THE BAILOUT

Have We Learned Nothing?

Post-Enron regulations were supposed to hold companies and markets accountable. Author Bethany McLean explains what went wrong—again.

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  • Posted By: distantsmoke @ 10/05/2008 9:22:07 AM

    Politicians are busy teaching an entire generation of Americans that Government, and in particular the bigger the better (government that is) can solve everything that is wrong in their life. Can't keep a job? Unemployment benefits will take care of you whether you look for work or not. Can't pay your mortgage? That's OK, the government will pay it for you. Can't buy food? That's what food stamps are for. No health care insurance? No problem, government will come to your rescue. The problem with all this is, guess who gets to decide where you live? What you wear? What you eat? And what kind of health services you get? Certainly not you. The same people who are "taking care" of you, also think they are better than you at controlling your life. And politicians like Barney Frank have their foot on the accelerator. We wouldn't be in this economic mess, if politicians like him hadn't forced the finance industry to underwrite what would normally be considered a "poor risk" loans. I feel sorry for people who can't afford a house. But not at the expense of the future I have worked so hard to provide for myself.

    And has anyone else noticed that the most liberal state in the uniion is once again on the verge of bankruptcy? I think there should be a limit on the number of times a state can declare bankruptcy, and Califonia (where all those rich liberlas who are supposed to be patriotic by paying more taxes live) reached that limit 2 or 3 bankruptcies ago. Am I the only one who is sick and tired of subsidizing Hollywood?

    • Posted By: trimm25 @ 10/07/2008 3:57:45 PM

      It could be there republica governer.

  • Posted By: Nowforthetruth @ 10/07/2008 11:46:22 AM

    The link below contains a purported list of the top 25 in Congress who got contributions from the folks at Fannie and Freddie. Obama is listed third, after Dodd and Kerry, even though Obama is just a junior Senator. Obama is followed next by Clinton. Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi are on the list as well.

    http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=16&artnum=1&issue=20080918

    Then there is the Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd who allegedly got special mortgage deals from Countrywide, who gave preferential rates to 'friends' of company's chairman.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25140560/

    For an interesting article purporting to detail the House Financial Services Committee Chairs long history with Fannie Mae, See http://www.businessandmedia.org/printer/2008/20080924145932.aspx

    "House Financial Services Committee Chair promoted GSEs while former 'spouse' was Fannie Mae executive."

    The link below describes how some in Congress tried to use the original version of the bailout bill to divert money eventually recovered to groups like ACORN. See:

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122247015469280723.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

    And then there is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who allegedly has directed nearly $100,000 from her political action committee to her husband's real estate and investment firm.

    http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/oct/01/pelosis-pac-pays-bills-for-spouses-firm.

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  • Posted By: Krohn @ 10/06/2008 8:17:32 PM

    The Antichrist!:
    When George Soros failed to obtain the election of his candidate, John Kerry, in 2004, he brooded for a while, even said he might get out of politics altogether, but he just couldn???t stop himself. He has stated publicly that he wishes to burst the ???bubble of American supremacy,??? because he says our preeminence in the world is a detriment to global ???equilibrium.??? So far, he has failed, but he keeps on trying.

    And Mr. Soros has made no secret either of the fact that he sees the shortest way to effect political shake-ups, what he terms ???regime changes,??? is through very difficult economic conditions.

    America has not yet felt the full force of Soros style economic shock treatment. But others have.

    Soros made his first billion in 1992 by shorting the British pound with leveraged billions in financial bets, and became known as the man who broke the Bank of England. He broke it on the backs of hard-working British citizens who immediately saw their homes severely devalued and their life savings cut drastically in comparative worth almost overnight.

    When the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 threatened to spread globally, George Soros was right in the thick of it. Soros was accused by the Malaysian Prime Minister of causing the collapse with his monetary machinations, and he was branded in Thailand as an ???economic war criminal??? who ???sucks the blood from the people.??? Right in the middle of this crisis, Soros dashed off his book, The Crisis of Global Capitalism, which demanded a ???third way??? toward economic stability.

    Wake up, America, before it is too late!!!!

  • Posted By: cani77 @ 10/06/2008 5:01:06 PM

    In a few weeks we will make a choice that will decide our future.
    I follow an economist named Bob Proctor. He has called the top and bottom of every market crash since the 70s correctly.
    Also, he perfectly predicted the current real estate market meltdown and the picture he paints about what will happen in the next couple years
    is terrifying.He thinks it will be worse then the great depression.
    The banks in the U.S. are going under one after the other. Countrywide the largest morgage bank in the world,Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch which are 3 out of the top 5 wall street firms. Also, Fanny and Freddy Mae which hold 50 percent of the home loans in the United States.
    The government took them over because they are essentially bankrupt.If they didn't the entire financially system would virtually shut down, the stock market would crash and we would suffer beyond what any of us have seen before.

    McCain just like Bush " doesn't understand the economy".
    That not just my opinion its his own words. Not only does he not understand how to fix it but he does not understand exactly what is broken.
    It is no surprise that he doesn't. The people that make up these securities use complex mathematical models very few people understand.
    Bush and McCain both can take the credit for this mess since they helped deregulate the laws that were protecting us.

    Bush's economic advisor Phil Graham wrote the deregulation bill that allowed banks to take huge risks with all of our future.
    Now, Phil Graham is the head of McCain's economic policy.He is also McCain's choice for the next secretary of the treasury.
    No one in this country can afford for that to happen. The last time Bush met with his economic advisors was in March. He either didn't care or didn't realize that anything was wrong. Phil Graham had the guts to say that we are in a mental recession after he helped create the worst economy meltdown in our lifetime.
    It will take the best and brightest minds in the world to get us out of this nightmare. As bad as Bush has done, McCain would be
    even more destructive because things are in much worse shape. The next president will not inherit a surplus like Bush did but a tanking economy and a 11,600,000,000,000 (trillion) dollars deficit. Most of it Bush created and it will take decades to pay it back.
    If you do what you have always done then you will get what you have always got.
    When it comes to policy Bush and McCain are the same 90 percent of the time.
    So why are the polls even close then ?



    Mccains team just said they no longer want to talk about the economy.Instead they would like to spend time
    running the biggest smear campaign in history.



    They think they can just tell you lies and you wont be smart enough to see through it
    Let's teach him we are smarter than that .
    Elect Obama Biden 2008


    Check out this video of sarah palins interview it will blow you away
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r36Xc0GG4iQ

  • Posted By: cani77 @ 10/06/2008 5:00:54 PM

    In a few weeks we will make a choice that will decide our future.
    I follow an economist named Bob Proctor. He has called the top and bottom of every market crash since the 70s correctly.
    Also, he perfectly predicted the current real estate market meltdown and the picture he paints about what will happen in the next couple years
    is terrifying.He thinks it will be worse then the great depression.
    The banks in the U.S. are going under one after the other. Countrywide the largest morgage bank in the world,Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch which are 3 out of the top 5 wall street firms. Also, Fanny and Freddy Mae which hold 50 percent of the home loans in the United States.
    The government took them over because they are essentially bankrupt.If they didn't the entire financially system would virtually shut down, the stock market would crash and we would suffer beyond what any of us have seen before.

    McCain just like Bush " doesn't understand the economy".
    That not just my opinion its his own words. Not only does he not understand how to fix it but he does not understand exactly what is broken.
    It is no surprise that he doesn't. The people that make up these securities use complex mathematical models very few people understand.
    Bush and McCain both can take the credit for this mess since they helped deregulate the laws that were protecting us.

    Bush's economic advisor Phil Graham wrote the deregulation bill that allowed banks to take huge risks with all of our future.
    Now, Phil Graham is the head of McCain's economic policy.He is also McCain's choice for the next secretary of the treasury.
    No one in this country can afford for that to happen. The last time Bush met with his economic advisors was in March. He either didn't care or didn't realize that anything was wrong. Phil Graham had the guts to say that we are in a mental recession after he helped create the worst economy meltdown in our lifetime.
    It will take the best and brightest minds in the world to get us out of this nightmare. As bad as Bush has done, McCain would be
    even more destructive because things are in much worse shape. The next president will not inherit a surplus like Bush did but a tanking economy and a 11,600,000,000,000 (trillion) dollars deficit. Most of it Bush created and it will take decades to pay it back.
    If you do what you have always done then you will get what you have always got.
    When it comes to policy Bush and McCain are the same 90 percent of the time.
    So why are the polls even close then ?



    Mccains team just said they no longer want to talk about the economy.Instead they would like to spend time
    running the biggest smear campaign in history.



    They think they can just tell you lies and you wont be smart enough to see through it
    Let's teach him we are smarter than that .
    Elect Obama Biden 2008


    Check out this video of sarah palins interview it will blow you away
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r36Xc0GG4iQ

  • Posted By: Nowforthetruth @ 10/05/2008 7:33:40 PM

    Obama is getting a bump out of this because people are not being reminded of the whole history where the economy is concerned, and who did what when. Call it bias by omission. The media simply says that the economy is Obamas strong issue, but never discusses the facts in detail. Further, who had a majority when is rarely relevant. If the simplistic Party In Power model were true, then the Democrats would not have needed the House Republicans when they tried to pass the bailout bill, as Democrats have the majority in both houses and there is no threat of a veto. In theory, they do not need the Republicans to vote at all. In fact, something like twelve (12) Democrats from Barney Franks own banking committee voted against the bill. Obviously, it is not so simple and the media does the voter a disservice by doing little more than reinforcing the error. A similar argument would be to say that the economy appeared to be doing fine until the Democrats took over control of Congress and the power of the purse, then it tanked. As an aside, the media also misleads regarding the Clinton economy when they fail to mention that it also ended in a recession, requiring the first round of Bush stimulus checks immediately after he took office..

    Do Obama and the Democrats deserve a lift in the polls as a result of the financial and mortgage problems? The answer from history is a clear NO. Here's the lead of a New York Times story on September 30, 1999: Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending [link below]. That's 1999 folks. Clinton Administration, I believe.

    Here's the lead of a New York Times story on Sept. 11, 2003: The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago. [see link below] The Democrats killed it.

    McCain said in co-sponsoring the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190: 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. The Democrats killed it.

    What was Barney Frank and fellow Democrats saying at the time of these attempted reforms? According to reports, Representative Barney Frank(D-MA) claimed of the thrifts "These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis, the more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing." Representative Mel Watt (D-NC) added of the reforms "I don't see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing." [ See Community Reinvestment Act, link below w/ history]

  • Posted By: Nowforthetruth @ 10/05/2008 2:20:22 AM

    The link below contains a purported list of the top 25 in Congress who got contributions from the folks at Fannie and Freddie. Obama is listed third, after Dodd and Kerry, even though Obama is just a junior Senator. Obama is followed next by Clinton. Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi are on the list as well.

    http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=16&artnum=1&issue=20080918


    For an interesting article purporting to detail the House Financial Services Committee Chairs long history with Fannie Mae, See http://www.businessandmedia.org/printer/2008/20080924145932.aspx

    ???House Financial Services Committee Chair promoted GSEs while former 'spouse' was Fannie Mae executive.???

  • Posted By: kr100 @ 10/04/2008 11:04:11 PM

    The Wall St. firms and institutions were no doubt reckless, but they were not the ones who ultimately set the stage that allowed the recklessness to occur in the first place. To blame them for creating the current debacle would be like blaming the foot soldiers in Iraq for creating that situation (assuming you consider Iraq a fiasco; not taking sides, just providing an example).

    The top of the causality chain is government (Congress) and its Fascist Reserve and FMae / Mac. The interest rate and money supply manipulations by these organizations created the loose money environment enabling the economic implosion to gain traction in the first place.

    Assertions about a "lack of controls" or accusations against the "free market" are stunningly shallow and anti-intellectual. The U.S. banking industry is among the most heavily government-controlled "industries" of all; it is the polar antithesis of a "free market."

    Value can neither be defined nor added in an environment of coercion. Banking's government-centric lack of a market essence makes it literally a non-industry, in fact a Fascist environment, enabling legislated "value" to dominate against competitive choice-based factors that allow real valuations to manifest. Specific to the meltdown, competitive market factors would have established the cost of money at levels of risk averting the reckless behaviors in the first place.

    Wall St. et al were facilitators and exascerbators of the problem, however the ultimate root-source culpability belongs squarely with government / Congress and the noted agencies it controls. Without the legislated actions of government creating artificially low interest rates in conjunction with its games of manipulating currency valuations via money supply tampering, the current mess could not have even begun its spiral.

    When it comes to identifying root source culpability, people should quit focusing on the secondary contributors or effects, e.g. the "fat cats," lenders, CEOs, borrowers, etc. before root causes are identified. Consider moving emotions of envy and hatred out of the way IN ORDER to be honest IN ORDER to be neutrally objective IN ORDER to think logically IN ORDER to make intelligent assessments (about anything).

  • Posted By: panhandle @ 10/04/2008 2:01:51 PM

    When I think of the money I lost on Enron, I think of Phil and Wendy Gramm. Considering McCain's close relationship with the Gramms, I'm asking: Do we really need these people involved in the next administration?

    • Posted By: RO in Reno @ 10/04/2008 6:39:52 PM

      Good grief, do you really need to ask? The answer in an emphatic NO, unless of course you really like being taken to the cleaners.

  • Posted By: macdoodle @ 10/04/2008 5:52:54 PM

    I THINK THE GOP has GONE FATHER AND FARTHER AWAY FrOM THE PEOPLE
    snowed the average american and the small business owner over and over.
    http://www.ocmetro.com/oc-metro-current-issue.aspx
    this magazien is from deep GOP TERRITORY " the oc " THEY SPELL IT OUT

    EVERY TIME the GOP SPENDS LIKE THERE IS NO TOMORROW THEN ASKS the Dems to fix it and without raising taxes. THEY CREATE A WEAKER AMERICA.
    WHAT AMERICA NEEDS TO KNOW. IS
    THE GOLLY GEE AND AW SHUCKS routine shouldnt blind you to Alaska and Hawaii-the pork barrel states and How the GOP hAs moved from being about America to BENEFIT of THE ELITE FEW.
    the oil barons and the many dealers -NOT ME -NOT YOU -NOT AMERICA.

    WE NEED OBAMA TO THROW THE RASCALS OUT
    AND KICK SOME DEM BUTT TOO.

    America HAS LOST ITS PLACE IN THE WORLD
    WE HAVE BEEN HEADING DOWN A SLIPPERY SLOPE

    We need to CHANGE Direction - TAKE IT BaCK!

    BEFORE WE CAN'T.

  • Posted By: Havener1901 @ 10/04/2008 4:41:23 PM

    In fairnes, most of the dodgy stuff at Enron was dreamed up and begun during the Clinton administration years, so it's hard to blame Bush for that. On the other hand, here's Bush & Co., in the aftermath of Enron, staring at this really brightly colored sign saying "fix the markets and don't let people do kooky stuff like Enron did," and they for all intents and purposes ignored it. At the very least, nobody was able to connect the dots from what happened to Enron to what just happened with the non-bank banks. And they were pretty big dots.
    Hope we do better next time. Praying it's Obama & Co. staring at the big brightly colored sign this time.

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