Paul Ryan takes Obama health care apart

[Secularbeliever]

This was awesome.  It is long and detailed but very well said and very easy to follow if you concentrate.  Ryan is technically and politely telling Obama that his plan is a bunch of lies.  At one point he says that he compares it to Bernie Madoff's ponzi schemes.  Ryan seems like he could be a rising star.  A bright articulate guy who has a great grasp of issues. 

[mord]

Paul Ryan is a very smart person

[Abben]

wow obongo looked so pissed at the end.

[Secularbeliever]

He was probably praying to Allah that the media not cover it.  Of course he got his wish.  I have to admit I was especially impressed by this because my late father was a budget analyst for the City of New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s and told us the city was cooking the books and was in trouble (in 1975 it defaulted on its bonds).  I think he would have been very impressed to hear a politician with such command of the subject and the ability to express it that well.

[cjd]

He was probably praying to Allah that the media not cover it.  Of course he got his wish.  I have to admit I was especially impressed by this because my late father was a budget analyst for the City of New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s and told us the city was cooking the books and was in trouble (in 1975 it defaulted on its bonds).  I think he would have been very impressed to hear a politician with such command of the subject and the ability to express it that well.

I don't recall the city actually defaulting on it bonds but it came very close. I think they got the state to step in to prevent an actual default and in turn they set up Municipal Assistance Corporation (Big Mac). I think this is the agency that steps in and takes a cleaver to the cities spending should they be unable to come up with a sound budget on their own. The most ironic part of the picture back then was they voted for and installed that sawed off runt "Abe" Beame for mayor. He was city comptroller who oversaw the financial mess for 4 years prior to being elected mayor. I could never forget the filthy animal having the nerve to say he had no idea how the financial mess developed. Your father was absolutely correct however the city government under John Lindsay and Beame  played fast and loose with the cities finances.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,917665,00.html

[Secularbeliever]

He was probably praying to Allah that the media not cover it.  Of course he got his wish.  I have to admit I was especially impressed by this because my late father was a budget analyst for the City of New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s and told us the city was cooking the books and was in trouble (in 1975 it defaulted on its bonds).  I think he would have been very impressed to hear a politician with such command of the subject and the ability to express it that well.

I don't recall the city actually defaulting on it bonds but it came very close. I think they got the state to step in to prevent an actual default and in turn they set up Municipal Assistance Corporation (Big Mac). I think this is the agency that steps in and takes a cleaver to the cities spending should they be unable to come up with a sound budget on their own. The most ironic part of the picture back then was they voted for and installed that sawed off runt "Abe" Beame for mayor. He was city comptroller who oversaw the financial mess for 4 years prior to being elected mayor. I could never forget the filthy animal having the nerve to say he had no idea how the financial mess developed. Your father was absolutely correct however the city government under John Lindsay and Beame  played fast and loose with the cities finances.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,917665,00.html

You might say the city did not technically default however, the City's bonds came due and instead of being paid off the bondholders were given MAC bonds.  In my book that is a default.

In terms of Beame being in the middle of default that was anything but coincidence.  Beame had a reputation as a financial magician.  He got that reputation because every time some tough cut (libraries or whatever) Beame magically found money.  My father said he used to transfer money from the operating budget where it belonged, that had to be balanced to the Capital Budget where money could be borrowed.  If you keep defining expenses as capital improvements you could keep borrowing to pay it and put off the day of reckoning.  Like most financial schemes (like Madoff or Enron) they always get exposed during bad times when the pressure gets to be too much.

[cjd]

He was probably praying to Allah that the media not cover it.  Of course he got his wish.  I have to admit I was especially impressed by this because my late father was a budget analyst for the City of New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s and told us the city was cooking the books and was in trouble (in 1975 it defaulted on its bonds).  I think he would have been very impressed to hear a politician with such command of the subject and the ability to express it that well.

I don't recall the city actually defaulting on it bonds but it came very close. I think they got the state to step in to prevent an actual default and in turn they set up Municipal Assistance Corporation (Big Mac). I think this is the agency that steps in and takes a cleaver to the cities spending should they be unable to come up with a sound budget on their own. The most ironic part of the picture back then was they voted for and installed that sawed off runt "Abe" Beame for mayor. He was city comptroller who oversaw the financial mess for 4 years prior to being elected mayor. I could never forget the filthy animal having the nerve to say he had no idea how the financial mess developed. Your father was absolutely correct however the city government under John Lindsay and Beame  played fast and loose with the cities finances.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,917665,00.html

You might say the city did not technically default however, the City's bonds came due and instead of being paid off the bondholders were given MAC bonds.  In my book that is a default.

In terms of Beame being in the middle of default that was anything but coincidence.  Beame had a reputation as a financial magician.  He got that reputation because every time some tough cut (libraries or whatever) Beame magically found money.  My father said he used to transfer money from the operating budget where it belonged, that had to be balanced to the Capital Budget where money could be borrowed.  If you keep defining expenses as capital improvements you could keep borrowing to pay it and put off the day of reckoning.  Like most financial schemes (like Madoff or Enron) they always get exposed during bad times when the pressure gets to be too much.

Yes! I remember that finding money routine now that you reminded me of it.  If I remember correctly they would say they found a few million in an unused account slated for one department or another while reviewing the books. It always left people cursing the Beame administration even more because deep down people knew they were full of cr-p. It was a bad time for the city because the more the administration cut essential services the more decrepit and crime ridden the city became. They should have cut the biggest drain the welfare  rolls.