Apparently The Financial Crisis Is The Fault Of Flickering Computer Screens
from the say-what-now? dept
From Paul Kedrosky we find one of the most idiotic theories on where the whole financial crisis came from, out of a laughably stupid interview with author Tom Wolfe. Apparently, the problem wasn't complex securities, massive leverage, unsupportable subprime mortgage giveaways or anything of the sort. No sir. It was all those flickering screens on computers that make financial types not want to pay attention:The whole thing, starting with the subprime, is the fault of the computer. I was just talking to a banker the other day, and not that long ago, 20 years ago, an investment banking house, let's say, Lehman Brothers, when it got a package of mortgages, they would go through every mortgage, every single one, and they'd throw out the ones that just seemed absurd, they just wouldn't accept them. Things used to arrive on paper. Today things arrive on a screen, and a screen is back lit, and one of the biggest pains in the neck is trying to read something dully written and complicated on a computer screen. It will drive you nuts -- I mean, try it sometime. Now they say, "Oh, to hell with it," and they just accept the whole package. And if it hadn't been for that, they'd be going over each loan. What's happened is the backward march of technology.So, now you know.
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Filed Under: blame, computers, financial crisis, tom wolfe
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More like preying on the vanity of people.
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I'd bet anything that he has a 19" CRT monitor, set to 1024x768 resolution, at 60 Hertz.
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Mail it to him
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We need a change in Government!
VOTE McCain 2008 - Hes not friends with any 60s radicals!
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Re: We need a change in Government!
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Re: We need a change in Government!
Mr. McCain may not be friends with 60's radicals, but he sure seems to have a lot of ties to a few scandals throughout the 1980's (Iran-contra or S&L ring a bell?). I seem to remember him letting thousands of people's life savings go down the drain while he and his family were getting treated to tropical vacations.
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What? You missed it? Well by golly, here you go:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/27057346#27057346
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Re: We need a change in Government!
Oh how I can't wait for the democrats to be back in control...
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Re: Re: We need a change in Government!
It is actually over 10 Trillion in debt. The big countdown sign can't even show the real value any more because it only has enough digits for $9,999,999,999,999.99 .
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Re: We need a change in Government!
I just don't get it!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I know this
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Re: I know this
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PIBKAC
I do, it's part of my job.
As AC #1 said: "Someone get this guy a new monitor!"
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Maybe something to this
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Well, you could, you know...
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patent trolls caused it !!!
I have a better idea for you to put in your shitty blog:
how about patent trolls causing financial crisis by draining down resources of large innovative companies ?
I am sure this idea will resonate well with your audience of retarded punks
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Re: patent trolls caused it !!!
1. If it's so shitty, why do you choose to troll this particular blog, rather than the literally millions of other blogs out there?
2. Mike was not making the claim. He was pointing out the stupidity of somebody else's claim. Are you trying to argue against his position (blaming the crisis on monitors is stupid)? Why do you feel it's necessary for him to make other claims in order to justify poking fun at this one?
3. There's only one retarded punk here (well, apart from all the ACs). I wonder why he's so angry?
As for me, yeah I think Wolfe's blatantly kidding. Not least since if monitor flicker is a real issue for you with a TFT, you really should that looked at... it's not normal!
Well, actually, from the quote Wolfe seems to be saying that reading things on a screen is more distracting than reading it on paper. That's very subjective and I dare say something that probably affects his generation more than those of us who've grown up with the technology (I'm in my mid 30s, and I'd guess most of the people he's talking about are in my generation).
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Re: Re: patent trolls caused it !!!
Hey, I'm not as retarded as you may think.
and I'd like to add ... Angry Doodie may not be retarded either. He is just soooo angry that he can not see straight and this adversely affects his judgement.
Then again, maybe I'm wrong.
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Re: patent trolls caused it !!!
On topic: this couldn't be an issue with non-CRT screens - are we supposed to believe that (as well as the other rubbish) people who were dealing with huge amounts of money couldn't afford them? Dear me.
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Re: patent trolls caused it !!!
If this blog is so shitty, why do you keep coming back?
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Re: We need a change in Government!
ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD
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Re: Re: We need a change in Government!
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Really?
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Wow
If I had been there and heard it my self. I would have slapped the shit out of him.
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Although what this guy says is very unconvincing...
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Blame Technology
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It's everyone's fault
The seeds of what are causing the current crises go all the way back to the 70s. No, it's not W's fault. No, it's not Clinton's fault. It's not the Dems. It's not the Republicans. It's EVERYONE.
Do some actual (and cursory) research into what's causing this, and you'll see it's much larger than "OMG BUSH IS TEH EVIL"
It's true that the current administration had the warning and arguably did nothing to prevent it, but that doesn't mean they caused it.
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Re: It's everyone's fault
The other claims above that blame this soley on George Bush or Clinton/Pelosi need to do some research and quit jumping to conclusions. Just because it happened on Bush's watch, does not automatically mean it's his fault. That's like saying 9/11, global warming, Hurricanes Katrina & Gustaf were his fault too. Oh wait, I have heard anti-Bush folks make such rabid claims...
Sure, the economy was "good" during Clinton, but people seem to forget it was partially built on the whole internet craze and dot.com boom of the mid-90s, and the truckloads of venture capital $'s. Heck, I knew college grads making +$100,000 cuz they had some rudimentary skill at coding web pages or C++ experience. When everyone finally realized all the VC spending, SuperBowl commercials touting Pets.com, BMWs, Porches, and folks buying $800,000 fixer-uppers in Silicon Valley, etc. actually needed to have a business model to bring in revenue eventually... the whole thing busted big-time right before Bush took office.
This sub-prime & bad mortgage funny-business started way before the current administration, but it's been all the politicians and legislative subcommittees, etc. for several Administrations that have been turning a blind eye on the growing problem, since everyone wanted to encourage home ownership and the apparent boom it was funding and the related euphoria that the economy was doing well...
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Re: It's everyone's fault
>>had the warning and arguably did nothing to
>>prevent it, but that doesn't mean they caused it.
No more incompetent people. Please.
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Re: We need a change in Government!
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He may have something here...
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The problem is, many people don't know that there's even a better way to do it. More than once have I fixed somebody's refresh rate, which they'd been running at 60Hz for probably months or more, and they were completely shocked at how much better it looked. Fortunately, CRTs have just about gone the way of the buffalo, and are being replaced by LCD monitors. LCD panels handle refresh rates quite differently than CRTs, and most run at 60Hz without any problems in visual quality. Many can't even go above 60Hz at their maximum (native) resolution, but it doesn't matter because they don't flicker.
But back to the topic at hand, to claim that screen flickering caused our financial and economic meltdown is absolutely absurd. If they really were stupid enough to accept things without reviewing everything, they themselves are at fault, not the technology. They could have complained to their IT department, gotten better equipment, printed the documents out and read them the old-fashioned way, etc. Laziness and/or greed are much more likely culprits than monitors.
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Apparently The Financial Crisis Is The Fault Of Flickering Computer Screens
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Tom was always a tool
Everyone knows that this whole meltdown is just another example of capitalist greed running smack into a big mountain of reality. By the way Zuke, I always got a laugh out of that talkning puppet.
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Now because of technology, blah blah blah we have many more loans, and more bad ones are able to slip through. yada yada yada.
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so in conclusion...
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"Oh noes!!! Technology is the doom of everything!!"
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Stop making bad loans Hal
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Finger of blame, the future's the same
Doesn't matter how much we regulate when the regulators will be from Wall Street and will be going back to Wall Street.
I don't want more 'regulation.' I want more ACCOUNTABILITY.
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Dems did it
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