I would bet you voted Bush twice! And insulted Gore for pointing out in a debate how stupid W was. You remember, Gore is stiff and W is the type of guy I would get along with with a pack of bears (beers)... Well you got your beers/bears...
Well, that is what the Bulls and Bears are betting on. However, no country has ever fallen into a Depression with massive government spending. Hyperinflation yes, but not Depression. Sweden is a good model for fiscal spending that avoided deflation. Massive amounts. As I remember 20% of GDP. But it worked.
I think it is a shame that Bush's administration not only presided over devastating foreign and domestic policies. However, anyone who was involved with no money down home loans was a participant, and anyone who helped off-load these loans to unsuspecting investors (overseas and domestically) is complicit. Hopefully we have all learned our lesson. The election of Obama is a good sign that we have learned our lesson and we are all ready to get back to basics - i.e., a dollars pay for a dollars work, saving for the future, taking care of each other.
I agree with you, except on the no money down thing. The only POSITIVE thing in this mess is that some people got homes and live in them thanks to the cheap credit. subprime loans performance have nothing to do with the fall in prices of loans/markets/etc. It is just an excuse against a class of society who do not know the real reasons for the fall! PS: did you vote Bush? I would never vote for that idiot. The only president I like is Clinton.
No I didn't vote for Bush. But at least the public knows now what are the consequence of having people in power who never read the paper. Remember what Palin's answer was when she was asked the question.? As for sub-prime: It has been known for thousands of years that you do not lend anyone any money who doesn't have skin in the game. They have nothing to lose, if they walk away, which is exactly what happened. The only reason the mortgage and bank brokers loaned the money - acts which eventually brought our whole economy down since we now have hundreds of thousands of homes that no one wants - is because S&P, Moody's and Fitch, graciously awarded AAA status to these tranches of junk (the same rating the afford to GE), so that the junk can be pawned off on unsuspecting investors overseas. Is it no wonder that overseas investors liquidated all investments in the U.S. other than Treasuries? If nothing else happened under Bush, what certainly did happen was total loss of credibility for all our institutions all around the world. As a debtor nation, depending upon the good will of overseas investors, it was a darn stupid thing to do.
This is only part of the story. Ever hear of ACORN suing banks to force them to make subprime loans to minorities? The crooks at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guaranteeing them? The Clinton administration threatening to take away the charter of banks that don't issue subprime loans to minorities? That was the start of this mess. What you described was the end. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpa...0575AC0A96F958260 &sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all Oh, and this: http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/ 700499,CST-NWS-Obama-law17.article The interesting part: "Obama represented Calvin Roberson in a 1994 lawsuit against Citibank, charging the bank systematically denied mortgages to African-American applicants and others from minority neighborhoods."
You think well! They also got us in a war that we will pay for for a long time, not just in money and lives, but also in prestige. People should have read FDR 's understanding of Arabs and Oil, in addition to the writings of John Adams about Arabs. John Adams understood the Arab peoples better than the best think tanks of today! I read his margin writing/comments on books he read, and they are fascinating read. the arab dictators love the iraq war, israel drooles over it, the fanatics love it. The only people who do not like it are the american people and the arab people. It made arab peoples respect us less, when the arab peoples love the USA! Arab peoples like quick profits (just like americans), and like freedom (they come from deserts). American and arab peoples have something in common in terms of what they like, yet a minority did not know how to have them as their friends. Alwaleed and company do not invest in USA because of numbers only, they invest because they love america. They want to be like america. Watch for China and Russia. I am sure they look down at US's military might. But they are damn mistaken. If they think they are better than America's soldiers, they will be kicked hard in a future conflict. Russia/China (China in particular) may not understand that it is the Arabs who are uncontrollable and too proud/brave, and not America which is weak. America's best days are ahead!
Fannie and Freddie default rates are actually very small compared to subprime. However, the problem was that F&F were leveraged over 120:1. Ridiculous. But this all happened under the auspices of a Republican Administration, Republican controlled legislature, and neutered government regulators who ideologically believed in the "free market" as opposed to the reality, which is the "thieving market". The AP reported how the Bush administration was warned about the F&F fiasco, but declined to intervene because they wanted the free market to handle it. Left to their own devices, the thieves will always figure out how to steal money - and get away with it. Is it any surprise that the two greatest financial disasters during the last 100 years were orchestrated under Republican free market administrations? If thieves cannot be under lock in key, they must at least me watched at all times. Who actually made money at the end? The top 1%, most of whom give generously to those who will let the free market play its own games on the unsuspecting.
I hope so. However, I do not think anyone is thinking about a war at this moment. Probably thinking more about how to save their precious wealth. That is the one thing that binds us all. Wealth preservation.