Barack Obama

[randolph]

Re: Tracy's post Bush warnings
The repeated requests by Bush to do something is not surprising. If Bush could get congress, to do something and we got a recession then Bush could blame Congress. Also, Congress did not want to do anything for the same reason. The Bush sequence of warnings shows that the Bush administration was aware that things were going wrong for years and did nothing. Bush did not need Congress to do something, the Treasury and the Fed could have done something to calm down the financial system. Greenspan could have simply raised interest rates to calm things down. The extremely low rates produced and excess of liquidity that the financial markets had to deal with, which resulted in the abuses that led to the meltdown. The booming housing market and stock market were good for Bush and helped compensate for the bad news from Iraq and his low ratings.

[TracyCoxx]

Originally Posted by randolph

Re: Tracy's post Bush warnings
The repeated requests by Bush to do something is not surprising. If Bush could get congress, to do something and we got a recession then Bush could blame Congress.

Congress (mostly dems) repeatedly said that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were financially sound. I have posted videos of this. You can see it from their own lips. We now know this to be completely false. Bush had been warning congress about it throughout his 2 terms. He had been asking congress to regulate the financial institutions, which we now know they needed. Leave the spin out and let's just deal with the facts. Otherwise we'll be saying "Is too" "Is not" "Is too" "Is not" for all eternity.

Originally Posted by randolph

Also, Congress did not want to do anything for the same reason.

This is why they didn't want to do anything about Freddie & Fannie:

Top Recipients of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Campaign Contributions, 1989-2008

Name                    Office  Party/State    Total                   
1. Dodd, Christopher J    S        D-CT      $133,900                
2. Kerry, John            S        D-MA      $111,000                
3. Obama, Barack          S        D-IL      $105,849                
4. Clinton, Hillary       S        D-NY       $75,550                 
5. Kanjorski, Paul E      H        D-PA       $65,500                 
6. Bennett, Robert F      S        R-UT       $61,499                 
7. Johnson, Tim           S        D-SD       $61,000                 
8. Conrad, Kent           S        D-ND       $58,991                 
9. Davis, Tom             H        R-VA       $55,499                 
10. Bond, Christopher S   S        R-MO       $55,400                 
11. Bachus, Spencer       H        R-AL       $55,300                 
12. Shelby, Richard C     S        R-AL       $55,000                 
13. Emanuel, Rahm         H        D-IL       $51,750                 
14. Reed, Jack            S        D-RI       $50,750                 
15. Carper, Tom           S        D-DE       $44,389                 
16. Frank, Barney         H        D-MA       $40,100                 
17. Maloney, Carolyn B    H        D-NY       $38,750                 
18. Bean, Melissa         H        D-IL       $37,249                 
19. Blunt, Roy            H        R-MO       $36,500                 
20. Pryce, Deborah        H        R-OH       $34,750                 
21. Miller, Gary          H        R-CA       $33,000                 
22. Pelosi, Nancy         H        D-CA       $32,750                 
23. Reynolds, Tom         H        R-NY       $32,700                 
24. Hoyer, Steny H        H        D-MD       $30,500                 
25. Hooley, Darlene       H        D-OR       $28,750

These are total contributions made from 1989-2008. Interesting isn't it how Obama worked his way up to the number 3 spot (Hilary's up there too) on Freddie and Fannie campaign contributions after, what 2 years in congress? Near where others have been in office for 20+ years. Things that make you go hmmmmm.

Originally Posted by randolph

The Bush sequence of warnings shows that the Bush administration was aware that things were going wrong for years and did nothing.

What can Bush do? He can only ask congress to act.

Originally Posted by randolph

Bush did not need Congress to do something, the Treasury and the Fed could have done something to calm down the financial system.

With what money? Doesn't that come from congress?

Originally Posted by randolph

Greenspan could have simply raised interest rates to calm things down. The extremely low rates produced and excess of liquidity that the financial markets had to deal with, which resulted in the abuses that led to the meltdown. The booming housing market and stock market were good for Bush and helped compensate for the bad news from Iraq and his low ratings.

Yes, Greenspan could have raised interest rates. He liked to make his presidents look good and did so for both Clinton and Bush. Even with higher interest rates, the CRA required Freddie and Fannie to make loans available to minorities who couldn't afford them. But yes, it might have at least caused these people requesting loans to rethink if that was wise.

[transjen]

Why not show a list of top donors to W? showing the drug companies, investment banks insurence companies credit card companies the oil industry, W raised more funds from special intrest that anyone could have from there wildest dreams agian you are quick to point the blame over to the DEMS and over look at what THE LIEING WEASEL W did Jennifer

[randolph]

Yes, Greenspan could have raised interest rates. He liked to make his presidents look good and did so for both Clinton and Bush. Even with higher interest rates, the CRA required Freddie and Fannie to make loans available to minorities who couldn't afford them. But yes, it might have at least caused these people requesting loans to rethink if that was wise.

This was not only unwise but just plain stupid, it put the whole system at risk. We should have learned from Johnsons subsidized housing fiasco. Democrats, especially Dodd will have to take a lot of blame for ignoring that. Dodd got a lot of money from fanny/freddy because he was in charge of the committee overseeing them.
It is very apparent that until we prevent Congressmen from being bribed by special interests the public will continue to get screwed and the economy will be at risk. The airwaves belong to the public why cant we require the TV stations to provide free air time for politicians? this would dramatically reduce the need for vast amounts of campaign money to get elected. The billion dollars spent by Obama is obscene something must be done to restore credibility to government.

[TracyCoxx]

I take back some of what I said about BO learning from his mistakes. He claimed his stimulus package would limit the loss of jobs and that unemployment would peak at 8% by this fall. It's already at 9.4% and still rising.

His solution? Keep spending money... and faster!!!

[randolph]

Originally Posted by TracyCoxx

I take back some of what I said about BO learning from his mistakes. He claimed his stimulus package would limit the loss of jobs and that unemployment would peak at 8% by this fall. It's already at 9.4% and still rising.

His solution? Keep spending money... and faster!!!

Where I live, the streets are full of cars, the restaurants are full of people and the discount stores are busy. Gottschocks department store is out of business, however. Houses are cheeep, prices are back where they were fifteen years ago. No homeless on the streets. lots of sales and food discounts, gas going up, however. It is a strange recession.