Fer pity's sake, this is old news. I'm not getting into it except to say that CBS and 60 Minutes vacated any sense of journalistic responsibility in reporting the incident. The episode is well documented, look it up.

I looked it up, late 80s. Oh well, I'm not going to defend it but a lot can change in 20 years. I find them to be worthwhile. Rather's thing was another blip, I never was that wild about the guy.

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Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

A blip here, a blip there, who's ta notice?

Uh, that would be the consumer that notices. How many items have various media sources been wrong about in the past? Would that word be "many?"

I guess we should just boycott any and every source of news. After all, every one of us is too dumb to figure it out.

__________________
Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Sources of news are not sources of opinion. I visit the CBS news website regularly, when I want. I'm not gonna make a place in my schedule to watch 60 Minutes.

wasn't 60 Minutes the show that was caught exploding side tank GM pickups to show how dangerous they were when they could not duplicate the supposed gas tank fires and explosions? They dont have a lot of credibility. I watched a bit of Bernake, not that impressed, thought he was mostly doing damage control regarding Obama's hosing of market confidence....

For what it's worth, I just ran into a financial advisor friend who said that everybody who hasn't seen Bernanke's appearance on 60 Minutes needs to find it on-line and watch it. He came away from watching the interview convinced that Bernanke is the right man for the job. My friend is a total economics/finance junky. Very knowledgeable and successful at what he does. I think he tends to the Republican side of things but has been voting for some moderate Democrats in recent years.

Have it your way. I see plenty on that show that is far more solid than mere opinion.

The piece I linked to above on eye-witness reliability is a service to the nation. They showed clear examples of how people can fool themselves.

Watch it and tell me I'm wrong:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/06/60minutes/main4848039.shtml

__________________
Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

I think Brownie, oops, I mean Bernankie, is doing a helluva job up there in Lala land.

Did your friend elaborate on why? I heard on the news tonight that Bernanke knew about the AIG bonuses prior to them being awarded and did not stop them.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

I mostly have it my way, thank you.
I fail to see how sloppy, or worse, dishonest journalism can be excused.

I didn’t see the show but how could any reasonable person have true confidence in any bail out plan? There are countless variables which can’t be convincingly modeled. Even using the depression of the 30s as a model is seriously specious exercise. The only real commonality between the 30s and now are the failures that result from extending credit beyond a practical risk. Other than that we have two vastly separate cultures whose only commonality is they were both called the USA.

I agree that there is no certainty that any given course of action will produce the desired result, so a good dose of skepticism is appropriate. On the other hand, we are a predatory species that looks for weakness and fear in our prey, so we're sensitive to the lack of confidence in a proposed solution. I thought Bernanke looked fearful at a time when he should have looked strong.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Not really, and I probably wouldn't have understood his reasons anyway. He said that he found Bernanke to be remarkably open and transparent, which is unusual for a sitting Fed Chairman.The AIG bonus issue is a political issue. While $165 million is nothing to sneeze at, I don't think it affects the Federal Reserve. I don't know why Bernanke should have done anything about them.

It's true about his openness and transparency.
I think the Federal Reserve should have done something because they were the ones giving AIG the bailout money as I understand it. If they're giving taxpayer money to a company that failed they certainly should be aware of the fact that it's a stupid policy to reward the people who caused it to fail with million dollar bonuses. Even if they were under contractual obligations to pay those bonuses, it would have been better public policy to deny them and have the potential recipients sue them in court to get them rather than just hand them out. How many of those executives would have had the balls to go to court to try to get their bonuses?

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13