While you were enjoying Sunday football, working or whatever else was on your plate, the nationalization of the financial sector ramped up even more. From Calculated Risk:
This is a wild day for the financial markets. Here is a summary post (scroll down for actual posts):
1) Lehman is expected to file bankruptcy before midnight ET.
2) AIG rejected private equity investment and has asked the Fed for help. A restructuring plan will be announced tonight or early tomorrow morning.
3) BofA bought Merrill Lynch for $29 per share in stock.
4) The Fed has expanded its lending facilities, including accepting equities.
So the next right-wing moran who writes a letter to the editor calling Barack Obama a socialist deserves to be flogged with some worthless paper. Maybe someone has some old junk bond certificates.
The invisible hand isn’t confining itself to your pocket any more, folks. It’s all fun and games to have dogmatic stink tanks push privatization and deregulation schemes while times are good. Now we’re all going to reap the bitter fruit of a financial system that was allowed to wallow in corruption.
While the ridiculous and false charge that liberalism is socialism became a form of conventional wisdom in this country, the actual fact of conservative delusions about how to ensure efficient markets has been largely ignored.
The Republican “realists” who are such dedicated experts on sex crimes overlooked a basic fact of human nature: given the opportunity to rob people blind, a certain number of people will do so. And when this leads to a competitive advantage, as it did with the mortgage industry, it should be obvious that the pressures to cut corners will mount even in reputable firms. Throw in some Ponzi-type investment products and inscrutable accounting procedures, and voila, it’s 1987 all over again.
Now we have no choice but to bail the whole thing out. Again. At the same time Republicans put forth their boiler-plate rubbish about smaller government and less regulation, the American people will be witnessing a financial mess of truly epic proportions.
I’ve locked the crystal ball in a safe deposit box in an offshore bank, but the cognitive dissonance between what Republicans say and what they do could cause a rip in the Sarah-McCain continuum. It’s all moose hockey now.
The big question is whether we ever get a government that will make policy to benefit the entire population instead of a select few. You know, since we’re paying for it and stuff.
Yup – regulation is sure the problem….hahahhah.
Republicans used to be for responsible government, no deficits and civil rights. Now the only things republicans stand for are corruption, lies, cronyism, lobbyists, government bailouts and the largest deficits in history. I am so glad I saw the light and got off the kool-aid.
The orignal trust-buster was Teddy Roosevelt. He realized that there is NO free market when there are monoploies and that government has to be the referee to guarantee a free market compettion. Otherwise, capitalism (as practiced by republicans now) is a total sham. The only thing republicans do now is strangle the oversight of government that allows for us to be protected. Now we get corporations like Exxon raking in record all-time profits and the republicans cheer the lack of competition. Banks and mortgage companies sell loans that they should never have made in the first place – but they don’t care – they are going to sell the loan anyways to third and fourth parties (no wonder the subprime crisis has taken down so many financial institutions). What happenend to the days when the company writing the loan was careful and had to service the loan – what happened was the deregulation advocated by republicans.
The pathetically stupid mantra of less government means less protection and shoddy products, poisonous toys, illegal timber cuts on dangerous slopes, unsafe and deadly drugs, illegal lobbying and on and on….the bottom line is the free market does not work without oversight and regualtion. Roosevelt and most Americans knew this at the turn of the last century – republicans seem to have forgotten this basic fact.
Yep, you know the dems are sunk when they start acting like the pro capitalist party. heheheheh
So it’s official now, Bank of America owns the planet?
Its not rocket science, all Obama has to do is show how Mccain is not the Common man, especially if he can connect his historical economic views to the failing housing market. Palin and waffles and lipstick
is a distraction because McCain has little substance
@1
Yup!
When the Philadelphia Enquirer has doubts…
http://www.philly.com/inquirer.....bucks.html
Wow now in the Boston Globe too…
http://www.boston.com/bostongl.....amanomics/
Mc Cain has been chanting that Obama will raise taxes – for all the new spending he has proposed, that claim might stick as well.
I’m so glad that the Republicans are committed to conducting an above the boards positive campaign.
1987? Wasn’t that Reagan’s watch? Yes it was! Folks, it’s no accident that financial scandals and meltdowns always occur during Republican administrations. Voting Republican is signing a license to be robbed!
@2 You’re quite right, dog. Given America’s penchant for financial corruption, the Democrats are sunk when they’re capitalists and Republicans are socialists, as has happened since 2001.
When Merrill Lynch goes under, all of America goes under.
Between comments 6 and 7 I count three assholes – you know they’re like opinions – everyone’s got one.
Well let’s see. We’ve had Republican government more or less since 1980. And here’s the GOP’s accomplishments …
Toyota is the world’s biggest car copany
GMC and Ford are fighting for survival
Merrill Lynch is a Bank of America division
Empty homes are rotting all across America
The heartland’s steel mills lie rusting
The world’s richest man lives in Mexico
We’re paying $4 for gas to build resorts in the Middle East
90% of our food contains imported ingredients
Cubans have better health care than we do
We’re using corn to make motor fuel instead of whiskey
The average U.S. wage is less than it was in 1970
Calcutta is in better shape than New Orleans
We’re losing a war against Iraqi guerillas
Waytago wingfucks!!!
Whew! It’s coming down around our ears and it’s on the Republican’s watch.
If we’re lucky, people will finally wake up.
Christian Fundamentalists make such good Republicans because their belief system, in a very Skinnerian way, teaches them to accept non-rational and mutually exclusive things as a matter of ‘faith’.
“God is love and forgiveness. If you don’t accept that, Jesus will hate you and punish you for eternity.”
L.A. Train Wreck Terrorist Act?
Newsweek reports that federal investigators have discovered the commuter train’s audio recordings are silent in the final seconds before the crash, where there should be verbal safety checks between the engineer and onductor.
“Kitty Higgins, a board member for the National Transportation Safety Board, says the recordings show the engineer and conductor called out and confirmed light signals along the route, but the … audio record went silent” as the train passed the final two lights, which signaled the approach of the freight engine the commuter train plowed into.
(Quoted under fair use.)
Roger Rabbit Commentary: I’m just speculating, but it seems logical that if the engineer and conducter called out signals along the entire route, and then suddenly stopped, something happened to them. The logical explanation of why they didn’t call out the final — and critical — signals is because they couldn’t. And how did the commuter train get on the same track as the freight engine? Something’s fishy here. Was this a terrorist attack? We know terrorists consider commuter trains a prime target because they’ve attacked commuter trains in Europe, so why wouldn’t they attack them here, too? And what better way to do it than disable the train crew and jump off with the throttle wide open, leaving the train to go careering down the track until it hits something? I’m just askin’ …. Republicans like to brag there have been no terrorist attacks on U.S. soil since 9/11,* but I’m not so sure.
* Of course, they’re not counting the numerous terrorist attacks against abortion clinics since 9/11, because they’re committing them.
UM, anyone else notice that we are on the precipice of a financial collapse?
IT IS THE ECONOMY STUPID!!!
216 HEADLESS
wadr … I studied with Skinner and equating him IN ANY WAY with the Palindrones is awful!
What Skinner did do, that may be relevant, was devise an experimental model for religion. The model is called random reinforcement.
If you reward an animal, including Sarah Palin o you or I, at random intervals and observe the behavior of the animal prior to the rewards, the random behavior becomes more and more frequent even though it is not actually being rewarded.
In fact such “random reinforcement can be more effective than actually rewarding the animal or the Palin when it does the “right” thing.
From this, Skinner suggested, arose religious behavior and .. Palin?
I’ve been out reading conservative blogs and the consensus is McCain will win this economic mess rather than Obama…all he has to do is give a speech tomorrow outlining his economic vision for turning it around.
Okay.
That would assume he can give a speech anyone will listen to and that he HAS an economic vision.
It will take the entire house of cards falling around their ears before they realize this isn’t American Idol.
What will happen to all those pension funds that are heavily invested in all these *blue chip* financials?
Good luck America. I pity the next Prez whomever it is.
Tomorrow will be an excellent day to make an investment into your Roth IRA. The market promises to be down nicely, but I’d keep a watch on things and not place a buy until about ten minutes before market close at 1:00 PM our time – just in case the market actually turns around and rises tomorrow.
When nobody wants to own stocks is the best time to buy them.
Undoubtedly, some neocon hack will blame it on Clinton’s policies “taking effect” from over a decade ago. Or maybe LBJ’s?
The neocon economic policy fantasy—which McCain has adopted—maps back to Rumsfeld and Cheney in 1974. See:
http://hominidviews.com/?p=1868
and the links from there.
4. rawdawgbuffalo:
McCain guru linked to subprime crisis
…though that idiot stepped-down from the McCain campaign in July after calling Americans concerned about the economic crisis “whiners”
Phil Gramm steps down after ‘whiners’ comment.
Idiot.
A perfect time for a new president and vice-president (McCain & Palin) whose combined knowledge of economic policy is less than that contained in the pages of “Daddy’s Roommate.”
I’m stunned that republicans aren’t angrier. I’ve heard a few more rational sorts who actually have some of the original republican ideal left in the verbally shake their heads at bail outs (“What ever happened to the free market? let them fail!”), saber rattling at Russia, (Ben Stein on Sunday Morning today for example), debt, big government, states’ rights and so on. Even Alan Greenspan said we couldn’t afford McCain’s tax plan.
But the vast majority seem to be satisfied with believing lies about kindergarten sex ed, Obama’s false muslim origins, the lie that Obama will raise taxes on everyone, and crap about defeatocrats… Maybe it’s just Sarah Palin’s hotness with a gun.
We have Sean Hannity screaming that the economy is fine and quite a number of his intellectually challenged devotees spouting hate at “liberals” for disagreeing and “lying” about the economy even in the face of this financial sector melt down..
I’m simply stumped. How bad do things need to get before the average republican voter thinks, “gee, maybe I should look into this myself?” How much evidence do you need?
Of course the trolls here will just say I’m a stupid liberal idiot, or perhaps offer a link to some obscure article by a right wing mouth piece, with no supporting evidence that “proooovvvvees” me wrong. But after 8 years of rule, none of that matters when the country is sinking under debt, owned by our former enemies, our military is stretched to the breaking point and the laws are written by the lobbyists. What real republican ideals match this state of affairs?
I’m just stumped…..
After listening to the BBC overnight on my satellite-radio, I’m not terribly worried about all this. Companies like Lehman Brothers really aren’t banks per se, but acted as conduits between local banks and the broader global credit market. Their failure will not bring about a failure of the entire US banking system, since local and regional banks are doing just fine, comparatively speaking. The poor management shown by abandoning safer investments for high-risk investments in search of quick profits (namely subprime lending the bubble market of housing), the outrageous salaries given to CEOs, and of course the lack of oversight by the current administration all add up to the basic rule of capitalism: Well-run companies survive, while poorly-run companies fail. Lehman Brothers is really no different than say, Enron in that respect. The only thing left to play out is whether or not the boards of the failing institutions will face criminal charges or not, which I don’t think would be out of the question.
This still sucks large for the consumer, but financial ruin? Highly unlikely. And my BoA accounts should still be safe…….
Ok, so which party’s members when from Clinton’s administration to Fannie/Freddie?
Which party’s members caused a run on Fannie/Freddie?
Which party’s presidential candidate has financial consultants from Fannie/Freddie?
You guessed it, Democrats.
Now it may be nice and convenient to blame the world’s problems on Bush, the sad fact is you’re own people are in on it.
27 DD
If you have the answers to your questions, answer them, name names, and cite sources. Otherwise, why should anyone believe the crap you apew?
And as for “blaming the world’s problems on Bush,” the rest of the world, more or less, are doing fine. Europe is propserous and their banks are not failing. China and India are growing rapidly. Russia is poor but the oil price hikes we caused with Bush’s misguided invasion of Iraq are maing them richer.
Not’ it’s just America that eight years of Bush and fourteen years of Republican policies (in between the obstruction of Demcoratic policies I’m sure you cheered) have fucked.
Funny. The “blame Clinton” meme was predicted, and you came through. Good boy.
We can all reliably place the blame for the curren mess on the “other guys.”
The real question remaining is what to do about this. I would contend that from a common-sense standpoint, it would be foolish to continue doing what we’re doing now, yet that si the alternative guaranteed by John McCain.
Daddy/Mommy Love:
Why not first investigate Charles Rangel, House Ways and Means committee. If this was such a “big” problem, he could have “blown the whistle” Instead he accepted his no-interest loans, didn’t pay his taxes, rented out rent controlled apartments, etc.
But he is Donkey and Donkey get away with anything. Just ask William Frozen Money Jefferson.
HAs yelling loser clueless irrational idiot boy couldn’t refute the information found in links 6 & 7 because they were from leftist Donkey newspapers. So he stayed irrational for another day, clueless as ever.
Next thing the moron @ 31 is going to say is that the Seattle Times is “liberal”.
What an idiot!
My friends, we had 8 years of social liberalism and today’s headlines have proven this.
George Bush allows the Democrats every bill that would destroy our economy.
The Democrats wanted less control on real-estate loans and Bush allowed this.
Sad but true he should have veto many social spending bills and didn’t.
Bush hurt our economy Obama will destroy it.
Republicans are failures, liars, revelers in corruption.
What’s their solution? A fool who admits he doesn’t know crap about the economy. More of the same, McSame.
How predictable.
Throw the bums out.
Obama/Biden 2008.
1987? It’s beginning to look a bit more like 1929, I’m afraid.
Sure, it’s only Lehman Bros. and Merrill Lynch and AIG today. But these are investment firms, of the type to which people rely upon for their retirement savings. If people stop giving investment firms money out of fear that they will fail, then more firms WILL fail, causing a cascade of failures (or dominio effect, if you will).
Which puts the government on the horns of a delima. If they let these firms fail, then comsumer confidence deteriorates, which could easily push us into a full-fledged depression. But if they keep bailing out firms, the federal deficit increases to the point where the increasing debt service also drags down the economy.
All because the Bush administration and it’s cohorts in the Republican Congress of 2000 – 2006 thought that all government regulation and oversight was bad. (And no, you can’t blame Johnson, Carter, or Clinton for this disaster – it was brewed up in the Republican’s own kitchen).
Pulling a Pelletizer:
“WHILE campaigning in public for a speedy withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama has tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence. ”
” Iraqi leaders are divided over the US election. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani (whose party is a member of the Socialist International) sees Obama as “a man of the Left” – who, once elected, might change his opposition to Iraq’s liberation. Indeed, say Talabani’s advisers, a President Obama might be tempted to appropriate the victory that America has already won in Iraq by claiming that his intervention transformed failure into success.
Maliki’s advisers have persuaded him that Obama will win – but the prime minister worries about the senator’s “political debt to the anti-war lobby” – which is determined to transform Iraq into a disaster to prove that toppling Saddam Hussein was “the biggest strategic blunder in US history.” ”
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09.....htm?page=0
Really barack. Tell one thing in public and do something behind the scenes in private.
Oh yes yelling loser boy will discount the source. Well if the Iraqi leader is asked and he verifies the authenticity, what in the world will yelling loser boy do?
Don’t egt hapy about BofA buying Merrill Lynch for $50 billion. For that price they just purchasecd $613 billion of debt. That worries me.
yelling loser boy… refute the information from the Philly and Boston newspapers.
You can’t so the frivolous ranting of a lunatic.
36 Pud
Just makes Obama look more Reaganesque.
Economy down the toilet. Expect McCain to try to capitalize by saying how much he sympathises with the plight of many Americans, and how he needs to be elected to “change” Washington so that he can … do the same thing Bush did, only more so, and somehow expect a different result.
@30, 31 As usual, your arrival starts out with name-calling. The first words you type! And yet you whine like a bitch when you’re called out as a goatfucker. Well, you’re not only a goatfucker, asswipe, you’re an America-hating commie-fascist goatfucker. Now let’s hear you whine some more.
Regardless of your political beliefs, I think you will enjoy today’s Non-Sequitor cartoon. Since cartoons are usually drawn quite some time before publication, it’s relevence to today’s events is probably a coincidence.
http://www.uclick.com/client/s.....index.html
refute the information from the Philly and Boston newspapers.
Not worth my time to analyze right wing bullshit. Next time bring a real argument.
Your joke of comment is “lookee here. ‘librul’ MSM prints right wing bullshit. Me so happy!’
What a loser!
Yes you Yahoos, political contributions tell it all
For instance Goldman Sachs – Robert Rubin remember him…
2008 $4,301,151 $3,148,850 $1,152,061 73% 27% Donkey vs Republican
2006 $3,492,716 $2,166,411 $1,292,355 62% 37% Donkey vs Republican
Hedge Funds
2008 $12,025,977 $8,278,869 $3,747,108 69% 31% Donkey vs Republican
2006 $3,513,240 $1,234,493 71% 25% Donkey vs Republican
Yes, this financial crisis is all non-Donkey…
Why didn’t the lawyers get involved
2008 $152,294,654 $114,577,212 $37,597,496 75% 25% Donkey vs Republican
2006 $85,293,588 $34,368,006 70% 28% Donkey vs Republican
Commercial Banks
2008 $12,215,037 $13,385,283 48% 52% Donkey vs Republican
36 – Showin’ the love for Papa Murdoch’s right wing bullshit.
Is this HAs best and brightest or HAs dullest and dimmest:
yelling loser boy irrational dullard: Boston and Philly are leftist liberal bastions of reporters.
Good try.
Next.
The Prosecution Rests
Daddy/Mommy Love: How? Does Obama have negotiation authorization from the State Department? Is he pulling another Nancy Pelosi when she “visited” Syria and “spoke” for Israel?
Of course stuff like this gets a pass when you are Donkey!
Even Obama in March said this about the financial crisis at Cooper Union:
“Under Republican and Democratic administrations, we failed to guard against practices that all too often rewarded financial manipulation instead of productivity and sound business practices. We let the special interests put their thumbs on the economic scales. The result has been a distorted market that creates bubbles instead of steady, sustainable growth; a market that favors Wall Street over Main Street, but ends up hurting both.”
Looks like Obama got one thing right so far.
So you Obamaniacs, who should he listen to?
Robert Rubin – Wall Street Banker head of Citigroup making $100 MM
Robert Reich – Labor Union Stooge
Paul Krugman – Stooge
If he listens to Rubin – nothing changes on Wall Street
If he listens to Reich – nothing changes at the NEA and students continue to fail. Of course you didn’t read the latest report Colleges are reporting high schools are failing and incoming freshmen need remedial English and Math courses. So much for the NEA caring about students and dumbing down curriculum.
If he listens to Krugman – Hanging Chads anyone?
Yahoo Leftist Pinheads
Google: jason furman obama campaign
See if he isn’t a friend of Robert Rubin.
You see as I told you Obama is Cap and Trade Friendly he is also Wall Street Friendly with Jason Furman, Brookings man!
He once said: “”George Bush has had some bad luck with some aspects of the economy.” And Obama chose this man?
You see there are some things I read on leftist pinhead sites I save for the right time.
David Sirota wrote when Jason Furman became the lead econimic advisor to Obama “Barack Obama is an empty vessel.”
Huff Post entry yelling loser boy…
Steve just to let you know, since you add nothing to the conversation and you are still fixated on animal sex so much that you actually posted animal sex web sites on HA and you are still allowed to post here:
you are ignored
Nobody’s buying the lies that Obama is “interfering” with the negotiations between the Iraqi government and the Bush administration.
Bush & Co. got caught trying to push through a long-term oil contract which screwed the Iraqis and favored American & Dutch oil companies, and a long-term “security agreement” which would tie the hands of any future President by making a withdrawal difficult. The Iraqis (rightly) refused, and have so far resisted the pressure by Bush & Co. to wrap it up prior to the November elections – so they could announce it in time to argue that the Iraq problem had been “solved”, while pushing the actual problems of dealing with the insurgency off onto the next administration.
Of course, Bush had promised that we wouldn’t stay in Iraq “one day longer” than was requested by the Iraqi government. When the Iraqi government asked the Bush administration to pull out American troops by the end of the year (there presence was feeding the insurgency movement rather than stopping it), Bush & Co. changed tunes, arguing that it was “discussing” the timetable (oops, “goals”) in order to accomplish the withdrawal. In reality, it was threatening to remove all personal protection from the Iraqi government officials unless they caved into U.S. demands.
So while they are still at an impass on the crucial issue of exactly WHEN U.S. troops will withdraw, the Republicans are trying to find a way of blaming it on the Democrats – in this case, blaming Obama for interefering with negotiations.
Nice try, but it has no substance. Obama didn’t interefere. The Iraqis might have decided it’s not worth dealing with Bush any more and are willing to put things off until the next President takes office, but that’s not Obama’s fault.
Boston and Philly are leftist liberal bastions of reporters.
And you cited two opinion pieces, two pieces of right wing trash that papers everywhere print to show “balance” due to right wing shitheads “working the refs”.
Poor Stupes, most people just ignore you after many years of you trying to sell this shit.
Maybe I should start.
rhp6033: URL linking?
I post my URL so even yelling loser boy can place his worthless commentary. Yet you post lots of rhp6033 biased info.
Forward a link so I can “enjoy” your musings.
By the way, the oil price spike has done more than raise gas prices at the pump. The Tesoro refinery in Anacortes stopped producing asphalt so it could make more profit from gasoline instead. Of course, this resulted in delays in road construction projects this summer, as well as higher prices paid by contractors on those projects as they get their asphalt from other sources.
Paving projects back on track after shortage of liquid asphalt
So the cost of road construction goes up, and projects get delayed. Funny how it all happened about the same time Rossi was complaining about not seeing the benefits of the gas price hike.
Another example of Republicans profiting off causing a problem, and then trying to make political hay by blaming the problem on a Democrat, and then
Again look at yelling loser boy grasping for straws in #53.
Did your wife give that to you as a talking point? You’re too clueless to even think that through!
Puddy;
Are you refering to # 52? I posted those links about three weeks ago. I don’t have time now to go back and find them again for your benefit. Look it up yourself.
56 – Ok it starts. You’re an insane individual not worth much more worth responding to than klake or JCH.
You bore me.
You are ignored.
rhp6033 said: “Look it up yourself.”
I’ll remember that when you ask me for a link.
See ya.
#58 yelling loser boy waaaa waaaa Puddy said my wife is smarter than me waaaa waaaaa … from the same leftist pinhead CLOWN who ridiculed my two children on this blog.
You are HAs missing and weakest link.
Goodbye!
Hmmm, Wall Street down by 185 points at around 9:15 this morning. I would have thought it would have beem more like 350 points.
Has Wall Street become numb to bad news? Maybe 11,150 is the “floor”? If enought traders believe that, then there will be some buyers enter the market later this morning and the DJIA may gain some ground.
yet you Donkey give Charlie Rangel a pass!
rhp6033: I just looked up the politics of Richard Fuld – Lehman Brothers
Look at all the Donkey he supported and how much more he gave to them vs. conservatives –
http://www.newsmeat.com/ceo_po.....d_Fuld.php
Comment all you want on the DJIA but if you don’t know where the swill cometh from…You know you can look intelligent and search this out too.
See ya
Lookin at Merrill Lynch CEO he’s a little more balanced but still swings Donkey…
http://www.newsmeat.com/ceo_po....._ONeal.php
This shit is so easy to determine.
Again I ask Donkey… who leads these orgs? Seems to me they are your peeps!
By the way, foreign credit markets seem to be doing okay generally, although the collapse of the U.S. market is dragging them down.
I spoke Friday with one of my colleagues in Japan. He said the economy there is doing even worse than it was the week before (when I was there). The Japanese have started to referring to it as “The American Disease”.
Which brings forth the question: exactly HOW MANY countries can the Bush Administration destroy before it leaves office?
Just for Puddy:
Here’s one link, showing the Bush administration’s insistence on a U.S. military presence in Iraq past 2011, but Iraqi insistence on a definate withdrawal date:
Withdrawal plan stalls U.S.-Iraq deal: Al-Maliki insists on a specific date
But if the Bunny Loving man supports your cause I guess it’s OOOOOOOOOOOOOOTAY:
http://www.newsmeat.com/media_.....Hefner.php
rhp6033: You put the mortage crisis at the feet of Bush.
Does he control Wall Street, Hedge Funds, Investment Banks? If the political contributions which you seem to ignore lean your way BIG TIME what does that say about their politics? What does that say about your party leaders in Congress who supported this? You ignoring their complicity by saying it’s all GWBs fault?
Why didn’t a Donkey Senator or Congressman come out and say this is a house of cards back in 2004 or 2005? Hindsight is always 20-20 which you employ everyday against Republicans but you are so myopic when it comes to Donkey.
@66
Obama is a liar and will do anything to POTUS even sell his soul if he had one.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09.....129150.htm
I haven’t checked out who was giving donations to whom.
But it really doesn’t matter. The crisis was in the making for the better part of four years, running from 2002 to 2006. It was during that time period that Gramm (Republican) led the fight against regulation of the firms, and investment vehicles, which were at the forefront of the crisis. The Bush administration was solidly behind that effort, as it neglected to even investigate, much less regulate, the new investment paper which was backed by sub-prime mortgages. The Republican-led Congress of 2000-2006 went along willingly.
No matter how many contributions were given to Democratic Congressmen during 2000-2006, they weren’t in charge and could not have affected the outcome. They weren’t in charge of the Treasury Dept., the Securities and Exchange Commission, the I.R.S., the Federal Housing Authority, Fannie May, or Freddie Mac. These were all headed by Bush appointies. They weren’t even in a position to call hearings in Congress, start a Congressional investigation, or do anything else to spur oversight efforts. Those positions were held by Republican committee heads, which is one of the perogatives of being in power.
Assigning blame to individuals in the investment community is a bit tricky. The reason is because they all have to play on the same playing field, and if the ref is choosing to play blindfolded, they would be fools for insisting on taking the “high moral ground” while their competitors are raking in huge profits using unsound practices in the dirt below them. Their stockholders would see their competitors making huge quarterly profits, and demand to know why they aren’t doing so, also – under threat of replacing the board and/or major officers. So the ones which are actually failing now may, or may not be, the ones responsible for starting this mess – they may simply be the ones who were caught standing when the music stopped.
That’s why it is SO IMPORTANT for government to keep up a consistent oversight of the financial markets, with reasonable and appropriate regulations under the appropriate circumstances. Without adequate regulation, the markets will naturally fall into unsafe practices. The Bush administration failed in its duties.
If I did my job the way the Bush Administration did it’s job, I would be OUT of a job within six months, if not sooner.
I used to work with a guy who talked a big game, but really didn’t know squat about how to do business at the level he was attempting to operate. But he managed to stick around far longer than he should have by continually blaming his mistakes on others.
The Republicans remind me a lot of that guy. Dino Rossi in particular. If you don’t know much about him, he makes a fairly decent first impression. That’s why his ads have been pretty effective, so far. But once you scratch beneath the surface, you realize that he’s just another George Bush. Despite his claims of “compassionate conservatism”, he’s basically incompetent and just wants a chance to tear government up, without anything to replace it. He doesn’t realize that the government that is there exists for a reason, and the consequences will be felt a bit later.
Where did Sarah Palin get those glasses? Who does her hair?
She can see Russia from her window and has a degree in politcal science from a college in Idaho..