Barack Obama

[randolph]

Signs Of The Times

That the Financial Times has a headline that reads "Greenspan Backs Bank Nationalization" is truly a sign that we live in strange, strange times. Any moment now the sun shall become as black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon shall become as blood, and the stars of heaven shall fall unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind, and the seas shall turn to blood, and we shall hear an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

But in the general amazement, it's important not to lose sight of the fact that Alan Greenspan is not just one of the last people on earth I would have expected to endorse nationalization. He's also one of the people most responsible for the calamity that makes nationalization necessary (though as Yves Smith reminds us, he is not alone.) " "Greenspan Backs Bank Nationalization" is not like "Hayek: Keynes Was Right!". I've been trying to figure out what it is like, and I've come up with a few possibilities:

"Kaiser Wilhelm Backs Surrender To France, Allies:
Wars Of Aggression Wrong, German Monarch Claims"

"Typhoid Mary: Attention To Hygienic Food Preparation Vital To Public Health"

"Mao Zedong Backs Privatization:
'Great Leap Forward' An Act Of Idiotic Hubris That Cost Millions Of Lives For No Earthly Reason, Dictator Concedes
Backyard Smelters 'Particularly Boneheaded'"

"Sherman To Atlanta: Oops! My Bad!"

"Alaric: Great Cities Should Be Left Unmolested:
'I Liked Rome Better Before We Sacked It', Visigoth Laments"

"Satan Backs Christ's Effort To Redeem Mankind On Cross:
Regrets Involvement In Fall"

So what do the Repubs think of this?

[TracyCoxx]

Originally Posted by randolph

But in the general amazement, it's important not to lose sight of the fact that Alan Greenspan is not just one of the last people on earth I would have expected to endorse nationalization. He's also one of the people most responsible for the calamity that makes nationalization necessary (though as Yves Smith reminds us, he is not alone.)

Greenspan says it's necessary to temporarily nationalize some banks. And says "I understand that once in a hundred years this is what you do."

As for his responsibility in the calamity. What did he do? Force Freddie and Fannie to make loans available to people who couldn't afford them? No... that was Carter & Clinton.

[randolph]

Latest news from Transmicro.

Dr. Lotta Cummings recently returned from Thailand and reported on her research. She analyzed the IQ of visitors to ladyboys before and after imbibing in ladyboy cum for several days. To her amazement, she found that IQ increased significantly after consuming ladyboy cum.

It occurred to me that this might be the solution to our problems in Washington. We should arrange for Hank to send a planeload of ladyboys to Washington for the exclusive use of politicians.

[TracyCoxx]

There's a woman in my town who can't pay her mortgage. ACORN is coming to her rescue and organizing a sit in and saying she does not have to be evicted. Apparently they think the bank should just eat that loss. If banks can't depend on getting loans paid off, they might stop making loans. Oh wait... that's what was already happening. Let's see... who was behind that the first time? Oh yeah ACORN. The ones who are eligible for a 4 Billion dollar atta-boy from Obama's spendulous package.

Let's make a new welfare program... let's have the government start bailing out people who can't pay their mortgage. Gee now, what effect do you think that will have on the economy? Well Obama wants to find out.

Originally Posted by FoxNews

Obama's $275 billion program offers $75 billion in incentives to lenders to lower payments by at-risk homeowners to 31 percent of their income. The other $200 billion would be drawn from money approved by last year's Congress to bolster efforts by federal lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to offer affordable mortgages and bring stability to the housing market.

That's right. A new multi-hundred billion dollar bailout package. And no, we don't have that money either.

10-05-08

Originally Posted by TracyCoxx

Hey, if Obama is elected, do you think he'll tell mortgage companies to stop making bad loans to minorities? LOL fat chance. Then of course, he'll raise taxes on businesses, so all these factors combine into sort of a perfect storm for financial disaster. So this is only the beginning.

Anyone listening to me yet?

[randolph]

Originally Posted by TracyCoxx

There's a woman in my town who can't pay her mortgage. ACORN is coming to her rescue and organizing a sit in and saying she does not have to be evicted. Apparently they think the bank should just eat that loss. If banks can't depend on getting loans paid off, they might stop making loans. Oh wait... that's what was already happening. Let's see... who was behind that the first time? Oh yeah ACORN. The ones who are eligible for a 4 Billion dollar atta-boy from Obama's spendulous package.

Let's make a new welfare program... let's have the government start bailing out people who can't pay their mortgage. Gee now, what effect do you think that will have on the economy? Well Obama wants to find out.

That's right. A new multi-hundred billion dollar bailout package. And no, we don't have that money either.

10-05-08


Anyone listening to me yet?

So do you have a better idea?
Oh sure, people can sleep in their cars, but what if they have lost their car? Oh, to hell with them they are too stupid to worry about, let them find some cardboard to sleep under. After all we are a "poor" country, we cant afford to take care of ugh, poor people, its all their own fault anyway. Sighing on to easy loans on houses that would gain in value. After all the smartest people in the country believed that, even the great guru Mr. Greenspan believed it. Why should we question all that wisdom, I'm just a poor working stiff who wants a roof over my head.

[TracyCoxx]

Originally Posted by randolph

Sighing on to easy loans on houses that would gain in value. After all the smartest people in the country believed that, even the great guru Mr. Greenspan believed it. Why should we question all that wisdom, I'm just a poor working stiff who wants a roof over my head.

You still haven't explained Greenspan's role in the financial crisis. Bush has been trying to warn congress starting in 2001 with this:
The Administration's FY02 budget declares that the size of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is "a potential problem," because "financial trouble of a large GSE could cause strong repercussions in financial markets, affecting Federally insured entities and economic activity."

And repeatedly warned congress throughout his 2 terms. He warned them 17 times in 2008 alone. Democrats continued to say Fannie & Freddie were fine right up until they collapsed. Perhaps it was those "smart people" you were listening to?

Originally Posted by randolph

So do you have a better idea?
Oh sure, people can sleep in their cars, but what if they have lost their car? Oh, to hell with them they are too stupid to worry about, let them find some cardboard to sleep under. After all we are a "poor" country, we cant afford to take care of ugh, poor people, its all their own fault anyway.

If anyone, from the US government down to Joe Blow, has financial problems and debt, you need to cut spending. The republican congress and Bush both had problems with this. $261 billion of our 2008 budget goes towards interest on the debt. So you need to cut spending. Quit living beyond your means, or else the debt will obviously continue to grow. And you'll have to cut it drastically just to be able to actually start reducing the debt. That's not what Obama wants to do though. His solution is to go orders of magnitude beyond the overspending that the republicans have done. Which will lead to hyper-inflation.

The American people are not too stupid to earn a living. But increasingly they have been getting too lazy, and they've been able to pull off being lazy because the democrats will side with them and say ohh poor us. We need a hand out. And increasingly the lazy are getting hand outs. Being lazy works for them. And it's working for that lazy idiot in my town who has ACORN flocking to her rescue.

[TracyCoxx]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMnSp4qEXNM