10
votes
Accepted
Was the financial crash of 2008 caused by top graduates of the American Ivy Leagues working at wall street banks?
The author was mixing up cause and effect.
The position that the 2008 crash was largely caused by the behavior of lending institutions is quite supportable. The lending bubble was pretty much ...
- 121k
9
votes
Accepted
Has any music act ever topped the Beatles in sales?
SHORT ANSWER
Has any music act ever topped the Beatles in sales?
There is probably only one likely contender - Elvis Presley - but it is highly unlikely that we'll ever know for sure.
One problem is ...
- 108k
8
votes
Was the financial crash of 2008 caused by top graduates of the American Ivy Leagues working at wall street banks?
During the crisis I worked in the team that was creating pricers for the complex derivatives in the bank where CDSs were invented.
2007-8 crisis has many reasons. The origin of it lies in easing the ...
- 1,541
8
votes
Was there a stated reason for the evacuation of Israeli settlers from the Gaza strip?
The Gaza disengagement plan was revealed to the public by Ariel Sharon
in December 2003 at the Herzliya Conference, an Israeli policy
conference for high-ranking politicians, security analysts and ...
7
votes
Was there a stated reason for the evacuation of Israeli settlers from the Gaza strip?
Theory vs. reality
In theory, these settlers could have remained there and lived under the new government of Gaza.
In theory this is correct. Moreover, in theory, once the Palestinian state is ...
- 4,120
7
votes
When Lehman Brothers collapsed, what happened to their clients?
They would have gotten their money back.
Legally, client assets had to be segregated from the broker's own accounts. This isn't always strictly followed - MF Global notoriously dipped into customer ...
- 97.5k
6
votes
Accepted
Was the year 2000 a really peaceful time in history for the West?
As near as I can tell, the only western country (for some definitions of "western") that was directly involved in a war in early 2001 was Russia in the Second Chechen War.
Israel, if you count them, ...
- 121k
6
votes
Was the financial crash of 2008 caused by top graduates of the American Ivy Leagues working at wall street banks?
I worked in the financial services industry back in 2007/8 in software engineering and saw the crash happen with a front row seat.
The root cause of the crash was the massive overvaluation of CDS (...
- 11.3k
6
votes
Was the financial crash of 2008 caused by top graduates of the American Ivy Leagues working at wall street banks?
Fairly obviously not. The problems of 2008 were the consequence of a great many people (far more than the total number of Ivy League graduates), all acting in ways that they thought would be ...
- 2,875
5
votes
Was the financial crash of 2008 caused by top graduates of the American Ivy Leagues working at wall street banks?
What you referred to about "top graduates" was a "symptom," but not the underlying "disease."
The real problem was the "pedal to the medal," and "anything ...
- 104k
5
votes
Accepted
Did the people who jumped from the World Trade Center during 9/11 lose their life insurance policy due to committing suicide?
While I can't prove this directly, it's extremely unlikely that any insurance companies rejected claims on these grounds. My understanding is that insurance companies follow the official cause of ...
- 22k
4
votes
Virginia's response to Harper's Ferry, compared to the US response to 9/11
The two are not at all comparable IMO.
Before the civil war, members of US Congress were literally engaging in pugilism, with occasional duels, and did so chiefly over slavery. Moods calmed down, and ...
- 22.9k
4
votes
Who said that Saddam Hussein had WMDs?
George Bush in October 2002:
The Iraqi regime has violated all of those obligations. It possesses
and produces chemical and biological weapons. It is seeking nuclear
weapons.
Bush in March 2003:
...
3
votes
Were Cypriots able to pay their bills during the "bail in" of March 2013?
I have a business relation in Greece, and a Dutch bank account. Both countries use the Euro. Theoretically the Greek company can transfer the money from Greece to my Dutch account. In reality they can'...
- 22.5k
3
votes
Why are major streets in urban regions not build tunnel like?
You have a vastly different definition of "liveable" than the rest of the planet. You have also not thought through the implications of your... I suppose "proposal" is as good a word as any.
...
MCW♦
- 33.8k
2
votes
What happened to Dyson's CoVent ventillators?
You can compare ventilators to cars. They are complex machinery that have undergone significant evolution since they first appeared, they need considerable safety margins*,, and require considerable ...
- 9,346
2
votes
Why are major streets in urban regions not build tunnel like?
Cost, cost and cost. Just to put an example: Madrid (Spain) made a tunnelization of the M-30, a radial road that initially surrounded the city, but as the city expanded it became a street inside it. ...
- 567
2
votes
Accepted
Can anyone find this DOJ report talking about the CIA's detention and interrogation (or torture) program?
Investigation into the Office of Legal Counsel's Memoranda Concerning
Issues Relating to the Central Intelligence Agency's Use of "Enhanced
Interrogation Techniques" on Suspected Terrorists ...
- 1,193
2
votes
Why was 6 WTC not included in the plans to rebuild the World Trade Center?
This isn't, strictly speaking, a question of history; merely one of logic and renumbering:
OLD : 1 2 3 4 - 5 6 7 -
NEW : M M M 4 3 1 2 7 5
The site of the Old Twin Towers is currently occupied by ...
1
vote
Was there a stated reason for the evacuation of Israeli settlers from the Gaza strip?
On 9 July 2004, the International Court of Justice affirmed Israel was an illegal Occupying Power in respect to Gaza and the other Occupied Territories. Among the affirmations, the Ruling of 9 July ...
- 105
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