Bloomberg: How the Democrats Created the Financial Crisis

I actually agree with you on this point that the government shouldn't be subsidizing housing and fueling the McMansions by encouraging this behavior.

If anything a home is probably the worst investment one can make as its return since 1900 has been barely above inflation and below most forms of even the safest investing. The idea that 'everyone' deserves a home is flawed and all the tax deductions do is perpetuate the pricing of homes as it makes it more beneficial to buy a house. So demand is increased and so prices rise. So its my belief that the tax deduction only serves to benefit the agents, mortgage brokers, lenders and homebuilders.

But alas, thats a debate for another day.

I'll be the first one to say that GWB screwed up by continuing this social idea of mandating 'more americans or minorities owning a home'. But I think Clinton rode and enjoyed the benefits of increasing home ownership and the irrational continued run in the markets, but then Bush had to feel the pain of the 'irrational exuberance' of both markets coming back down to earth.

 

This is an absurd joke Basso, i usually refuse to post in any thread you create because they are so bad and without an merit.

But this one is just shocking. Laughable. McCain and republicans deregulated the whole thing and pushed for the allowance of predatory loans.

No, the dems couldn't stop them. They were weak and in the minority. And yet you blame them????

Classic. This is like saying when someone commits a crime and say the real criminal isn't the guy who broke the law but all the other people who didn't teach him right or wrong or see the warning signs to stop him.

 

comparing the growth in the Dow to when clinton was president compared to now is just not accurate. clinton's term benefited from real growth in industries like telecommunications, not giving him credit, he was just around for a very prosperous time.

people talk about the dot.com bubble but that was a bunch of internet stocks, there was real growth in real tech companies creating real wealth. there was also low employment, there was nafta.

all gwb's growth has been based on low interest rate debt financing.

 

via TPM --

Smack Down

I think Kos , Digby and Kilgore have this about right. The Republican/McCain plan is to get the Democrats to bail out the GOP's Wall Street friends and then run against them for doing it.

--Josh Marshall

 

Kos is right that the Republicans are going to play both sides of the fence, but he's completely wrong to suggest that the whole thing should be delayed for political reasons.

Like i've said before: pass the bailout, but pass with a mechanism to fund it - repeal Bush's tax cuts - it's the only way.

 

Won't the Dem's Wall Street friends get any money too

[face it -- they're all in this together. Other then a few outliers in each party, they all want a hand in shovelling money off the truck]

 

that article doesn't dispute anything about deregulation playing a major part in the crisis.

 

Why isn't Henry Cisneros and Andrew Cuomo's names brought up more?
They were instrumental in increasing the mandates to help minority or under represented groups? This led to them picking up the most subprime type
debt which ultimately led to their fall?

 

blah blah blah bush triggered a war generations from now will be paying off and they have the nerve to post this kind of stuff.

 

The mandate to load up investment bank balance sheets with synthetic credit derivative instruments?

 

The Investment banks were the giant sucking sound at the end fueling everything thinking that a pile of crap was better than a little piece of crap.

I'm not disputing that and they've gotten HAMMERED because of it. Thousands have lost their jobs, reputations, company stock and all of
their wealth and 401ks. They've taken lumps.

But I think blaming Bush for this is just insane. There's a lot of things he's done wrong, though I think Kerry or Gore would have been much worse, but lets not demonize the man more by stating that he is to blame for one of the largest financial meltdowns ever.

I do think many people's very socialist idea of the government deciding that more people need a home and having Fannie/Freddie push this and back a lot of the real crap did perpetuate this crisis. Democrats and Republicans were both responsible for the idea that fairness and wisdom could trump reason.

 

didn't you know, McCain voted against curbing predatory lending practices, and his advisor - Phil Gramm, was a champion of predatory lending, of allowing all sorts of crazy derivative, and for pushing through legislation that allowed banks to spread into multiple areas - insurance, mortages, etc....so that you had people's money at risk as it was being gambled into very risky securities.

This was a product of the deregulation McCain and Gramm championed. You should read up on your history before you cast your vote my friend.

 

Seems that in hammering home this point about McCain's past, Democratic commentators are now willing to broach the Keating Five.

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Sirota is on a mission to bring the Keating Five to public discussion:
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you know khan, i tried to ignore that you're blaming the housing bust on minorities getting housing the first couple of times. either back up that claim or stop making it. TIA

 

What about the lendees?

 

it's like the republicans just let out one massive freudian slip, admitting that had democrats acted at the appropriate time (nevermind that they didn't have the majority to do it anyways) to further REGULATE the markets we wouldn't be in this mess.

the ironing is so starchy rich.

 

They aren't at fault - they did not stupidly lend the money (lenders) or force it to be lent (clinton - kind of).

But they certainly are a bunch of self-centered, shortsighted, and annoying morons.

And it's silly to assume that I was advocating them not be punished. They'll get their just deserves - but that's the fault of their own stupidity. Different faults.... am I making sense?

 

You mean the counterparties in the CDS market?

 

that's like giving money to a crack head, and then blaming the crack head for wasting your money on crack.

no body forced the lenders hand into writing horrible loans.