I'm out sick today, so I'd like to have a conversation about the financial crisis of 2008. More importantly, the illusion that it was the people getting subprime loans that caused the economic failure rather than the corruption involved with lying about what percentage of a mortgage backed security (MBS) were subprime loans. If banks hadn't been shuffling subprime mortgages into their MBS's, and the credit rating bureaus hadn't been asleep at the wheel and had accurately assessed these securities as far riskier than they were initially said to be, then all of a sudden the only problem with the whole transaction is the person losing their house at the very beginning and end.
What's so fascinating is that Wall Street has built the laws of this country to essentially insulate themselves from anything that happens with individuals in the country. Yet the greed of our economy was so unchecked that they tore down those insulations in order to get more money, completely ignoring the risk that it inherently created.
I just don't, for the life of me, understand why people think Joe Schmo down the street getting a mortgage with an interest rate that balloons to 20% should have impacted anyone but himself. But it is almost tangential-- the right or wrong of banks lending money to someone who is delusional enough to think that they're going to afford a payment that is six times their current payment is up for debate. I personally think it's a scummy thing to do, but so is dealing heroin, and I honestly don't think whether a dealer decides to deal heroin or not is going to necessarily stop an addict from getting it. However, keeping with my metaphor, nobody is blaming the heroin dealer or the guy shooting up for the war in Afghanistan. They're two totally different levels incidentally related to each other and the amount of money that would have to be cut off here to make an impact over there is beyond comprehension.
The same can be said with the financial crisis of 2008. Banks, it seems, and everyone backing mortgage securities at that point, were in a cottage industry of making money based on the truths they wanted to believe. It was so bad that every corner of the financial sector at one point had their finger in the soup.
If credit bureaus had been doing their job in properly analyzing these securities that people were investing in, and banks hadn't been fudging numbers and saying that more prime loans were being stacked into these securities, then the crisis doesn't happen. Period. Subprime loans would still have tanked, and poor people would have still learned the hard way that they can't afford mansions. But it wouldn't have forced it's way up the chain like it did.
That's why, for better or worse, payday lending places have the absolute ability to totally wreck someone's life, but it won't effect the economy as a whole (in theory, anyways.)
This situation is so removed from political leanings that I can't understand anyone who doesn't agree. It's just a right versus wrong thing. There aren't many problems we face in this country that are an absolute right/wrong issues. But take the lead problem in Flint, MI. I think everyone believes that no matter what party you vote for, being negligent enough in your job and so focused on the bottom line that thousands of children end up disabled, you're a piece of shit and should go to jail. Democrat, Republican, whatever. You broke the laws of nature by subjecting children to something for your own gain (not necessarily financial.) The same goes for the Wall Street debacle. This wasn't perpetrated by Republicans trying to create smaller government or Democrats trying to create additional income for government programs. It was created by people trying to put vast parts of the nations economy at risk simply so they could get rich. They put themselves above the people as a whole, and that's not a left vs right thing, that's just a right vs wrong thing.
So, essentially, what I'm saying, is that anyone who says that the financial crisis was perpetrated by people trying to get or give subprime loans is an idiot
You asked for it and we delivered! Dan Himself swoops in to once again save you from the misery and boredom of your day to day life with another hour of chit-chat about nothing whatsoever. From sponsorships we don't have to guests that don't take our call, this one is a doozy! Stick around for the after-credits scene where you'll see a cameo of Dan Himself from the new Avengers movie, Age of Ultron, in theaters May 1st!
We finally bring to you a fantastic voyage into the inner workings of a bad jokester with a drinking problem. Finally discovered, we decided to dust off, clean up and publish these lost tapes from the Dan Saves the World trip into the desert. Tune in for some good jokes and bad, and maybe you'll learn something from our special guests, Markus Ontario Vaughn, or some inside tips for Vegas from our friend, The Vegas Insider. Includes a special extended edition of Question Time!
You wanna know what the business world thinks of you? We think 100 years ago you were living out here in tents in the middle of the desert, chopping each others' heads off. And that's exactly where you're gonna be in another hundred. So, yes, on behalf of my firm, I accept your money. Thank you.
In this fantastic episode, Dan Himself is back and trying to get back on track. It's a new year which means a new series of misfortunate podcasts! Friend of the show Marcus Ontario Vaughn joins us once again as we prep for the insanity that is sure to follow when we take the show on the road to Las Vegas.
This one is a shorter episode, simply whetting your appetite as we get you ready for the main course of a full series-- a novella, if you will-- in the most romantic place in the world. Where comedians go to die, and dreams go to turn into porno films. Where gambling addiction isn't a disease but a lifestyle choice. Where Penn and Teller are actually taken seriously. Where you can marry that prostitute if you like, and you can damn well dress up like Louis Farrakhan while doing so.
You're an adult when you're perfectly content to imbibe alone without letting your friends ruin your fun by dashing your dreams with the certainties of tomorrow.
Me. October 22nd, 1984, speaking as an honorary Professor at the University of Phoenix Winter Graduation Ceremony.
The show started off on a high note back in October, but the longer it goes on the more off the rails it goes. That's not to say it's not an interesting show, but more that it's an examination of the rights and moral wronogs of podcasting.
However, there are great bits about cartoons of the 90s, Transformers, and the long-awaited 2014 National Dan Saves the World Alcohol Draft!
(Apologies for the clipping in the audio. Rough recording situation on this one. We'll get back to a regular schedule for 2015 and maybe even invest in some slightly decent recording equipment. Or just not do the show drunk. Either one is possible. Happy New Year!)
I'm really way too excited that I've come up with this new intro for my podcast. Seriously... I'm geeked, and that's probably sad.
Edited using Audacity.
In this weeks episode, Dan tries to right the ol' ship, HMS Poddy. He's been in a funk for a few weeks now, and he decides that today will be the day he starts to dig himself out of a hole. With topics ranging from child rape, Detroit, Robin Williams and online dating, listeners are sure to get their hopes up for a great show only to be completely underwhelmed. Par for the course, folks! Be sure to tune in to this disaster or else you'll do irreparable harm to Dan Himself's shaky, broken ego! Hooray!
Do you ever wish that everyone you meet could see the world as clearly as you? That maybe we should treat each other as we want to be treated, and view the world from someone else's perspective? What would the world look like? How great would that be?
Old clip but a great one.
This song is badass and it's been stuck in my head ever since I discovered in on Spotify. Willst Du by Alligatoah. I don't even speak German and this song is still dope.
By now everyone has heard about how myriad celebrities have had their personal photo libraries hacked. Intimate shots, oftentimes nudes sent to lovers and dreamers and music-makers alike, were hacked, stolen, and dispersed online for only the most banal of reasons: fapping.
As you can imagine, I've got two really big problems with what is coming out. Obviously, these have nothing to do with the absolute sympathy I have for these ladies having their personal pictures spread out onto the internet for everyone to see.
(That's not to say I didn't look. I did, and then felt bad, which perhaps makes me the worst kind of hypocrite. But that's neither here nor there.)
Firstly, let's be honest. When you talk about taking nudes on your cell phone, you're talking about putting a certain modicum of confidence in three things: cell phones, the internet, and other people. These, as we all know by now, are three things in which we should probably not place trust. That's just common sense, right? So I'd like to be able to say so without people automatically throwing the ad hominem attack of being a "victim blamer" at me like boiling acid. It's just a certain nature of the times that we live in. That's not to say that people shouldn't be able to be intimate with those who they care about. Hell, they can even be intimate with me, and I'm a total stranger. Doesn't bother me one bit. But to live in these times and then pretend that you've been had when your faith in either of these three things finally blows up in your face, well, it's somewhat irresponsible. Maybe that's not the word, but I'm entirely too drunk to think of a better one.
All I'm saying is, can't we simultaneously tell those we love that it's both NOT their fault when this happens, that they have nothing to be ashamed of, AND that they probably should stop putting faith in the internet and humanity to never falter? You can call me a victim blamer if you want. I don't think that's what I'm doing here, but you're entitled to your opinion. All I'm saying is if I have a daughter you can rest assured she'll see (well, maybe hear) directly how precious intimate trust is and how easily it can be stolen by complete strangers.
Yes, it's a travesty amongst modern humanity (or lack thereof) that we even have to consider such a thing. But don't we owe it to those we say we care about to try to prevent others from feeling so let down by society?
Does that mean these girls regret what they did? I hope not. I hope that I live in a world where the romance between a couple is stronger than some mean-spirited internet trolls, trying to ruin that which they see as good because their own lives are so vapid and unessential to the whole of humanity.
The other thing that's bothering me are these white knights of privacy rights. Look, it was a little over a year ago when the Edward Snowden revelations came out in the Guardian out of the UK. It was revealed over the course of a few weeks that the US, in particular employees at the NSA, already had access to anything you do on your cell or computer. Those nudes have likely already been backlogged and catalogued at a storage facility in some desert somewhere.
Yet when these revelations came out last year, Americans as a whole couldn't WAIT to stick their heads in the sand and pretend it wasn't true. The best reactions were the ones from people pretending they didn't care; the worst reactions are people saying that everyone who did care was somehow unpatriotic.
Well, talk about your chickens coming home to roost.
There have been those of us, ever since those revelations, saying that the government needs to be checked and it's irresponsible of our populace not to stand up and say anything. It is. The only difference between then and now is that, it seems, people seem to start to realize that privacy really is something important. Jennifer Lawrence had her privacy absolutely crucified, and it wasn't for any good reason. She didn't lose it because of some high-minded ideal about national love or patriotism. She lost her privacy because someone wanted to have that power over her, to hold over her head that they could embarrass her whenever they wanted. And worst of all? They used the one thing that really should be common among all of us-- love, intimacy, passion.
So, you tell me: This is the price you have paid thus far for the illusion of security. Is it worth it? Is one innocent person's sense of self and ability to feel, love, and care worth the privacy invasion that happens on a regular basis?
Because that's where we're at. Jennifer Lawrence didn't "have anything to hide," as the phrase goes by people defending these government actions. Yet here we are, with herself-- and others-- left thinking that the one thing they really did have to hide has been completely unhidden. God bless the USA.
Look. All I know ultimately is that I wish I had the type of trust/love/intimacy/passion for any other human out there to really even expose myself to that level of openness. It's a special thing, and one that I'm completely jealous of as a single male. Yet, don't we want to also prevent others from feeling that level of hurt when it happens? What's wrong with both offering our sincerest apologies and our shoulders to cry on, while at the same time saying there are very clear things we can do to make sure that nobody else has to go thru this? Haven't enough people been hurt to sate our lust?
Let's become a better people. We owe it to our loved ones.
It seems like everyone feels entitled to have their moment in the sun when it comes to sharing in the universal grief that is the death of Robin Williams. Everyone wants to stand up and be heard, because when we feel that someone has earned our respect, we want the world to know it. It's a good thing!
However, in the grief and pain and solemnity of the death of Robin Williams, a few people feel the need to talk about suicide. I don't really think it's deserving of being addressed. But, since everyone seems to think it's this elephant in the room that we're all ignoring, then what the hell? Let's dish.
Let me go pour another cocktail and we can talk. You and me. Man to screen to ephemeral nether to wiring to cloud to you. Not because you owe it to me, or I owe it to the memory of a cherished celebrity I've never met. But because I have something to say that I think you should hear.
As George Carlin once famously said, "I don't do transition material." So, without further ado, let me jump right in.
Many of my favorite movies growing up starred Robin Williams. My buddy and I would quote Good Will Hunting ad nauseum in college, usually ranging from stuff like, "How do ya like them apples?" to "I gotta see about a girl." Just great lines. Everyone else has their favorite Robin Williams movies-- Dead Poet's Society, Aladdin, Awakenings, The Birdcage. Take your pick, they're all great.
But Good Will Hunting was ours, not yours. And we owned it, and we made sure everyone knew it.
The night before Robin Williams died, I was on the phone with that very same friend. He was telling me about how he had broken up with this girl he was dating. Things weren't working out, and she couldn't let that intimacy wall down. Couldn't let him in. I half-jokingly quipped, "It's not your fault, Will."
Silence.
"Not you, too, Sean."
"It's not your fault, Will."
A stupid laugh. A follow up, and a reminder that it really wasn't his fault, even though he'd try like hell to climb the cross and hammer those nails right thru his hands, taking full blame for a relationship that was probably doomed from the start. But that's neither here nor there.
I only mention that to indicate the level of consciousness in which Robin Williams inhabited with my friends and me.
Shortly after he died, it was discovered that he had killed himself. The unanimous outcry is that he didn't need to...
"Why had such a beloved person, who was so good at making everyone happy, so miserable that he wanted to die?"
"Why would he hurt us like this?""This was just selfish."
"Robin Williams is a coward."
"We need to pay more attention to mental health."
"How did his friends not see this?"
I think this whole thing has brought about an awareness about mental health. If not an actual conversation about mental health, I think most of us know that a conversation needs to happen. We're standing over the coffee pot while the shadow in the night slips out the front door after just having been caught in the arms of our lover. We're summoning the strength, debating whether we want to get into this tonight or just go to bed. Maybe when we wake up we'll live in those first seconds where we pretend that last night hadn't happened. That we're not fundamentally broken.
Eventually, though, we'll shake the sleep from our eye and start that brave new day.
When we do, I think it's important that all perspectives are taken into account. How suicide hurts those closest to us. How mental health is woefully ignored in our culture. How we can stand next to someone we love all day and never really look at them.
And that's all great. Very important things to consider and upon which we can dawdle until our hands have been wrung 'til their last. Yet there's one thing that I don't really think people consider.
Maybe Robin Williams just wanted to die. Or, more to the point, maybe he didn't want to live. Is it really a sickness for a person to decide that they've enjoyed life enough, that they no longer wish to keep waking up? I'm not so sure.
If suicide is a conscious decision, made without fear or delusion or sorrow, should it still be scorned? Feared?
Robin Williams led a great life. I hope to whatever weird spiritual entity is out there that I can live a life as such. That not only can I touch those close to me in such a memorable way that they can't get enough, but that I can bring joy to complete strangers.
I mean, think about it. Everywhere you look there are stories about Robin Williams cheering people up. A lonely comic scared shitless outside of a club, chain smoking discount cigarettes. A family in a diner, wondering what happens tomorrow after they just buried their mother. And soldiers, so many soldiers, wondering whether they'll return to base the next time they step off.
And on top of all that, he seemingly still raised great kids! He had a family that absolutely adored him. Do you know how often you hear that about people in Hollywood? Never!
I don't mean to meander. I simply think one thing needs to be considered. Maybe Robin Williams just didn't want to live anymore. Maybe his suicide wasn't a symptom of despair, but the result of accomplishment. Maybe he simply decided that he was tired of constantly fighting his demons, and he had built a legacy and made the world smile for long enough. Maybe, just maybe, all he wanted was peace.
And if he did, don't you think he has earned it? Moreso than almost anyone else, hadn't he brought us enough joy and laughter and eye-rolling quirkiness to earn that long walk into the night?
So maybe, rather than everyone thinking about how selfish it is of him to have killed himself, we should consider how selfish we are to think that we had any right to deprive him of peace. I mean, hadn't he earned it?
What else could we possibly ask of the man? He made millions happy in sometimes the most dire times. I think that means he can get at least one thing he wants... and, pardon the melodrama, but if that means Genie wanted to be wished free, then who are we to deprive him?
RIP Robin Williams. God knows we'll miss you, but you sure as hell earned whatever ending you wanted.
Special guest and friend of the show Marcus O. Vaughn decides to stop by and help Dan figure out the problems with the purgatory of higher education-- community college. Along the way we discuss whale oil cars, whether Moby Dick took place in Boston, and regale the audience with stories of how Dan broke a tie in Las Vegas! Also included are a special education-themed edition of "Question Time," and new friend of the show Ol' Dirty Bastard drops by for his financial planning segment called, "Baby I Got Your Money."
ODB comes to you LIVE on the Dan Saves the World podcast with his brand new segment about financial planning, called "Baby I Got Your Money." New stock tips, hints, and areas where the SEC won't catch you breaking the law! Check it out and then make sure to download the new Dan Saves the World pocast on iTunes or Stitcher!
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