The Financial Crisis, by George Bush, foreword by John McCain

Bush called for investigations in 2003, 2005 and 2007? Umm, hate to tell ya, but HIS OWN PARTY was in power 2 of the 3 of those times. Point me where he called for it. His own appointees are the ones who put the policies in place. Why else would McCain want to fire Cox? Nice jab at Chris Dodd - yeah, I'm sure it's his fault. Sorry, this problem is a direct result of the Republicans' economic policies: less government, less oversight, deregulation, Gordon Gekko is good, and trickle it down. Meanwhile, the middle class got further and further behind, year after year. Now, the middle class is gonna get shafted again, to the tune of a trillion plus. And all you got is Chris Dodd and Barrack Obama were too busy. That's pathetic pal, it really is. Nothing more than a parakeet. Get out of the way, and start thinking for yourself for a change.

Check out these stories: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/11/business/11LEND.html?ex=1222228800&en=79ebf60fc9ec723e&ei=5070 Most of the hits direct me to political blogs which outline the different request made by President Bush and other Congressmen and Senators. There is no one person that can be blamed for this as is usually the case. Rather it is a series of actions or inaction that each are part of the problem. The article above does show that in 2003 President Bush did try to get something done but some Democrats and Republicans tries to block the investigation. But with different Senators and Congressmen calling for an investigation and even the Congressional Budget Office saying something should be done why did not the Democrat Congress do something?

If one wants to be strictly fair, one can say that the blame for this mess is spread around, however one has to consider how much weight one should give when apportioning blame. One could start with the Reagan administration that started the deregulation ball rolling. One could also refer to the Clinton administration that also engaged in deregulation activity. But though some blame can be attached to these previous administrations in terms of deregulation, I think we are in danger of forgetting what is the cause of the credit cruch? To me, the bottom line is that over a period of years leading upto early 2007 (if I recall correctly, this is when the US housing market started heading South), house prices were allowed to go up too high too fast in the years prior to this (ie speculative bubble). This bubble was certainly made bigger by the deregulatory environment and lack of oversight of the banks that were lending recklessly and far too much to people who couldn't afford it. Now the question to ask is this: when did this housing bubble occur? answer in the years prior to early 2007. And now who was in charge of the House of Representatives in the years before early 2007? Answer: the Republicans. Who was in charge of the US Senate in the 4 years prior to 2007: the Republicans. Who was in charge of the White House in the 6 years prior to early 2007: the Republican George Bush. Now of course, one could say that the Dems had a very slim majority in the US Senate from Sept 2001 to January 2003 - true. But the inescapable FACT is that in the 4 years (which is the length of a whole administration) prior to early 2007 (when the housing market started to go South), the Republicans were in CHARGE of the WHOLE Congress and the White House. And therefore, one can say that the DAMAGE in terms of letting the housing bubble go out of control, failing to supervise the banks and not taking action to curb their irresponsible lending practices, took place in those years prior to early 2007. For once the housing market turned South, that's when people lost their homes, that's when the banks lost their money and had all this bad debt on their books, that's when banks started not to trust each other for fear of this bad debt hiding somewhere, that's when the credit crunch began, etc, etc. But the damage was done in those years prior to early 2007. And so therefore, when Republicans state that the Dem Congress is also at fault, the Dems only took over Congress (both houses) in early 2007, by which time the DAMAGE was done. So a balanced conclusion would be that though blame could be apportioned between teh two parties if we want to go back many years, in the critical years when this housing boom took place prior to early 2007, the Republicans were in charge and therefore the blame should principally be pointed at them. Obama has been fair to McCain by stating that he doesn't blame McCain for this mess but the ideology that he believes in (ie the doctrine of the free market, deregulation, etc). One could argue that Obama was a bit too lenient on McCain here, since McCain (with Clinton and others) pushed a deregulation act (forgotten the name) back in 1999 and so therefore must take some blame for this mess.

So who hates babies, is pro abortion, and wait a minute...what the hell is a same sender lover?? Is that someone who sends SASEs? What the hell are you talking about? Do you even know?

If we had a free market then the government would not bail companies out when they made a bad decision. Freedie Mac and Fanny Mae are government created companies that build an empire using the promise of government guarantee so that they would not lose money. It is easy to take risk when is is not your money or if you know that some one else will cover your loses. In a Free Market Economy you would not have people buying more than they could afford or to borrow beyond their ability to pay back. Back before F&F you had to have 20% down. If you wanted a house you had to save for it and get the money before you could buy.

Here's some more thought for you: you think we have a problem with lobbyists in this country? You ain't seen NOTHING yet. Lobbyists for all the various industries are going to be buzzing like wasps now, trying to get their stingers in this package. Hey world, we're coughing up $1 trillion dollars to change the way we do things - who wants to play? Another thought: after all this, we have NO money for health care. No money for energy alternatives. No money for rebuilding bridges. No money for future natural disasters. No money for education. No money for immigration control. And worst of the worst, we have NO MONEY FOR ANOTHER WAR. Russia wants to take Georgia? We can only watch. For that matter, Russia, China, Iran, whoever...they're gonna know now that we're on the sidelines for a long, long time. This is only going to continue getting worse.

I fear you are very correct!