future bailouts?

For future bailouts, we need a better design. Specifically, we need to ensure that once the economy recovers, banks are required to share their gains with the taxpayer. That will be a fair system; otherwise, we end up propagating a system that encourages socialism in bad times and capitalism in good. Such a system can easily end up with a devastating consequence: People will lose trust in our financial system and economic policy.

https://news.umich.edu/bailout-of-financial-sector-during-great-recession-was-a-bad-deal-for-taxpayers/

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Tina Mouse's avatar

HRC was trying to get cram down, so the banks took the loss on the real estate value.

Alas, she became SoS and no one else picked it up.

And fucking Larry Summers.

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fakeconsultant's avatar

I had my own thoughts on how things could have been worked out; here's a link:

http://fakeconsultant.blogspot.com/2008/02/on-way-forward-or-practical-subprime.html

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Jul 19, 2023
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𝕺𝖓𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖔𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖗𝖍𝖆𝖓𝖉's avatar

While this is a few years out of date, it's still very illuminating, imho. Interesting to zoom in on NYC and see how acute is the adjacency of the poorest of the poor, and richest of the rich.

https://www.energyjustice.net/justice/index.php?gsLayer=income&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8NilBhDOARIsAHzpbLAM_QqVs4DuUBUI2yjc090xKxHYLcKfa4wYRcIl59mxWpYX8I7LBEsaArkvEALw_wcB

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Blanche de Shambles's avatar

You know, they say "Shirtsleeves to Shirtsleeves in Three Generations," but WHY ISN'T IT HAPPENING TO THESE PEOPLE FASTER?

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Vagenda and Peeara's avatar

The rich USED to know how to party their grandpa's fortune away, as God intended. My role model was Doris Duke, who died in a luxury hotel, with like $50 left in her checking account. She blew EVERY penny on playboys and parties, as one should.

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Oblio's Cap's avatar

The history of this country is littered with examples when shitheels like this got bit in the dick by the Invisible Vagina Dentata of the Free Market and went running to the government for a bailout.

And always got it.

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counterlife's avatar

Per omnia secula seculorum.

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Enter Ranting's avatar

Privatize the profits, socialize the risks.

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𝕺𝖓𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖔𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖗𝖍𝖆𝖓𝖉's avatar

It's not like they then say, "Oh, now I'm being successful. Let me share my good fortune with others." If they make money, it's due to their brilliance, and if they lose, it's something or someone else's fault, and they should be cocooned and compensated.

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The Horned Tulip God's avatar

I'll bet at least half of these megalandlords have recent ancestors who liked to brag about coming to NYC with a dollar in their pocket, and they managed to turn themselves into millionaires by the power of their own ingenuity. Now these clowns--who probably capitalize on that "my [family's] money was made by bootstrapping" mentality, need a handout from the rest of us.

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fakeconsultant's avatar

"How did I convince them to bail me out? The power of my own ingenuity: I started that 501(c)4, found a bunch of dark money donors to help me fund it, and then paid myself millions as head of my PAC -- and I got that sweet, sweet bailout."

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𝕺𝖓𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖔𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖗𝖍𝖆𝖓𝖉's avatar

I should have scrolled down before I posted, because you said this very well. Next time, let me know when you'll have this covered. ;~)

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Michael Windbigler's avatar

Hmm thank you. I laughed through this piece. In a good way. Now I have to go upstairs to my coal mine and finish the day.

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Secret Agent Super Dragon's avatar

Oh, some capitalists wanted to take a gamble and lost, now they want to be bailed out.

My heart bleeds for them, truly it does.

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Mormos's avatar

General strike on rents. Forever.

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CA Desert Gay's avatar

Oh, the poor, poor megalandlords and developers who thought the boom in office space needs would just continue in perpetuity - as Aunt Sissy of "Sordid Lives" would say...."awwwwwwwww"

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Ray Bluth's avatar

Boo hoo hoo! Rich landlord isn't making as much money as he would like. This is a horrible thing, I am devastated for him.

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GrannysKnitting's avatar

waaaaah - my business model wasn't future proof so i demand you all change what you're doing to make me money again - waaaaah

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mvario's avatar

No embedded Youtube, so no Jello Biafra, but you know the song.

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