White House Philosophy Stoked Mortgage Bonfire: New York Times

New York Times:

The global financial system was teetering on the edge of collapse when President Bush and his economics team huddled in the Roosevelt Room of the White House for a briefing that, in the words of one participant, "scared the hell out of everybody."

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[LaHenche]

I hear the Credit Card industry is the next to go with virtually NO BAILOUT PLANS from The Feds. I've been advised to STOP paying my monthly bills and stop stressing about my FICO score because it will all be obsolete in a year.

POOF! GONE!

Anyone else hearing similar ruminations?

[ElPerro]

What Would Suze Orman Do?

[borderorder]

Sounds much like wishful thinking on your part.

[Midnightrain]

Yes, I am too. My intuition has always been that this is coming. As the value of the dollar plummets and people are stretched thinner and thinner, FICO will lose its meaning. It's inevitable.

[rich misty]

I paid off my cards... I got out of my house in '06

My ex-neighbor, a Republican to this day, is living in a tent with his wife, using an unvented propane camp stove for heat.

He sits in his tent and whines about Bill Clinton to this very day, but he is not paying a dime on his many thousands in debt... I bring them food once a week.

[RobertaInCT]

I would wager he voted for McCain..............

[Freedomscap]

Really? Wow! poof! shazam! Kaboom!

[hark]

"Blind Faith?" What nonsense! Supply side economics, Reaganomics, unfettered free market capitalism. All the same thing, and it always ends with money and power concentrated in the hands of the very few, as they intended all along. It's not blind faith. It's a monstrous power grab that we peons know is going on but are unable to do anything about, because the government is complicit in this criminal and massive redistribution of wealth in this nation.

And we still don't get it. What the hell was that $700 billion bailout for? Funneling yet more money toward the top in a last desperate grab before the Democrats and Obama took over.

Only guess what? They're part of it, too.

And the media is complicit as well.

[rich misty]

Obama is not the enemy here

[slinkymom]

You sound like my kids. It's normal for kids to try and dodge responsibility for their actions and it is the parents job to teach them to accept and own responsibility for their actions and the results of their actions.

Apparently, your parents were unable to teach that concept to you. Seems like there is a genetic problem within the Republican party when it comes to taking responsibility for ones actions.

Why can't you simply admit that Bush and co. royally screwed up? Just say it... come on... without trying to blame anyone else.

[BBC9nch]

This is the most comprehensive indictment of the administrations policies that I have read any where. I certainly hope that we learn a lesson from it.

[slinkymom]

I hope there are jail sentences down the road. Lots of them.

[chirps]

And let us never, but never, forget the War Based on a Lie.

[BushBites]

They didn't mention that the chief funder of the Swift Boat Dirtbags was also in the housing business.

[rich misty]

Ponzinomics enriches a specific group: GOP donors

[MissingAmerica]

It's amazing that this idiot has a business degree from an Ivy League college yet knows nothing about business. Perhaps he should have stayed in the military since he's so into war. Alas, he was a failure in the military, too. What is he good at. It would appear he is good at failure. Sadly, having sunk 3 corporations, he has done a great job in sinking us, too. Let's hope this is the last of the Bush political era. KEEP JEB OUT! Send the family packing!

[norrinradd2]

Ace Rothstein: Listen, if you didn't know you're bein' scammed, you're too frigin' dumb to keep this job. If you did know, you were in on it. Either way, you're out. Get out! Go on. Let's go.

[ErnestineBass]

Yep! Free market capitalism is just one big "Casino" where the odds favor the house.

[Midnightrain]

He who rules the wave, waves the rules.

[hardybear]

And where we are collectively shocked to see the chips?

[jmad]

I call this stupidity" Willfully ignorance, and proud of it." The whole bunch should re punished. In other countries, crimes like this are dealt with swiftly and severely.

[rich misty]

Republicans want to give these guys medals, now that they stole all the money

[BillMelater]

No news here. Most of us, except of course the soaking wet Anti-American Republicans, already knew this. They are soaking wet because they are still swimming around in that African river - denial.

http://billmel8er.wordpress.com

[fireW]

It's NOT a matter of blind faith; it's a calculated and deliberate expectation that crime can be committed when there is little or no oversight BY DESIGN. Where do these lying criminals get off continuing to pretend it was just a bad roll of the dice that got us here? So much for the altruistic "wisdom" of the GOP free-marketeers. It doesn't and can't work due to the innate and boundless greed of its cheerleading practitioners. How many times do we allow them to pull this stuff before we learn?

[Blutus]

Bingo. This stuff doesn't just happen.

We get brow-beat about the 'free' market and the 'invisible hand' and it's all nonsense.

I wonder how come Republicans think everyone needs to be 'regulated' by Jesus
except the business community?

[Midnightrain]

Great question~ heh

[rich misty]

Yet Jesus overturned the tables of the money changers.

They are not Christians, they are something far, far more perverse

[ErnestineBass]

"The Invisible Hand" - slang for a pickpocket.

[Bushwillresign]

So surprised there isn't a cable show called "Bu$h Makes Another Loophole".
You have to act NOW, or else those terrible Democrats will enact regulations that usually take months to evolve.
If you have money, you can make money. These loopholes are normally buried in piles of legislations. We did the digging so you can make the profits. Hurry, hurry and you can get started making money the old fashioned way.

[BillMelater]

Bush set out to intentionally destroy the middle class and bankrupt the government. They want to end the new deal and have American workers compete with foreign sweat shops for pay. These are the neocon goals. They want you to work for $2 or $3 an hour 90 hours a week with no benefits or overtime or anything. They want a medieval caste society.

http://billmel8er.wordpress.com

[matthewhusseinsmith]

Thank you so much Karl Rove and the 60 million give or take, who gave us Bush. Let's elect Sarah in 2012 and see her complete the job George started.
Greed is good! Laissez-faire!
After the last 8 years, I thought we needed to eradicate religion from government and what do we get? Warren to "invocate" at Obama's inauguration; yeah, change.

[Mahi Joe]

The WH philosophy was reminiscent of the "Robber Barons of old".

[rich misty]

That was my conclusion several years ago, we screamed, GOP leadership replied "The Fundamentals of the Economy are Sound"

GOPonzinomics

[Bushwillresign]

Where did all the money go? Think of it like a poker game where everyone is a loser. Someone has to win. Well...?

[rich misty]

There is a list of names, and you will find them as donors to the GOP in 2000 and 2004

[Midnightrain]

What appear as huge loses for us, appear as huge profits for them (the principle players).

[begabug]

house wins

[Mahi Joe]

Ask Cheney. He moved much of his money into offshore accounts and converted some into foreign currency.

[PS4OBAMA]

Iraq won.....nuf said.

[VPN]

Mention the White House and we get another fine morning of Re-pub-lic-ker de-lu-sion-al tro-ll-ing and lame attempts to defend the indefensible.

[ApolloSpeaks]

THE NEW DEAL WITHOUT FDR

The Bush administration has presided over the worst economic meltdown since the Hoover Era. But unfortunately we have coming into office a man of staggering naivety and blindness bent on repeating the mistakes of the New Deal to fix the economy but who is a mental and moral midget compared to Franklin Roosevelt. The New Deal without an FDR is a recipe for political disaster for Democrats.

[slinkymom]

The new deal was not a disaster until the Republicans pushed for a balanced budget too soon. Once again, their short sightedness created a monumental disaster, both back in the Great Depression and again in TGD - Part Duex.

Some people just can't learn from their mistakes. Pride goeth before the fall.

[theplaintrutho1]

EXCELENT!

[ApolloSpeaks]

Your talking nonsense. The Democrats enjoyed a substantial majority in both houses of congress throughout the FDR years. The private sector was shackled by punishing taxes that practically killed the entrepreneurial spirit discouraging investment in the economy and expansion of existing businesses. FDR's tax policies is what led to the 20% unemployment rate of 1939 and Treasury Secretary Morganthau to pronounce the New Deal a failure to the House Ways and Means Commitee. His words were: "We have not kept our promises to the American people. We have been spending more money than ever before and it does not work. Unemployment is now where it was when we started."

[rich misty]

We were talking below about your plan to Blame Obama, any American, that you think can take heat for Bush and the GOP

[sb250guy]

Hey, you might be right. I don't know. But let's be real. Obama has not been predictable throughout the campaign or during the cabinet selection process. Both progressives and conservatives are satisfied and unsatisfied. Obama is a smart guy. He has probably not played all of his cards yet. I'm as interested as anybody in seeing where he is going. He has given hints but, until GW is gone, we won't really know what Obama's agenda is. My guess is that he will disappoint progressives a bit but he will win some conservatives and bring more people to the table. My heart doesn't like that so much but my brain says that it is a good idea. By the way, whether he is right or wrong, I think Obama is at least as smart as FDR. That doesn't guarantee success though. Fingers crossed, I am hoping for the best.

[ApolloSpeaks]

Obama being as least as smart as FDR on the economy is not a compliment as FDR was a complete economic dunce whose policies prolonged the Great Depression by many years. The New Deal may have saved America from tyranny and gave needed relief to workers and the ederly, but it failed as an economic recovery program. The failure of massive New Deal spending to shock the economy into recovery (unemployment was 20% in 1939) proves that the private sector alone is the engine of recovery.

[Bushwillresign]

Isn't there any way you can blame Clinton for this whole mess? You probably should wait until Jan. to start blaming Obama, otherwise you will seem insincere in your comments.

[theplaintrutho1]

At first glance it looks like that, so I give you credit, without argument.

In today's fast and furious, ipod, cellphone, blackberry. internet, etc world, we can't equate yesterdays world with today's tech future and how it plays out. These are clearly two different worlds we are talking about.
What happens here or around the world, has almost immediate effect and change. Obama can issue one sentence here that has effect all around the world, right away. Like what happened with the Republicans thwarting the auto-bail-out, it had instantaneous effect in the world markets.
So goes the world, so goes America.

You could be right, but if you're a citizen, don't be proud of it, unless your next move is to Dubai or Mars.

I sincerely hope and pray you are wrong, for the good of our nation.

[ApolloSpeaks]

This nation is bigger than its presidents and will survive an Obama disaster and the long over due end of New Deal liberalism..

[Peter007]

Memo to the blind masses.
It was the regulators that got you in this mess. They all work for the government. Read the article. The deregulation of certain parts of the industry didn't cause the credit crunch. It was peoples faith in government regulators that caused reckless investments. You were hoping that a government seal of approval was worth something. This time it wasn't..

[rich misty]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=drown+government+in+bathtub&aq=0&oq=drown+gove

All part of the GOP Plan

Then dodge their responsibility for the Government their ideology always delivers

Worked for Hoover ;)

[begabug]

poppycock. then why the big push for deregulation? this is the result of the innate proclivity of money lust insufficiently encumbered by moral or legal restraint.

[levibatgirl]

Still shilling the worn out reagan claim that the govt is the problem.
Republicans make sure it's the problem whenever they're in power.

All civilized societies need govt to survive.
As long as it's not republican govt.
They are reckless, greedy, corrupt and he// bent on destroying this country.

Did you get the 'memo' from the so called 'blind masses' in November?
It said, "Get rid of republicans in govt!"

[rich misty]

The GOP Plan for the Economic Crisis:

1) Blame Americans and American Institutions
2) More of the Same Ponzinomics

[Midnightrain]

Why change strategy now? It's worked for decades.