The
I’m just posting this entry from Barry Ritholtz at The Big Picture in its entirety, because it is that good. From Mr. Ritholtz:
“I am having a hard time keeping up with all of the bailouts and special facilities created for dealing with this crisis. Am I missing any?
– Bear Stearns
– Economic Stimulus progam
– Housing Bailout Program
– Fannie & Freddie
– AIG
– No Short selling rules
– Fed liquidity programs (Term Lending facility, Term Auction facility)
– Money Market fund insurance program
– Special Loans for GM & Ford
– New RTC type program
If you are a fan of irony, consider this: The conservative movement has utterly hated FDR, and his New Deal programs like Medicaid, Social Security, FDIC, Fannie Mae (1938), and the SEC for nearly 80 years. And for the past 8 years, a conservative was in the White House, with a very conservative agenda. For something like 16 of the past 18 years, the conservative dominated GOP has controlled Congress. Those are the facts.
We now see that the grand experiment of deregulation has ended, and ended badly. The deregulation movement is now an historical footnote, just another interest group, and once in power they turned into socialists. Indeed, judging by the actions of the conservatives in power, and not the empty rhetoric that comes out of think tanks, the conservative movement has effectively turned the United States into a massive Socialist state, an appendage of Communist Russia, China and Venezuela.
To paraphrase Floyd Norris, we have become Marxists, but of the Groucho, not Karl, variety . . . “
Tags: Bush's Fubar Economy
“the conservative movement has effectively turned the United States into a massive Socialist state, an appendage of Communist Russia, China and Venezuela. ”
That is, without a doubt, one of the stupidest statements I’ve ever read on this blog.
You apparently have not a clue what socialism or communism is.
Mike W. is a socialist! Bail, baby, bail!
Great post, Cass. Ritholtz nails it.
Typical Pandora response. I’m half surprised I didn’t get a “sigh” this time.
That is, without a doubt, one of the stupidest statements I’ve ever read on this blog.
It goes without saying that he does not read his own comments.
Mike the Racist
“That is, without a doubt, one of the stupidest statements I’ve ever read on this blog.”
And EVERYONE of YOURS is stupider.
Somewhere in Maryland is a gun store looking for its nut. Go find it.
Conservative != Republican.
Republican != Conservative.
That last one has been becoming more and more clear over the past few years.
mike w has been surpassing himself in sheer stupidity today.
Hugo Chavez nationalizing the oil industry = socialism
The US nationalizing AIG ≠ socialism
Right.
You don’t see the difference between this bailout and Hugo Chavez nationalizing Venezuela’s Oil industry?
Are you really that dense? Do you really have that little understanding of socialism?
Anonone – How would you know? You’ve been here a few days at most.
Very silly post. Deregulation started long before Republicans held the White House , try the CAB which Carter did away with.
Consservative agenda? How so? Massive spending on every thing possible and more deficits? Hardly conservative. Many of the real estate problems started with legislation by President Clinton to increase home ownership.
To say the United States is a socialist nation in any way is incredibly uninformed.
Mike Protack has been blogging a lot lately. Must have A LOT of time on his hands.
Um, Mike — the silliness is yours — the CAB deregulation doesn’t have alot to do with the deregulation of the financial markets that we are talking about here (and that Ritholtz has been talking about for a long time).
And that Clinton started it business is a canard — the financial instruments that are causing today’s pain are of BushCo vintage, which is you knew something about ARMs and their base periods and could do the math would be pretty clear.
Mike the Loser
To say the United States is not a socialist nation for Wall Street is incredibly uninformed.
PDVSA has been nationalized for many years, as a matter of fact it was our good friend Carlos Andres Perez who finally put the nail in the coffin as far as nationalizing the Venezuelan oil industry.
Hell, the Clinton legislation that encouraged banks to push capital into the housing market, primarily to low-income, subprime borrowers was a revision of the Carter era “Community Reinvestment Act.”
Yeah, those are “conservative policies.”
Hmm, the Republican Talking Points memo must just have been released.
Come on you Republicans, grow a pair and accept the blame.
This coming from folks who are in no way willing to accept that liberal policy played ANY role in this whatsoever.
I can at least accept that the so-called “conservatives” screwed much of this up. You folks are too partisan to even begin to accept that there is bi-partisan fault all over the place for the mess we find ourselves in right now.
Iraq = Quagmire
Economy = Shitter
Contitution = Toilet Paper
Republicans think everything is fine.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let us please remember that there were positive outcomes from this housing experiment. Many people and families who would not have had the opportunity for home ownership, got that chance.
Admit it, many of these people were not prepared for home ownership. BUT they had the chance. They took it. Some survived.
The real reward here is those who got their homes, made it and will keep their homes.
Those who have made the positive transition, and have become responsible for their home and neighborhood. They learned that having a house is more than just locking the front door. It is owning the front door and all else behind it. It means they learned that THEY are now responsible for paying taxes, Water and sewer bills, School Taxes, and all the home maintenance.
They learned that they have to take care of the house. No longer can they punch holes in the wall and call the Owner. No longer can they clog the toilet and watch the overflow ruin the ceiling below. The heating and Air conditioning now represent an area where it is necessary to cut back, because NOW they have to pay the Gas and electric bills. So the front door stays closed to keep the heat and air inside.
That rug where the animals spill food and the other animals pee when they miss their walk, belongs to them. It is no longer a non issue.
There have been benefits of this seeming crisis.
Many people have learned, just what home ownership entails. And we all are better off for THEIR experience.
A huge number of Americans have graduated into self reliance, self respect and housing independence.
And what we see now is just the cost of this training opportunity. It was a huge move.
Who can deny that this was all worth it?
Those who are in the Middle working class, already have their piece of the American Pie. They did not need this Trillion dollar home ownership assistance program.
And as they continue to keep working to pay their mortgages, I hope they understand that those of us who got this opportunity for a bigger house than we originally could afford, and when we over extended our mortgage to buy an additional car or boat and even scheduled a vacation, all on the housing market, we say thanks. I am happy that my mortgage payments will be reduced through additional programs and some of these buyouts. I am awaiting to see my original mortgage contract come back amended to be reduce to the more realistic amount, that should have limited the amount of my indebtedness, in the first place.
I saw the opportunity. I took it. I consider the Car, the Boat and the Vacation as a gift for signing up for this opportunity.
There was never any hesitation on my part. I have always depended on government assistance. The events of the last few days, have renewed my faith on Government.
I saw the opportunity. I took it. I consider the Car, the Boat and the Vacation as a gift for signing up for this opportunity.
Outstanding — a message from the repub base who get the benefits of the new Bailout Nation.
When I picture Republican trolls, I think of hamsters runing around in their wheel, only dumber.
It is because those wheels are made of lead, I think.
Point is, there were a lot of new homeowners, who benefited. Who otherwise would not have had a chance.
The new homeowners demographics would have been very diverse. And would have surely included many who otherwise would have been disenfranchised.
Including all of those from those republican ground zeros of foreclosures — Arizona, Southern CA and Nevada.
You need to pay attention to what is being bailed out here — your government is NOT buying bad mortgages. They are buying securities created out of mortgages that let the banks take on stupid risks and actually sell those risks to others. And those bankers who wrote all of that bad paper? They are the ones getting the benefit of the bailout. Not one cent of what Paulsen et al are talking about today goes to a homeowner.
CNN Scroll: BUSH ADMINISTRATION WANTS TAXPAYERS TO ASSUME BANKS’ BAD DEBT
When you’ve lost CNN…
You can scratch Fannie Mae from that list since it was created BY FDR in 1939. Imagine that, a huge government created, government backed bank ultimately failed and began the crisis we see today.
Cass – Southern CA isn’t a “Republican ground zero” Not even close.
I know you haven’t been out of your parent’s basement mike w, but San Diego and all of Orange County among others certainly do count at very red parts of CA.
And you can only scratch Fannie Mae off of the list when you can demonstrate why it is even on the list (hint, it has actually been discussed here). But since you are without a clue, we’ll consider that another brain dead demand on your part.
Mike the Racist
Yes, you can scratch fanny.
George Bush is a Republican, he is not a conservative.
Jim, you’re right.
“George Bush is a Republican, he is not a conservative.”
Isn’t that common knowledge?
I think you could say that for the most part the Republican party is no longer “conservative.” I guess they still are in a puritanical sense, but I don’t see that as a good thing.