This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Joe Biden "Jokes" About Bringing Hundreds Of Millions Of US Taxpayer Dollars To Bailout Greece
Vice President Joe Biden, now best known for being the man who relies primarily on Jon Corzine for financial advice, continued his recent roll of epic linguistic blunders this morning. As Reuters reports, the VP, "joked during a visit to debt-choked Athens on Monday about bringing money to help Greece out of its deepest financial crisis in decades. Introducing a member of his delegation during a meeting with Greek President Karolos Papoulias, Biden said: "This man represents the Treasury department. He's brought hundreds of millions of dollars." His comments drew laughs from both the Greek and U.S. delegations." It is unclear if the Greeks laughed because the noted number was orders of magnitude less than what would be needed to actually put a dent in the Greek fast-motion train wreck, or because everyone was waiting to see what the American taxpayer's response would be to learn that while America is hopelessly locked in gridlock of releasing more cash to that country's middle class, the US Treasury is quite happy to disburse taxpayer funding to Greece. We are holding out breath to find out.
From Reuters:
Euro zone ministers will meet on Friday for a summit billed key to finding a way out of a growing debt crisis and may turn to the International Monetary Fund for more aid.
A senior U.S. Treasury official said last week that the United States was not planning to make such loans to the Fund and said the lender's resources were adequate.
Asked what his message to Europe was, Biden said: "Hang in there."
Oddly enough, hanging may indeed be the only option for a whole lot of Europeans soon enough.
»
- 12614 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
The Euro will rally on that for the next week.
The Biden "Rumour"
I don't know why everyone hates Biden so much. He only tells the truth. Whether that truth is too painful to hear is another matter.
Biden wouldn't know 'truth' if it hit him in the face... which is incidentally what needs to happen.
@dwdollar
Libertarian doomers can't handle the fact that despite its flaws, the Obama-Biden administration has successfully averted the largest recession in recent years. You would think that at this point the doomers would be praising Obama for his courage and stoicism, but this doesn't fit the narrative.
Good point. They have averted the recession and brought on a depression. Well said.
God loving people don't go into details, because they know that's where the devil is. Averted recession, that's it, full stop. Depression is an issue for the next term, we'll stock up on prozac and collect Nobel prize in economics this time.
WTF is Joe 'Plugs' Biden doing in Athens anyways?
Well I guess he had to take the circus on the road...
F U Biden!
What are you talking about? Unemployment is down. The market is up. Go Obama!!
Now where is that ratso fella?
Hmmm.
Hey million dollar boner........
Your still drinking the Kool-aid I see.........
you do realize that providing any attention merely feeds this trolls desire to increase his collection of red down-mods
Haha... that just gave me funny thoughts of Obama/Biden posturing like "brave Ulysses"
April 2010: "Biden predicts economy will create up to 500,000 jobs a month soon"
Must have been under advice from Corzine.
Pffffft!!!
Bwaaaahahahahaha!!!
In defense of Biden, how soon is soon? I mean, it all depends on your definition of 'soon'...
soon is within 20 months...
No, Jared Bernstein!!!! Who would hire him???? Howard Dividowitz
OK, im down to one lighted keyboard now.
I remember with fondness Joe calling the signing of Obamacare a pretty big fucking deal. So eloquent. Who knew it would send our country into such a tailspin?
Healthcare reform was long overdue. Thanks to this bill, everybody has access to the care they deserve, no matter what their background. Sorry if that upsets you.
There was very little reform and everyone has access just like they always had. No one ever is turned away. What it has done is stopped hiring dead in it's tracks. Health Care costs have gone up and now 41 million people in the US are on food stamps. I wonder how many more socialist programs Obama can pass before we go bk?
Since when does anyone 'deserve' to have access to health care? (that is, a "right" to someone else's money to pay for their problems).
"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money" ~ M. Thatcher
I remember with fondness Joe calling the signing of Obamacare a pretty big fucking deal. So eloquent. Who knew it would send our country into such a tailspin?
With all due respect to the many great posts and posters on ZH, there is a lot of that kind of 'eloquence' in the comments posted here.
IMO, if it takes swearing and vulgarity to make your point, then you probably don't have much of a point.
Fornicate off and expire please.
And your point is???
I rest my case.
That you have no sense of humor and need to lighten up Francis.
"The foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing is a vice so mean and low that every person of sense and character detests and despises it." (George Washington)
For my part, I'll take Washington's part.
George was such an elitist.
Biden is a joker: "You and your kind, all you care about is money (what is US$100M among friends?!). This city (Athens today, some other tomorrow) deserves a better class of criminal. And I'm gonna give it to them!"
It is at least nice and social for the arithmetically challenged to come out and post now and then.
wasting your breath dwdollar - 90% of the posters here are long gold and silver and hoping for a disaster - they remind me of bunker hunt - just care about themselves and drive normal posters away - i check back once a month to see if anything has changed - never does - happy new year dwdollar -
Ridiculous...the farce is complete now.
Not quite ... wait until they give infants and house pets the vote. The banks give them credit cards ... so, why not the vote, too?
Maybe an Athenian youth will throw a Molotov at him. That would certainly cause me to giggle like a five year old...
Obama 2008 - Hope and change
Obama 2012 - hang in there
Obama 2016 - HANG'M!
Why is this caricature allowed to open his mouth in front of people?
He's being held over there to keep him out of obamas way over here.
O knows he is a cancer and loose cannon. Better to keep him away.
As much as the teleprompter kills me, this buffoon is worse.
What a team, Obama and Biden. You know what, we deserve them. When was the last time you saw 2 million+ marching on Washington out of disgust. Where is America's... "spring"?
Not going to change until that happens.
It wont change until the lady with the 15 kids demanding to know 'Who gonna pay to feed my kids' is cut off....THEN youll see the cities actually erupt.
Woman With 15 Kids: "Somebody needs to be held accountable, and they need to pay." - YouTube
Right on. We do get the government we deserve.
If it is true that "the price of freedom is eternal vigilance", we have most certainly not been vigilant in protecting our freedoms from those who would steal them from us.
Biden is Obama's court jester. He squanders no opportunity to make an ass of himself.
What a MBNA bankster schill Joe Biden is.
I'm sure he's jokeing to because it will be hundreds of billions.
Which leads one to conclude that they are laughing at him, not with him.
This man is from the Treasury, he brought the bribe money.
You just can't make this shit up!
pods
Millions - That unit of measure is sooo yesterday - you either bring Billions or Trillions to the party or DO NOT BOTHER attending...I mean really some people have no appreciation for the trend, decorum, or etiquitte of oppressionary government....
Quintillion is a comin'
I believe "quadrillion" is next, as in 1.5 quadrillion of derivatives.
Biden is a piker talking of millions of dollars. Bernanke can send a trillion dollars to Greece without even informing Congress. And even if Congress finds out a few years later, there is nothing that Congress can do.
Have we got back the $3.08 trillion we sent to foreign banks during the last crisis? Congress may be outraged at these loans but can they do anything about it? No, the Fed is untouchable.
The Fed is the sovereign power in these United States.
Joe Biden, like so many utterly disconnected Washington D.C. do nothings, finds the time to pull his head out of his ass for just long enough to insert his foot in his mouth, again.
Washington D.C. exists in a vacuum. It's not like the criminal, deeply captured waterboys and watergirls of the MIC & Bankster Kleptocracy are living in a country different than most of the rest of 'flyover USA,;' it's more like they're living in a different solar system.
WDC needs to complete it's mission and be like their master banks. They need to move offshore. Of course not on an island, Just dropped offed into the big blue sea.
That would be a sea of change, I can believe in.
He is like a Henry Kissenger accept with a sense of humor.
Hang in there Euro leaders! Yes, your citizens are fashioning nooses.
Hahaha. Biden is hilarious. Anyways, the Plunge Protection Team must be hard at work.
libertarian86.blogspot.com
SO fucking funny I forgot to laugh!
Take it on the road Joe...(for good that is)
I have often wondered what pictures Biden must have that forced BO to pick him.....then I thought, naw, Biden is the ultimate life insurance policy.
His gaffes are only rivaled by Michael Scott. I'm surprised he hasn't developed some weird throat cancer which required removal of his voice box.
"This is a really big f-ing deal..."
"Childrens do learn" (ooops, wrong political ESL-er)
Reporter: Why did you accept the position of VP?
Biden..."I had the first choice" (in other words it was either him or Clinton)
The US, China, and Germany are all going to bail out Europe. The masses are too stupid and apathetic to see what's going on, much less give a shit. And, if, by chance, some of the slaves should get out of line, they will be put down hard and fast as an example to the rest of the emasculated and narcotized fools.
The endgame is simple: SDRs, one world bank, one world government. You slaves may have rebelled once against your feudal masters and got away with it by hiding on the new continent under the umbrella of enlightenment. This time, there is nowhere to run.
Getting ahead of yourself Conrad. The rage in Italy is coming to a boiling point. The video of youth throwing garbage at the Goldman workers in Milan should probably tell you where Europe is heading. Check your arithmetic, China, Germany and US can't bailout Italy. Nothing suggests they will try either unless you take rhetoric seriously - which I don't.
SDRs will be the last gasp of the neo-liberal model. Then it'll be chaos.
When I said bail out Europe, I should have said keep the Euro alive. There will be austerity, there will be a few cars flipped and burnt. But, at the end of the day, nothing will have changed. It will be just like Egypt.
Until a large block of people march into a Goldman building and a parliment and slaughter everyone inside, then hunt down those crook's families and pike them at the gates, nothing will change.
a horse is a horse..of course of course...unless its Mr. Joe...
then hes actually an ASS
The whole lot of politicians in America are filthy pigs.
They say the same type of stuff to the American people.
No class anywhere.
I wonder if "the Senator from MBNA" got the tramp stamp on his ass redone to read "BofA" after the merger...
How does a guy like that get into the position of power that he currently yeilds? Is it because he is a good attack dog and is of no real threat to Obummer?
He's a lapdog with a peanut for a brain. He's docile and obedient just like the oligarchs like.
Is it just me or does this guy totally remind me of Bob Uecker?
http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/multimedia/photo_gallery/1004/mlb.baseball.wi...
or
http://0.tqn.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/B/t/2/biden-nicholson-impression.jpg
Perfect. Classic. Great call.
It's probably a joke about the money "lost" from MF accounts. He wanted to check how many would get it.
So, the Americans laughed at the joke, knowing the story.
But the Greeks laughed because, as Tyler said, we need a few more zeros in order to make up for the sea of debts we're in.
I would be all for trading joe biden to greece for a ROFR on some greek island.
But i am a Canuck and thus don't know very much.
we all know the shit is about to hit the fan, but when? do we think it'll be gradual or are you in the malcolm gladwell tipping point camp? i'm in the latter. not sure if jfk's real killer will come forward, ufo's will land in central park or what? how do we position ourselves from the unexpected? anyone?
JFK's real killer at frame 13:11 watch to the right of the frame.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQR2z4YCzDw
As for the UFO thing, I doubt that.
-JP
SHTF is a week away, two at the most. That is, UNLESS, they can come up with another delaying tactic. Understand that it is very close. TPTB are holding it off. When they run out of ways to kick the can down the road. . . . then it will happen very quickly.
OT: How many people in Congress were invested in MFG. I am guessing they were all miraculously made whole? Or got out in the knick of time?
Edit: Is that info public record?
Edit: Should be 20+ that were invested with MFG. Odd that no one is complaining.
Edit: I wonder if people in Congress invested with MFG are currently being backed out like they never were invested with them in the first place.
Have you guys seen this?
Biden and Obama were advised to institute a bank holiday the first day Obama was in office. And they called Jon fucking Corzine asking for his opinion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm3VMrKqJSA
A former MF Global employee accused former president Bill Clinton of collecting $50,000 per month through his Teneo advisory firm in the months before the brokerage careened towards its Halloween filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, reports Human Events.
Teneo was hired by MF Global’s former CEO Jon S. Corzine to improve his image and to enhance his connections with Clinton’s political family, said the employee, who asked that his name be withheld because he feared retribution, according to HE.
The Teneo contract with MF Global lasted at least five months, the souce said. “The board cancelled it after Corzine resigned.”
The source, who is no longer associated with MF Global, said Teneo is a dual-track company with one side devoted to merchant and investment banking and the other side set up to provide image and strategy consulting services.
Clinton is the chairman of the company’s advisory board, reports HE. His duties and compensation have not been released. The other member of the board is former British prime minister Tony Blair.
Two of the three founding partners are very close to the former president and his wife, Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton. They are Douglas J. Band, who is the former president’s counselor and has served on his personal staff since 1995 and Declan Kelly, who earned the “Hillraiser” status in the secretary’s 2008 run for president for bundling more than $100,000 for the campaign.
Another prominent member of the Clinton political family is Tom Shea. Shea is a senior vice president for Teneo Strategy and served as Corzine’s chief of staff, when Corzine was the governor of New Jersey.
The collapse of MF Global has caused financial pain for many, including customers at the commodities trading, Lind-Walldock. LW is owned by MF and indications are that Corzine directed the use of LW segregated cash to back up losing MF Global trading positions. Customer accounts at LW have been frozen since the bankruptcy of MF.
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/
I'm a big fan of ZeroHedge, especially its European coverage, but the lack of understanding of how our domestic monetary system works is staggering.
In a true fiat currency, such as the United States or Japan, taxation doesn't fund anything. Taxation is nothing more than a means to legitimize a currency and a tool to destroy the money supply. Taxation used to fund government spending when we were reserve constrained (pre-1970). But, now taxes just go into a balance sheet that might as well just be a virtual garbage can.
Our Federal "debt" — issued as Treasury Bonds — is how our fiat money supply is created. Taxation is how it is destroyed. The reason it's all so convoluted is because the gold-standard era laws that define the Treasury's spending ability were never changed by Congress after we became fiat. Our economics text books were never changed either.
You'd think that a major change in how our currency is created and destroyed would warrant some major academic and Constitutional changes, but it never happened. So, we all go about our business believing that we are borrowing money from China to fund our government.
But, it's just not true.
Federal debt is what creates our money supply. Without our Federal Debt, we wouldn't have a monetary base (other than a minuscule amount of coin seignorage or the Fed's liability side of their balance sheet).
If we need to fight a war, or spend money, we don't pick up a phone to call China and ask them if we can borrow money. The Treasury spends the money and issues Treasury bonds later to offset the spending. Our Treasury Bonds don't fund anything. They are nothing more than a relic of the gold-standard that happens to be a useful tool to target interest rates and drain bank reserves (via Primary Dealers).
There is no mathematical way the US can run out of money because every dollar that the government spends lives in a private US bank. And what do private banks do with their reserves? They invest in Treasuries to drain their reserves. The more debt that is produced, the more likely people will put that money in a bank that buys Treasury Bonds. This is why the US Treasury has no problem financing our "debt".
The only reason China buys Treasury bonds is because they don't know what else to do with the dollars we send them. The only way China stops buying Treasury bonds is if we stopped doing business with them, which would imply that someone else would be receiving our dollars (other domestic or foreign companies).
Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) was devised in the 1940s, way before our country went fiat. Is MMT advocating a free lunch? Is it saying that we can simply spend our way to prosperity? No! It instead identifies the real as opposed to imaginary constraints on economic growth.
Think about our economy as of a car that needs to get from where we're now to its destination – Prosperity! MMT recognizes that the car has a gas pedal and a brake pedal and a steering wheel that if used right can get us to our destination. Think of the gas pedal as injection of money into the economy (also known as "spending"), the brake as removal of money from the economy (also known as "taxation") The driver is the government and it can steer the car in various directions. Other countries have their own economies, so, think of other cars sharing the roads with yours.
The "deficit-hawks" believe that big deficits are always bad. Deficit is the difference between spending and taxation. So, their position is similar to a belief that too much pressing on gas (without counterbalancing by braking) causes crashes. While it is true that if you go too fast you are more likely to crash, pressing on gas and going too fast are two separate things. For example, when the car is going uphill or stalling, you really need to step on the gas to get it moving. So, deficit hawks in their myopia ignore the road conditions. They concentrate on numbers that are meaningless without a context. Additionally, their fear of spending prevents the economy from realizing its potential. Either they'd have you press on the gas very gently (spend less) or brake too often (tax more), without realizing that they might be causing the car to move too slowly and by the time you'd get to the destination Prosperity – if you got there – the rest of the world was there long ago and left to even further destinations.
The deficit hawks don't know how the car really works. They don't even understand that the deficit should be automatically adjusted to road conditions. Imagine if somebody told you you should never press on gas continuously without braking for more than, say, 1 mile. You'd laugh and say: this depends on where you drive and a myriad of other things!
What MMT is saying, is that you should not be shy to press on the gas when needed, to press on the brakes when needed and to steer the wheel as needed. MMT allows you to take the full potential of the car, without imposing arbitrary constraints (such as "pressing on the gas is bad" or "pressing on the brakes is bad"). Is there a fool-proof way to get to the destination? No, there is always an risk and sometimes the driver will make a mistake and sometimes crashes can even occur because of other driver's actions. But have you ever seen a fool-proof system?"
NOTE: European nations, local government, and countries that peg their currency or owe money in foreign-denominated debt can run out of money and do not enjoy the freedom of a fiat currency the way Japan and the US does.
dildo, that sounds just idylic, why are 44 million people on food stamps if this monetary system is so fool proof, What if the driver of the car is a sociopathic dwarf and I dont want to go along for a ride?
Why even bother with taxes if it is all so peachy, hell, we can all retire and let the third world mow our lawn.
The reason why 44 million people are on food stamps is because too much private sector debt was created and now the private sector is deleveraging. In other words, there isn't enough money in the private sector to pay for all of its debts. The only way to fix the problem is with debt forgiveness or to create more public debt to fill the hole in the private sector.
I never said the system was fool proof. Never said it. The driver can still crash the car. Unfortunately, you have to go along for the ride.
Why pay taxes? Because you will go to jail if you don't. The threat of prison for not paying your taxes is what makes fiat dollars have actual value as a currency.
In theory, what you have stated is correct but you are not taking in consideration is, when stepping on the gas you are putting more dollars into existence which creates inflation. Double the money supply and everything you buy will double, or worse.
Did you not read the part about the brakes? The whole point of the "gas" is to create money and inflation when it is needed — such as when the private-sector is deleveraging. You wouldn't double to money supply unless the output of the economy could actually support it at full employment. When unemployment is high, there is little risk of inflation. When the private sector deleverating is complete, the brakes should be applied if the economy cannot support the added monetary base.
Again, MMT doesn't suggest that politicians won't abuse the system. MMT is just a framework for how to apply the gas and the brakes.
I understand the brake theory but the problem with that is when prices double, then you pull $ back in, the prices will not magically come back down to prior levels. And if by chance the economy does turn to the upside it will create more demand and push prices even higher.
Sorry, but why would you assume that anyone would be pushing the gas until prices double? What you are describing is very high inflation. The whole idea of MMT is to keep inflation very low the entire time. That's what the brake is for — to keep the car from going too fast and crashing.
If what you're saying is that dumb politicians can mess things up, then I would agree with you — that's true of any monetary policy. But simply pushing on the gas, when it is needed, does not cause high inflation.
Yes we can print money and never run out...but what will it be worth? ;)
You guys are absolutely correct. Inflation is a major issue. MMT takes this into consideration and lays the framework on how to avoid it. Avoiding inflation is one of the main goals of MMT.
http://pragcap.com/resources/understanding-modern-monetary-system
http://pragcap.com/resources/understanding-hyperinflation
(Mind you this is not something you will be able to understand in five minutes.)
MMT is neither liberal nor conservative. It's politically agnostic. MMT is just a framework of how a fiat currency can work without crashing and burning. But, it doesn't mean that our politicians won't spend with reckless abandon and find a way to crash the car.
Truly if there ever were a "Winter of discontent" this would be it. What a moron and company.
Haha. Real funny Joe. I'm glad you can find the humor in our ass rape. Fucking prick.
Getting fucked is one thing. But getting laughed at by an arrogant prick just steams me up.
Sad part is, Joe wasn't trying to be funny- he truly doesn't grasp the difference between millions and billions-
Just check any version of his resume......
Want to know something real funny Joe? That comment was the straw that broke this back. You and your fellow laughing pricks get no more from me. I'm done.
Market near high of day...silver (SLV) making new lows. I took door #2. Mr. Market may see that before the end of the day. Smart money is using this pump to quietly exit this Bozo and Bailing wire market. Tim Geithner on a European Vacation isn't good at all folks.
Greasey Joe Biden....
What an asshole.
Freedom of speech and any protest to the destruction of democracy that is taking place in this country will be considered terrorist type activity and so those will be jailed indefinitely to show that there is no problem with bailing out the world even if it means that we are using debt to solve a debt problem.
I'm convinced that Biden and Obama together are as dumb as Bush.