Democrats Were Fired for Lack of Results, Not Philosophy

@ Bill Hedges of MO. I won’t disagree with you on a couple issues. 1.) Clinton and dems had their part in this. Especially repeal of Glass/Stegal and deregulation of financial sector which as been a pet project of both republican and democrat admins of the last 4 decades, beginning with Carter. 2.) Fannie and Freddie need to be reformed. They are set up in a way that encourages public risk and private gain. Not a good model. Obama admin and Geithner have been promising to reform/restructure these and they should.

BUT and it is a big BUTT.  These entities Fannie and Freddie were NOT the cause of the crisis. They were followers and late followers at that. In fact they do not make loans they buy them and we loosed the requirements as to what they can buy because they were losing part of their market share as these mortgage backed securities became hot investment items. Most of the worst subprime lending was lead by unregulated non-bank entities that the banks invested in. Take for example Leihman brothers. They owned a mortgage company called New Century that was pushing these subprime loans that Leihmen than bought and sold as AAA investments. This was going on all over. The trouble was this: it was driving our economy. The lenders were making money, the realitors were making money, the builders were making money, the people were getting houses beyond their wildest dreams, housing prices were rising and other people were using their homes as ATMs and this was driving consumer spending and it was all driving the economy which in turn keeps voters happy and political leaders in power. And even the CEOs of companies doing this had little to no understanding of what was happening. They just liked the profits. And no one, no one had the courage to remove the punch bowl from the party, including Bush. So be real. This was big mess and it was caused by many - some very smart people - but we built a pyramid scheme so complex that many smart people didn’t see the collapse coming.

Sue of IL 11:32PM November 05, 2010

The capital necessary to plan the new products to be built, order the materials to create the mechanisms to make it, put the machines together, order the raw materials to make the new product, and put the product on the market, which produces new jobs and sends capital flowing through the market economy several times over is, in all likelihood, being held and closely watched right now waiting to see what form the next wealth redistribution scheme the liberals want to put on the table will take. Whatever it is, what it will do is be the new edition of the Obama Socialize Our Society team and/or the Invest Your Wealth in Our Re-election Fund! Do they want to tax investors by capital gains on the sales of assets - thereby reducing available capital; or do they tax businesses on "excess profits," - also reducing capital and giving it to the hand of government to waste. Do they raise the taxes on those who have the money to invest - again reducing capital, or do the propose, as someone has done in the past in this state, taxing the materials on inventory as part of a property taxation - also reducing the capital and this time adding to the increase cost per unit of product. Or, will there be something more ridiculous, and more innovatively leftist to rob from those to produce in our society to buy the votes of their party base? When are our people going to learn that we cannot vote ourselves bread and circuses from the public coffers and survive as a society and nation?

OsteenGopher of GA 4:04PM November 05, 2010

Actually, that's true: businesses DO create jobs and they do it with profits. So where are the jobs, thanks to all those profits - a record high in some areas - that these businesses have and are sitting on, or are rewarding millions of dollars in bonuses? Oh right...they got them by CUTTING JOBS!

Liberals don't think businesses are evil - they just think they should actually do what they're supposed to do: use profits to create or keep jobs. We actually agree with what you said. The problem is, businesses don't!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/business/economy/26earnings.html

Kat of KS 11:19AM November 05, 2010

I thought this post might be educational. And it was. Another liberal in denial claims that all conservatives are insane, power-hungry, business pandering, maniacs out to pillage the people for their own benefit. Didn't we hear that before, like in the rhetoric from the democrat a few days ago. It wasn't true in 1960, and it isn't true now, but it keeps being regurgitated by the leftist fringe of the democratic party as some form of a mantra to help themselves feel as if they are actually contributing to society. Maybe if they really studied business, instead of just pillorying it, the ultra liberals would find out that it is business capital which makes the economy run, creates jobs, and in the process distributes the wealth of the country - not government fiat. And that capital comes from something called profits. But the Gordon Gecko caricature keeps leaping into the leftist imagination and sets the stage for a frothing display of biased diatribe such as this one. Too bad. It's the liberal straw dog set up for all to see, and most unfortunately, for some to believe depicts all business and conservatives equally.

OsteenGopher of GA 8:28AM November 05, 2010