This $700,000,000,000 (that's right - eleven zeros) bailout for Wall Street really bothers me. Why the hell should we have to pay for the mistakes of some greedy executives? I'm not an economist (clearly), but rather, a very concerned American taxpayer. If a regular Joe or Jane was having money issues, would the federal government bail them out? Fuck no. So why should we bail out these companies? What the fuck have they done for the American taxpayers lately?
Does anyone else find it fishy that Henry Paulson used to be the CEO of Goldman Sachs? Anyone? Anyone at all? What is going to be worse - the failure of some banks, or driving ourselves seven hundred billion dollars into debt? That's an insane amount of money to spend on something that doesn't really even address the greater problem, whatever that greater problem is. That's right - I'm not even sure what the greater problem is, but I sure as hell know that the greater problem is NOT the potential failure of some Wall Street firms.
What really scares me about all of this is that nobody seems to have any solid answers. Although, after following some of the discussion about this situation between my fraternity brothers in our online forum, I did hear one suggestion that makes a lot of sense - that maybe it's time to shift our economy toward greener industries. Granted, this statement was directed at a brother who, as an architect, is getting worried about his job security (since the demand for such services is closely tied to the economy), but I think it can have a broader application.
I know this is barely scratching the surface, but what are your thoughts?
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
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6 comments:
Anonymous, I deleted your comment because I asked for readers' thoughts on the bailout, NOT on the presidential campaign.
Plus, if you're going to make such claims again, you should at least have the balls to put your name with the comment, especially since you're making some pretty bold statements and not backing them up with sources. Therefore, I'm returning to my old policy of only allowing registered users to comment.
Hilarity point number one: My post was directly addressing the bailout. I'm not sure how any person with minimal reading comprehension could argue with that.
Hilarity point number two: Just another liberal (oh I'm sorry, I hear the P.C. term these days is "progressive") who can't handle it when someone presents them with undisputed and easily verifiable facts that aren't in agreement with their views. Deleting it though...that takes the cake. Way to answer people after asking "what are your thoughts?" I suppose any person's thoughts are acceptable as long as they are in agreement with yours.
So here I am, back again, giving you my name (as if it matters) and rewriting my comments with sources included. I assume that the Associated Press, The New York Times and Reuters are acceptable sources for you, or do you only accept information from "CommiesforObammie.com" and "Free Speech Unless I Disagree” Weekly magazine as credible sources?
From the records of the U.S. Senate comes proof that it was Republicans who warned of this coming crisis and proposed regulation and oversight of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. This bill was The Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, sponsored by Republican Sen. Hagel and co-sponsored by Sen. McCain and two other Republican Senators. McCain was quoted in the Senate,
”Mr. President, this week Fannie Mae's regulator reported that the company's quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few years were "illusions deliberately and systematically created" by the company's senior management, which resulted in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal."
"The OFHEO report also states that Fannie Mae used its political power to lobby Congress in an effort to interfere with the regulator's examination of the company's accounting problems. This report comes some weeks after Freddie Mac paid a record $3.8 million fine in a settlement with the Federal Election Commission and restated lobbying disclosure reports from 2004 to 2005. These are entities that have demonstrated over and over again that they are deeply in need of reform."
"I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.
I urge my colleagues to support swift action on this GSE reform legislation."
This bill was blocked by Democrats, who favored reducing the requirements for home loans to give “affordable housing to everyone.” They even claimed that in order not to do so would be “racist.” Study up on some Barney Frank and his Crew if you want backup on that. Said Frank in 2003, "These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis," said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. "The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."
Source: New York Times, September 11, 2003.
So you see, the Republicans actually had foresight and tried to avert this crisis back in 2005, yet they were blocked by Democrats. Democrats who were all too willing to let Big Business bend the rules to give handouts to people who were fiscally irresponsible, had no money to make a down payment, and signed into financial obligations they could not fulfill. Whether some were greedy and living beyond their means or just uninformed and unintelligent, it really doesn’t matter. The point is, now that it’s come to a crisis point for the taxpayers and our financial system has suffered this terrible hit, Democrats like Obama and people on the street like you are all too eager to blame Republicans for the problems of the world. Like so many Liberals, they are for entitlements, giveaways, and program after program for the “disadvantaged,” but then when it creates a financial disaster, they quickly look to the nearest Republican so you they can whine to them incessantly and sit around on their asses drinking Starbucks Iced Coffee while constructing conspiracy theories about how G.W. Bush and his dog Spot planned it this way.
July 11, 2008 Washington (Reuters) “U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama considers mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac "essential" in the effort to ensure housing affordability for Americans, his campaign said on Friday.
"Sen. Obama has long believed we should take all necessary steps to ensure affordable homeownership for millions of American families, and that includes an essential role for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac," Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement.”
I’m sure Obama’s glowing reviews of these two organizations were largely due to the common knowledge that two of his financial advisors during his campaign have been former Fannie Mae CEOs Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson. Both of these men raised big bucks for his campaign as well, which can be easily verified.
Associated Press, September 19th, 2008: “McCain's campaign released a new television ad Friday hitting Obama for his connection to Johnson. The Arizona senator is correct when he says Obama is the No. 2 recipient of campaign money from employees of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Obama has collected $126,349 from those sources, according to a compilation by the Center for Responsive Politics, second only to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who has received $165,400. The ranking covers the period since 1989.
Now why are you going to delete this? Because I don’t have a blog? Because I used sarcasm? I’m interested in the next feeble excuse for being censored. It’s a lot easier and less time consuming to write vague political posts (with no need for sources) and to put up meaningless Saturday Night Live videos than to actually study the activity of the House and Senate, isn’t it Bob?
Vincent - I'm not deleting your reply. However, I feel the need to point out that this is my blog, and it will operate by my rules - rules which I may change whenever and however I like. And if I want you to cite your sources, you should cite your sources, no matter what those sources may be. It's not because I'm trying to keep you from sharing your views, it's because when I ask for readers' thoughts on something, it means I want to hear a variety of informed opinions - and I want to see HOW those well-formed opinions came to the point at which they became well-formed. Because, really, "just because some jackass said so in a demeaning manner" doesn't cut it for me.
It's as simple as that. I really don't need to answer to you or anyone else for how I decide to run my website. And on that note, if you're looking for hard-hitting, insightful, and non-vague political discourse, you're really in the wrong place. That's not what my blog is about. That's not what it has ever been about, and I'm not really sure what gave you that idea.
But hey, the joke's really on you since you spent all that time compiling data for your rebuttal (which I knew would come eventually -- you've clearly got too much of a need to feel superior to try to start an argument with a real political blogger), when I only get about six hits a day.
Who, of JohnnyMac and BarryO is more responsible/tied to the current crisis? I'll give you a clue... Barrack Obama has been in the US Senate for less than 2 years, and the origins of this crisis are significantly older than that... and....
From the NYTimes:
"Senator John McCain’s campaign manager was paid more than $30,000 a month for five years as president of an advocacy group set up by the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to defend them against stricter regulations, current and former officials say."
Oops.
Charliemo, I'm pretty sure Vincent won't accept that, since it came from the New York Times, which he will clearly dismiss as liberal propaganda.
Cool, trolls. Congrats, Bob. You've hit the big time.
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