• May 25, 2012

Alan Greenspan, John McCain, And Lindsey Graham Become Swedish-Soviet Communists

by Jim Newell  

For the past seven million hours, conservative aggregateur Matt Drudge has been blaring the main headline, “OBAMA MOVES TOWARD ‘SWEDISH MODEL’ FOR BANKS,” replete with a sacrilege photo of the profane Swedish flag. The “Swedish Model” is “code” for the evil thing the Swedish government did in the early 1990s after a major real estate and financial bubble: nationalized the biggest insolvent banks, fixed them, and put them back on the market, the end. In other words, it is basically Red Marxism and Islam combined. And now, free-market fappers Lindsey Graham, his “live-in” John McCain, and even Alan Greenspan — who caused the entire crisis, for fun — are voicing their support for Swedish Communist Revolution!

The right wing as embodied by Matt Drudge fears nothing more than the “Swedish Model,” because it compromises Capitalism, the failed economic system. Hey, “Real America,” look at this gay European thing that the Obama administration might do!

Sweden in the early 1990s took control of its struggling banks in exchange for emergency aid, thus making the taxpayers footing the bill owners of the ultimately valuable assets.

Once the crisis was over, the Swedish state sold off nearly all of the nationalized bank investments, getting back most of the money that had been pumped into the sector.

Chilling. Of course, god forbid the MSM ever question “The One” about his plans to turn the United States into a valueless muslin transvestite colony, in which all of the whites are required by “The Swedish Model” to turn their money over to the blacks.

Oh look, now “The One” has worked his gypsy magic on Ayn Rand’s prodigal son!

In an interview, Mr Greenspan, who for decades was regarded as the high priest of laisser-faire capitalism, said nationalisation could be the least bad option left for policymakers.

”It may be necessary to temporarily nationalise some banks in order to facilitate a swift and orderly restructuring,” he said. “I understand that once in a hundred years this is what you do.”

And who else on the Right is backing Greenspan? Oh, how shocking, looks like “Grahamnesty” and “John MexiCain” are being liberal again:

Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator for South Carolina, says that many of his colleagues, including John McCain, the defeated presidential candidate, agree with his view that nationalisation of some banks should be “on the table”.

Mr Graham says that people across the US accept his argument that it is untenable to keep throwing good money after bad into institutions such as Citigroup and Bank of America, which now have a lower net value than the amount of public funds they have received.

Pfft. We smells a secret plot to give billions of dollars to ACORN when we sees one.

Bank nationalisation gains ground with Republicans [Financial Times]
Greenspan backs bank nationalisation [Financial Times]

{ 68 comments }

finland February 18, 2009 at 4:01 pm

i KNEW it! greenspan was wearing his soviet flag pin on his underpants the whole time he was king of capitalism!!!! tricksy tricksy.

snideinplainsight February 18, 2009 at 4:01 pm

I would like to voice my support for the Swedish Fish. Also,.

Hey, here’s a joke that’s funny ; what’s the difference between Ireland and Sweden? Five letters and six months. Er, uh, wait a minute … but you get it, right?

Numbat Dundee February 18, 2009 at 4:02 pm

It’s your choice people. Trucknutz or meatballs!

Tommmcatt February 18, 2009 at 4:03 pm

Nationalized banks would pay for a lot of gay abortions….

Toomush Infermashun February 18, 2009 at 4:04 pm

I know for certain that Swedish girls are some kind of Manchurian mind plot: I can’t look up at them for more than a couple seconds before I’m a drooling idiot….and they speak some kind of foreign language where every second word is “sausage”…mmmmm

magic titty February 18, 2009 at 4:05 pm

1.d4 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.Bd3 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.f4

Guppy06 February 18, 2009 at 4:06 pm

Swedish Models? Huh?

Oh, wait, banking.

Lionel Hutz Esq. February 18, 2009 at 4:06 pm

So Sven and Inger fooled death. There is no pizza in Sweden.

magic titty February 18, 2009 at 4:08 pm

So Michelle Bachmann was right, then?

Guppy06 February 18, 2009 at 4:08 pm

Seriously, though, Sweden has banks? The only thing I know about Sweden is that they produce women and that they used to produce bricks on wheels before Ford bought them out and totally killed them.

EnBuenOra February 18, 2009 at 4:09 pm

Why are we giving our banking system to IKEA? Will all my financial services be flat-packed now?

qwerty42 February 18, 2009 at 4:10 pm

A fate worse than death. Can Rush save us?

JamesMichaelCurley February 18, 2009 at 4:12 pm

[re=246386]Numbat Dundee[/re]: There was a time when you could get great swedish meatballs at Ikea, but you had to assemble them at home.

SayItWithWookies February 18, 2009 at 4:14 pm

[re=246393]magic titty[/re]: The Greenspan Gambit declined?

PengIn February 18, 2009 at 4:14 pm

THEY ARE NOT FREE IN SWEDEN!

iwillsavethispatient February 18, 2009 at 4:16 pm

Perhaps they can also introduce some of the technological advances that have happened in the European banking industry since 1970 to the US system?
In Sweden, a check clears in an hour. But who in their right mind writes checks these days anyways? I’m sure they have some system like the UK’s “Direct Debit” so your bills get paid automagically. I had barely written any ‘cheques’ ever before I moved to the US.

Lionel Hutz Esq. February 18, 2009 at 4:19 pm

[re=246400]EnBuenOra[/re]: Just wait until they change the name of “Bank of America” to “Skjorgspqorp.”

WalnutsIsMyCo-Pilot February 18, 2009 at 4:20 pm

I smell a plot to secretly destroy the world… which happens to be Linds’ and McLame’s favorite dish, best served cold.

[Insert McWalnut's maniacal laugh here.] Oh wait: HEHNGNN HEHNGNN HEHNGNN HEHNGNN HEHNGNNHEHNGNNHEHNGNNHEHNGNN!!1!11!!!

Dave J. February 18, 2009 at 4:20 pm

[re=246400]EnBuenOra[/re]: “Perhaps you’d like to take advantage of our Skansgåård mortgages? Or perhaps our Tivølk line of CDs would be more to your liking?”

Hamster February 18, 2009 at 4:21 pm

Obama should totally appoint the swedish bikini team to his cabinet to handle this thing. They’re swedish, and hot, which means they are qualified.

tiny mexican February 18, 2009 at 4:23 pm

Lindsey was confused. He heard “Swedish models” and thought we were importing Marcus Schenkenberg and Fredrik Ljungberg to stimulate our packages.

V572625694 February 18, 2009 at 4:23 pm

No more half measures. Let’s not just nationalize the banks — let’s militarize them. Send John Thain to boot camp (“Listen, maggot! I want to explain to me how to field-strip a toxic mortgage!”), put green camo unis on tells and guards, and let the latter will carry M4s or M16s. That oughta get some of the money out of the vault and into the economy.

magic titty February 18, 2009 at 4:23 pm

[re=246409]SayItWithWookies[/re]: Exactly.

MisterLoki February 18, 2009 at 4:25 pm

After a GIS for “Swedish Models”, I can totally see why this would make Drudge uncomfortable.

chascates February 18, 2009 at 4:25 pm

This would be a slippery slope. Next it would be single-payer health care, low cost education from pre-K through senior citizens, acting neutral in things that isn’t their business, etc.

loquaciousmusic February 18, 2009 at 4:26 pm

Bork! Bork! Bork!

assistant/atlas February 18, 2009 at 4:32 pm

I, for one, find Swedish models stimulating.

Maybe not in an economic way, but still…

WadISay February 18, 2009 at 4:32 pm

If The One wants to turn our banks into Scarlett Johansson, I for one will welcome our new Swedish financiers.

DemmeFatale February 18, 2009 at 4:33 pm

Why is Bill Clinton in that picture?

DustBowlBlues February 18, 2009 at 4:35 pm

[re=246400]EnBuenOra[/re]: So far, you’ve made the laugh the hardest.

proudgrampa February 18, 2009 at 4:37 pm

[re=246422]chascates[/re]: Yeah, not such a bad thing after all, eh? AND all those Swedish girls. Also.

american mutt February 18, 2009 at 4:38 pm

[re=246418]tiny mexican[/re]: win. and we’re done.

Meaux February 18, 2009 at 4:39 pm

I was forced to watch The Seventh Seal as part of the freshman curriculum at my librul arts college in 1987. Only now, as of this blog posting, has a knowledge of that film paid off. Jim Newell, you complete me.

DustBowlBlues February 18, 2009 at 4:39 pm

[re=246419]V572625694[/re]: Okay, you’re making my laugh harder. Way to go, wonkette, this is a great topic. Anyone notice, however, that the Repugtard plan would give the capitalists the money but not cut the taxpayer into the deal? I guess that’s what keeps the plan from being gay or communist, or whatever it is the wingers are so afraid of.

freakishlystrong February 18, 2009 at 4:41 pm

So, Obama is a socialist then? These Rehtugs are cornfusin’…also

TGY February 18, 2009 at 4:42 pm

[re=246394]Guppy06[/re]: Yes, that was my thought. Only it was like, “Swedish models…mmmm, especially with white-blonde hair…”

CollegeStudent February 18, 2009 at 4:42 pm

If Andrea Mitchell wasn’t of Galavanting in Asia with the president of the state department, she would be so pissed

chascates February 18, 2009 at 4:43 pm

Some of you may already be doing this but it’s always fun to copy things that mention Drudge derisively such as the above and post it to the box on the lower-right hand side that sez:

SEND NEWS TIPS TO DRUDGE
[ANONYMITY GUARANTEED]

Just so he’ll know people are aware of it, which he enjoys so much.

queeraselvis v 2.0 February 18, 2009 at 4:46 pm

[re=246442]Meaux[/re]: Lucky you. We got subjected to “Ordet.” And the scars linger still.

Gopherit February 18, 2009 at 4:48 pm

We are through the looking glass.

Red Zeppelin February 18, 2009 at 4:49 pm

I mean, what’s wrong with kowtowing to a country that invented both meatballs and the penis pump? HENNGH?

Hooray For Anything February 18, 2009 at 4:49 pm

[re=246400]EnBuenOra[/re]: I guess this means we’ll have to build our banks by hands with only a bunch of diagrams to show us how to build it.

AnnieGetYourFun February 18, 2009 at 4:59 pm

“Sweden in the early 1990s took control of its struggling banks in exchange for emergency aid, thus making the taxpayers footing the bill owners of the ultimately valuable assets.”

While that is technically a sentence, it took my brain a long, long time to parse it. I might actually do better with Swedish.

Gopherit February 18, 2009 at 5:05 pm

[re=246418]tiny mexican[/re]: Wind. Beneath. My. Wings.

Mr Blifil February 18, 2009 at 5:10 pm

As the man once said: “I. Wish. Life. Could be. Sweeeeedish Mag-a-zines!”

whiskey tango foxtrot February 18, 2009 at 5:16 pm

[re=246419]V572625694[/re]: *weeping* God how I love you!

Sarah Palin (vp@whitehouse.gov) February 18, 2009 at 5:22 pm

Nice muslin fist bumpin in the pic there. also.

-SP

twingonaut February 18, 2009 at 5:24 pm

I want to go to a “laisser-faire” this weekend. Instead of beer wenches and blacksmythes we’ll dress like spacemen and shoot laissers all over the place. AWSUM!!!1!! Also.

Lascauxcaveman February 18, 2009 at 5:25 pm

[re=246442]Meaux[/re]: The Seventh Seal was a great flick, and a lot funner than I thought it would be.

twingonaut February 18, 2009 at 5:25 pm

[re=246418]tiny mexican[/re]: I want to go to there!

sowbelly February 18, 2009 at 5:36 pm

The Dark Wizard strikes again. Let them say “nationalize” first. It makes them think they had an idea.

lulzmonger February 18, 2009 at 5:37 pm

Smorgasbord! Obama won’t nationalize US banks: too much risk of inland flooding from all the tears of rednecks. Greenspan, McCain & Graham: Commies? Can’t say I’m entirely shocked … after all, those wingnuts are constantly linking to PRAVDA now – & sadly, it’s never the UFO/Bigfoot/man-with-a-400-pound-goiter stories.

masterdebater February 18, 2009 at 5:39 pm

I’ve tried their vodka, saunas, and even their women. I believe with all of my heart that we should let them take over our country.

populucious February 18, 2009 at 5:40 pm

[re=246400]EnBuenOra[/re]: What will we do with all the left-over hex bolts that will now come with every new checking account?

But srsly folks, when hyperventalating pubtards freak out about Sweden all I can think is, wow, there are so many worse places to be. Sweden is one of the most innocuously pleasant places I’ve ever been, about as threatening as the Spanish Inquisition’s comfy chair.

Numbat Dundee February 18, 2009 at 5:42 pm

[re=246512]Lascauxcaveman[/re]: But the car chase with the Volvos was disappointing.

One Yield Regular February 18, 2009 at 5:42 pm

I initially thought that photo was from Mario Bava’s “Black Sunday,” not from Bergman (which is pretty much how I view this whole banking crisis, come to think of it).

randomsausage February 18, 2009 at 5:42 pm

I thought Drudge would like Swedish models: ie, those called Lars and Olaf.

comradepaulson February 18, 2009 at 5:44 pm

Abba is from Sweden. I think Graham’s support just became self-explanatory.

If we go all Sweden and shit, he’s Senator Dancing Queen from now on. Some good must come from all this suffering.

McCain can be Senator Fernando. And Greenspan is obviously Ex-Fed Chairman Waterloo.

j6n February 18, 2009 at 5:48 pm

We will save trillions by flat packing our mortgage backed securities for easy transport and storage!

AxmxZ February 18, 2009 at 5:53 pm

I hung out with two Swedish models once in Germany… a blonde one and a brunet. Both hot as hell. The blonde one looked like a Marine. They liked to cook in tandem; it was the oddest thing watching them do their Swedish voodoo half-naked over a single-burner camp stove.

Ugh… what were we talking about?

randomsausage February 18, 2009 at 6:00 pm

Sweden is four times awesome.

I just saw a House Hunters International episode on the teevee, with two blond 40-something Swedish lesbos buying a cool apartment in Stockholm. They rocked and I was convinced more than ever that the love between two women is a beautiful thing….especially if captured by a HD camera.

Thank you Sweden for your fiscal prudence and hot lesbian vikings!

Guppy06 February 18, 2009 at 6:01 pm

[re=246469]AnnieGetYourFun[/re]: I can has commas?

assistant/atlas February 18, 2009 at 6:43 pm

Sweden is the new France.

[re=246531]masterdebater[/re]: Not like they could do worse, amirite?

V572625694 February 18, 2009 at 7:37 pm

[re=246498]whiskey tango foxtrot[/re]: I am not worthy. Or spelling well today, and it’s not even Martini time yet.

DustBowlBlues February 18, 2009 at 9:26 pm

[re=246453]queeraselvis v 2.0[/re]: I liked the Seventh Seal, but my favorite Bergman is “Smiles of a Summer Night.” But then, I’m old.

hobospacejungle February 18, 2009 at 11:24 pm

You would think that at some point some wingtard would be caught, off camera, finally saying what I’ve wanted to hear since grad school turned me into a commie: “It’s time we admit that, after over a hundred years of bubbles, runs and depressions that capitalism is a failed system. It’s time we moved on to something that might actually work.”

But this latest news is probably as close to that dream as I’ll ever get so I’ll take it. For now.

Lascauxcaveman February 19, 2009 at 1:04 am

[re=246760]hobospacejungle[/re]: Aw, jeeze. It’s not Capitalism that has failed, it’s this stoopid Chicago School notion that Capitalism can’t have any rules, else it makes baby jeezus cry.

Why is this so hard for us plebes to get? Just hunker down a bit with this concept, and yes! You too, America! May be a great country someday, like Sweden, Norway, Denmark or maybe even Canada City.

lawrenceofthedesert February 19, 2009 at 2:31 pm

I believe that Sweden sold the shares they had nationalized at a profit. At least that’s what their government claims. Of course, it’s the same government that allows you to paint your subsidized housing one of three colors, all of which are shades of beige. Like the rest of ours, there also is a shadow side to the Scandinavian soul. You get blonde, but you have to give beige.

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