Hot Docs: Who to Blame for the Economic Crisis, Confusion About Obama, McCain's Views

Fact Check is Wrong

Forbes:

Gramm was the driving force behind the two pieces of legislation at the bottom of the crisis -- the repeal, in 1999, of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act which had created a firewall between commercial and investment banking; and the Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2000. The way the latter passed was extraordinary: 262 pages of dense language slipped into an 11,000-page omnibus bill on the Friday before the Christmas recess.

"The act freed complex derivatives from any regulation," said Michael Greenberger, who served in the Commodities and Futures Trading commission in the late 1990s. "It set the stage for the present mess and the problem is, no one knows how many of these instruments are still out there or who holds them."

http://tinyurl.com/3vr7sp

100 Year Crash: McCain advisor spurred $62 trillion derivatives market that will swamp global markets

Sep 15th 2008 by Peter Cohan

Lurking in the background of this weekend's collapse of two of Wall Street's biggest names, is a $62 trillion segment of the $450 trillion market for derivatives that grew huge thanks to John McCain's chief economic advisor, Phil "Americans are Whiners" Gramm. That's because in December 2000, Gramm, while a U.S. Senator, snuck in a 262-page amendment [The Commodity Futures Modernization Act] to a government re-authorization bill [11,000 pages] that created what is now the $62 trillion market for credit default swaps (CDSs).

http://tinyurl.com/56rkcb

It's not exactly like Gramm hid his handiwork—far from it. The balding and bespectacled Texan strode onto the Senate floor to hail the act's inclusion into the must-pass budget package. But only an expert, or a lobbyist, could have followed what Gramm was saying. The act, he declared, would ensure that neither the sec nor the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (cftc) got into the business of regulating newfangled financial products called swaps—and would thus "protect financial institutions from overregulation" and "position our financial services industries to be world leaders into the new century."

http://tinyurl.com/48bnvc

Bailout just a band aid

The bailout seems like a small band aid for a much larger problem that began in 1977 with the Community Reinvestment Act under Carter. Google it. It explains a lot. Politicians should never have put pressure on banks. They're all a bunch of lawyers--what do they really know about economics?

Rundown...

American consumer for living outside their means.

Groups like ACORN who pressured for more low cost housing so much that they were abusing it.

Barney Frank, who even though he was warned back in Sept (10th?) 2003 about a possible Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac problem, didn't even give the argument any credibility.

Paulson for being in the pockets of the big banks as well as the Fed who made this problem worse.

Bernanke for running the most secretive non-entity in existence that loans the United States its own money, allowing for printing and thus diluting its value.

Barack Obama for taking so much of Bear Stearns lobbying money and not even bothering to give it back. McCain needs to give his back too but it's about 1/6th to 1/7th what BO's is...

Who's to Blame for the Economy?

Let's see you need to start with American consumer that wants everything and they want it now. Why not, they got credit. So that leads to the people that lend the money. They will lend money to just about anyone that breaths and they can make a profit off of. Plus thay are encouraged to help the "poor" folks out so they can have a part of the American dream even though they can't afford their dream. Then we get to the politicians that will do anything for a vote and to keep the power that "we" have given them. So they pressure the lenders to loan to money to the people that can't pay it back, so they can claim they helped the lower and middle class live a part of the American Dream, vote for me, I'm helping you.

Look people life is hard and it requires hard work and smart decisions to be successful. We can make all the excuses to blame anyone and everyone, but we need to stop and look at ourselves first. What are we doing in regards to our financial status, education, career, and the people we vote for. YUou can't sit back and take, take , take and then blame everyone because things are a mess.

Plenty of blame to go around - buckle up and deal with it

Who's to Blame for the Economy?

Let's see you need to start with American consumer that wants everything and they want it now. Why not, they got credit. So that leads to the people that lend the money. They will lend money to just about anyone that breaths and they can make a profit off of. Plus thay are encouraged to help the "poor" folks out so they can have a part of the American dream even though they can't afford their dream. Then we get to the politicians that will do anything for a vote and to keep the power that "we" have given them. So they pressure the lenders to loan to money to the people that can't pay it back, so they can claim they helped the lower and middle class live a part of the American Dream, vote for me, I'm helping you.

Look people life is hard and it requires hard work and smart decisions to be successful. We can make all the excuses to blame anyone and everyone, but we need to stop and look at ourselves first. What are we doing in regards to our financial status, education, career, and the people we vote for. YUou can't sit back and take, take , take and then blame everyone because things are a mess.

Plenty of blame to go around - buckle up and deal with it

Who's to Blame for the Economy?

Let's see you need to start with American consumer that wants everything and they want it now. Why not, they got credit. So that leads to the people that lend the money. They will lend money to just about anyone that breaths and they can make a profit off of. Plus thay are encouraged to help the "poor" folks out so they can have a part of the American dream even though they can't afford their dream. Then we get to the politicians that will do anything for a vote and to keep the power that "we" have given them. So they pressure the lenders to loan to money to the people that can't pay it back, so they can claim they helped the lower and middle class live a part of the American Dream, vote for me, I'm helping you.

Look people life is hard and it requires hard work and smart decisions to be successful. We can make all the excuses to blame anyone and everyone, but we need to stop and look at ourselves first. What are we doing in regards to our financial status, education, career, and the people we vote for. YUou can't sit back and take, take , take and then blame everyone because things are a mess.

Plenty of blame to go around - buckle up and deal with it