Sunday Roundup

Phil Gramm obviously had the quote of the week. Voters dealing with skyrocketing gas prices and collapsing home values just love being called "whiners" by a millionaire. This kind of out-of-touch condescension comes as no surprise to anyone who has followed Gramm's career. He's left his fingerprints on some of the worst economic debacles in U.S. history. He was a champion of energy deregulation, which gave us Enron and blackouts and price gouging. He was a champion of deregulating the savings-and-loan industry, the bailout of which cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. And his leadership on banking deregulation helped create the current sub-prime mortgage crisis. Republicans love to talk about Obama's lack of experience. I'll take fresh blood over Gramm's kind of track record any day of the week.

Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff

Comments

[fiberoptimist]

Phil Gramm's policy failures are well documented. Is he held accountable by the media? No, he gets a promotion to McBush's top economic advisor.

The Republicons never met a rich person to whom they don't want to give a discount.

[Lizziewho]

Thanks to Arianna Huffington for her commentary of the real Phil Gramm. I'm incredulous with all of Phil and his wife Wendy's complicity in the disgrace of Enron game playing and eventual demise causing almost incalcuble damage. How did she get the job as Chairwoman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission I wonder? Was she actually qualified? She was certainly devious enough taking advantage of the vacancies on the Commission to ok Enron's pitch to set up its' own "unfettered in-house derivatives exchange" (p.158, American Dynasty, Kevin Phillips). A week later she resigned and took in something around a million dollars in the next 8 years (as calculated by Public Citizen) as a member of Enron's board of directors. Her kindly husband had laid the groudwork in Congress for her efforts on the CFTC and plush job of which she and the other board members claimed they knew nothing of the shenanigans of Enron. Amazing! And more amazing that he continues his nefarious ways and keeps getting rewarded and the damned press will NOT deal with it. Thanks Ms Huffington.

[NewsCorpse]

One bit of under-covered news this week is that Bush nominated neocon warmonger Clifford May to a seat on the Broadcasting Board of Governors (the agency that manages Voice of America, Alhurra, Radio Marti, etc).

May is as repugnant as Limbaugh, Hannity, and O'Reilly rolled into one. Bush is exploiting this agency to promote propaganda that advances his policies, not the national interest.
http://www.newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p=972

All the more reason to say NOPE to Bush's twin, John McCain.
http://www.crasscommerce.com/product_info.php?products_id=390

[research]

Agreed, but...

"He was a champion of energy deregulation, which gave us Enron and blackouts and price gouging."

You don't believe that the current oil prices are also given to us by the Enron Loophole(McSame's baby)?

Particularly the doubling from 70 to 140 in one year?

[heal57]

I would like to mention something very important economically and what it has done to middle class and lower class Americans;even higher middle class gets hurt. The FDIC has insured bank accounts only up to $100,000. I recall that same figure being the same amount thirty years ago or more when people earned less money; although at the rate we're going, we're almost back to those salaries.
Also the few companies with dental insurance never raised their maximum for 30 years so what was a good benefit at one time is a joke now. Most people will never have dental insurance so it is a moot point. Tuition, health care, gasoline and food has soared over the years but jobs are exported and get more and more low paying here in the states. I hear a lot of people talking about leaving the US. Some have a lot of money; others don't, but people are doing it now for some time. It's not great to be an American like is used to be because of our politicians, not our people.

[lionqueen]

Politics is a strange "all or nothing" kind of place. Is there real pain caused by higher food and energy costs? Yes. Is the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder feeling the pain more severely than other rungs? Yes.
But, is the US economy in recession? That is unclear. It is growing very slowly, primarily due to the so-called housing crisis. Was that crisis caused by greedy rich people? No. It was caused by greedy people throughout the economy, who bought what they cannot afford.
There are consequences for behavior, and the consequence for buying what one cannot afford, is to lose that purchase. There is a "risk premium" built into every financial transaction. To say that the consumer did not realize what he was doing, is to say that he cannot read a contract, which when reviewed, is not extraordinarily difficult.
There was a grain of truth in Graham's comment.

[LiberalBuzz]

There is no truth in what he said. He is a typical neo con, "I got mine and if you didn't then qwityerbitchin and if I did it by manipulating rules and laws for the rich then TUFF!". No truth at all.

[zippywpinhead]

the economy is growing very slowly, primarily due to the fact that they've changed the way we calculate growth. If they were honest, the numbers would be far more pessimistic and we'd show negative growth. Was that crisis caused by greedy rich people? Yes it was. While I agree that home buyers deserve to share in the culpability for their lack of personal responsibility, to say that they are all greedy is simply untrue and is as offensive as calling them all whiners. To say that they're all too stupid to understand the contracts is equally offensive. It was the "greedy rich people" who engineered the legislation deregulating the markets and causing all the chaos, not average home buyers, and they were the primary beneficiaries monetarily. To say that understanding those dense, foot thick contracts .is "not extraordinarily difficult" is simply not true as well- especially when they're being hawked enthusiastically by lenders who were stampeding to get anyone and everyone they could signed to a loan, damn the consequences. Sure, I think people should have been more cautious and have done their homework better and yes, some of them were intentionally greedy and purchased above their means. But the sad fact is that the climate was created by greedy money people with the government's blessing and in the high pressure "buy, buy, buy" situation, many innocent people got hurt...

[lionqueen]

Thanks for your response.
I am unaware of any changes in the calculation of Gross Domestic Product, and am most interested in what you refer to in this regard.
To your second point, I was not saying that greed did not exist in all sectors of earners. My point is that "greed" was not confined to the rich, but manifested itself across the board with respect to the most recent housing boom - and subsequent correction.

[m1penner]

Yes, this is one way to look at it, people are hoping to get a deal that is too good to be true. On the other hand, I look at holding, more responsible the people who purposely designed the system to take advantage of these people. So in your world view, where are those companies that profited greatly by violating standard and prudent lending practices, they are not in your analysis. Nor the companies that securitized the loans and passed them on to others, hidden in with other less risky securities. And then the rating companies who dishonestly rated the securitized debts...and the speculators and hedge funds, banks, etc., No, no greedy rich people in this scenario? No loan officers who, making high incomes of these loans, did everything they could to make a sale, including NOT emphasizing that this could turn out very, very badly for the client. No problem with the current government climate that supports anything business does in the name of profit . Yes, that is one way to look at it blame of the weak and most vulnerable in this whole tragedy and then Graham's comments may seem to eke a grain of truth in that one-sided world view.

[lionqueen]

The system to which you refer was not, in my view, designed to take advantage of borrowers. It was based on the fact that some believe, erroneously, that real estate prices will "always go up." If that were true, zero down payments would be acceptable, as the value of the home would always be positive to the amount borrowed. Further, no documentation, or "no doc" loans were designed to ease the approval process. Without relying on documentation for income to qualify for loans, borrowers could exaggerate their incomes in order to appear to qualify. And last, there were adjustable rate mortages, which have been in practice for decades, which allow a borrower who is at the beginning of his career to anticipate increases in income that would justify a higher payment in the future.
Not all bankers wanted to participate in these practices, but those that did not saw their loan portfolios transfer en masse to those that did. Further, if you look at the federally required disclosure statement at the top of each loan document http://www.knoxtitle.com/closing%5Cfed_truth_in_lending.pdff), coupled with the fact that there is a 3 day period in which the borrower can back out of the transaction, I think it is difficult to make the argument that most borrowers were "duped," as I think you'll agree these disclosures are reasonably straightforward.
While predatory practices exist in any business, it is not as simple as greedy and vulnerable.
Thanks for responding.

[LongBeachDave]

What exactly were the rules that allowed these people to get the loans in the first place? They never should have been approved. Even bankers down here in Chile are shaking their heads at the fiscal shenanigans that have gone on the past 6-7 years in the US. And ol' GWB was sure touting the "number of Americans who were first time home-owners" when it was doing him political good.

[heal57]

Please stop blaming the victims. Many of them were lured into these mortgages and told they needed no money down; they would recoup more and more money each year. These people are not financially sophisticated like alot of people are not in the US. Phil Gramm's comment was disparaging and he should go to hell for all the pain he and his buddies have caused Amercans. If you think it is unclear that we are in a recession, you have blinders on. The real unemployment rate is closer to 15%;the real monthly inflation rate is closer to 9 to 10%; you know with gas and food included; never mind tuition, medical bills, drugs, whatever. I am a top lawyers wife and I tell you that 99,5% of people DO NOT READ the contracts. They are long and complicated, delibrately so. Have a little more understanding. One day you may be where you don't ever want to go.

[Hoelder]

I think the most important news, is the whistle blowers in the administration coming out on the health risks on global warming. Effects that I have known for twenty years. It has been the reductive pen of Cheney and his devotees. The Bush administration looses its grip. The President does not care any more, just sitting out his term while everything starts to fall apart. It might be that after all this acceleration we could have Madam Speaker as President. I have never seen in my lifetime an political system falling apart that quickly. What scares me is whether the rapid decline will draw the republic into unrecoverable disarray.

[hark]

I think what's even more frightening is that only a few liberals agree with you, and they're considered left wing fringe radical whackos. Watch the mainstream news and you'd think this was just an ordinary president and administration going about its business.

[lisakaz2]

This is what happens when the executive branch glorifies in its own incompetence AND power mongering.

[HamletsMill]

PART 1

We are in new territory as a nation. We are in big, big trouble. I have had family on the ground in Afghanistan for six years operating on some of the most important international relief projects and grass roots educational efforts that were undertaken. The situation is deteriorating after what amounts to seven years of resources neglect because of the Iraq war of NeoCon ideological choice. The Afghans are the toughest people on Earth. But the morale of the progressive elements of their society is now starting to fall with each suicide bombing. We are now essentially facing a second front. A classic war strategy. The enemy is not dumb. They defeated the Soviet Union by a war of attrition on their local terrain. Google my good friend Vladislav Tamarov's book "Afghanistan: Soviet Vietnam". He once had a talk with my brother-in-law over tea in my living room that should have been filmed for a PBS series. Lessons have not been learned by anyone. We have to get people into the next Administration who understand the history of the Mughal Empire. Time is running out.

(continued)

[HamletsMill]

PART 2

If we attack Iran or are pulled into it via an attack by Israel, the fact that this was all so mismanaged and strung out in a protracted war of piecemeal impaired strategy for seven long years could effect both Iraq and Afghanistan as to situation on the ground and how it eventually plays out for the elements of society that want security for change and have cast their fate with us.

We do not have the military resources to control both situations. We have been out foxed and forced into a box of our own making.

International relief must be mobilized if we have any diplomatic friends left anywhere on Earth. I don't think we do. OBL is winning. Our economy is being destroyed by ten thousand lashes which was the objective of Al Qaeda since 1997. They have been playing a skillful hand from caves for ten years while we stumble through every situation. Another skillful attack on a U.S. city now without true sufficient National Guard troops and equipment to respond properly would be the final insult to our leadership. No body could have been this dumb. Every day of protracted war in Iraq and Afghanistan is a day closer to this eventually happening. I truly fear for the women of Afghanistan now if we cannot protect them. And I truly don't think we can. We need a full diplomatic effort in the region. Now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mughal_Empire

[Okieborn]

Arianna,
This whole Mccain for President thing is getting to be a complete farce !!
Phil Gramm is so out of touch with the struggling poor and middle class a person would wonder where in the heck he has been !!
The Mccain=Bush group are a clone job of Bush and his oil barron creeps .
I can watch Mccain=Bush canpaigning and know this jerk is not capable of being a competent dog catcher !!
"YIKES" !!!!

[JailNeoconVicts]

And yet McCain apparently has drawn into a virtual tie with Obama.

As H.L.Mencken said, "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people."

Wish it weren't so, but they elected Dubya twice. About to do it again, unless BO starts remembering why anyone thought he'd be better.

[akryan]

I really don't think that the methodology is good for most of those polls. They rely on past voting demographic patterns that I don't think are necessarily as reliable as they may have used to be.

[heal57]

Dubya was not elected twice. He STOLE two elections; that's much different.

[LongBeachDave]

Just watch...I expect Osama bin Laden to be captured sometime around, oh, say October 15th. If we are not already in a war with Iran by then as well, I'll be very surprised.

[deke33]

A simple lesson in objective economics for all those who keep their financial records updated. Deregulation, so we were told, would lead to greater competition, which in turn would lead to lower prices. Now all one need do is check their monthly repetitive bills from regulation to now. In fact just check how high your once regulated utilities are since 2000. Check the following: telephone bills, heating bills, electric bills, Cable TV bills, water bills, gasoline bills, and any other bill you receive at monthly intervals. Then post how much cheaper this deregulation that supposedly caused more competition is saving you. I can't hear you. You mean you are now paying more under deregulation than you did when there was regulation? Do you mean the Gods of Deregulation were wrong? You and I have been stiffed by people who know little or nothing about economics.

[Iheartniki]

Interesting idea. Let's try my case...

2000 2008

Telephone 39 66
Gas (mo. avg.) 50 140
Fuel (gal.) 1.40 4.09
Electric (mo.avg) 44 90
Internet 29 54
R E taxes (qtr.) 800 1100
Salary increase in 8 years 18%
401K in 8 years -21%
And the winner is.... NOBODY.

[KHAAANNN]

Wrong.
The winners are AT&T, Comcast, and Exxon-Mobile.

[bhenry112]

I might not be as resentful of Gramm's comments as I am if my salary had risen 18% since 2000. I actually made $4400 more in2008 than in 2000, but only because I took a part time job on weekends. My full-time job paid me EXACTLY the same. Only difference is, now I have 12 less hours a week to spend with my family. Do I sound whiny?

[Cobia]

"You and I have been stiffed by people who know little or nothing about economics."


Not at all deke, we have been screwed by people who know 'economics' far better than most.
And to the detriment of the many, and the profit of the few, they have gotten away with it (that's even a bad pun) so far.
As a matter of fact, the worse it apparently gets for most, the better it is for them.

(PS: I can't find a link that I had, even after searching, from I believe, a Slate article with two authors, maybe one or two years ago, that had the premise that the Bush adminisrtation was absolutely NOT as incompetent as they seem. That in fact, they always know exactly what they are doing.

If anyone remembers the article, please put the link up here for all our benefit, I'll keep looking too.)

[Danny]

Here is a revolutionary development:

"New windows double as solar panels 11 Jul 2008 A new type of solar panel that allows light to pass through it like a pane of glass has been invented by scientists who said that it is 10 times more powerful than conventional methods of producing energy from sunlight. The discovery raises the prospect of using ordinary domestic windows to generate electricity with minimum structural alterations".

Published today in The (U.K.) Independent. Invented at MIT by Profs. Marc Baldo and Jon Mapel.

[research]

interesting but completely theoretical. They haven't built anything. They are looking for 1 million for further research.

We already have all the energy inventions we need. Wind is cheaper then coal to install and the fuel is free. Manufacturing of thin film solar cells has reached 1GW/year from one 2M$ machine at 1$ per installed average watt.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/users/profile/research

[timetorevolt]

Gramm's wife, Wendy, made millions as an Enron board member. She reaped the benifits of his legislation.

[heal57]

timetorevolt; You'll never see that story on MSM. 60 Minutes SHOULD do it.

[timetorevolt]

KHOU-11, the best investigative station in Houston tried to cover it during the collapse of Enron. I hope they revive it now that Gramm is such a big part of McSame's campaign.. I have no hope of ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN or MSNBC touching this with a ten foot poll..but maybe Keith Olberman will.

[oneblackvote]

It doesn't matter whether the media talks about all of McCains' missteps, because the American people are keeping their eyes on everything. I'm tired of hearing about how the media is not holding McCain responsible for all the crap that comes out of his mouth and his campaign. The media didn't hold Bush responsible for going to war, they just sat there and didn't say anything. The media didn't challange Bush on anything after September 11. So I'm not really expecting them to do anything different in this cycle of American politics. Now we have HuffPost to keep them honest. Good job HuffPost.

[paixa3]

Yes. but what percentage of voters visit this site................sorry, it is an end game and the MSM has ALREADY won............get prepared to put up with 4 or 8 more years of crap or get ready to hit the streets (literally).

[Mike789]

If McCain get to be POTUS, rumor has it, Phil Gramm is in line for Sec. Treasury.

Oh, my....."Is there a balm in Gilead?"

[deke33]

Shades of 1929. Now some people can't go to their Indy Mac Bank and do business. They can't withdraw their savings. Let alone the curse that deregulation, greed, price gouging, paying for an unnecessary war with a credit card, the mortgage fiasco, 9/11, not finding the anthrax killer, torture and total loss of respect by the rest of the world, all in less than the 8 years of Bush stupidity.

[pattio66]

hey deke, don't forget Katrina...I was recently on an Amtrak train with a young lady who was traveling from Miami to Houston via Chicago. When asked why her route was so extremely indirect, she said the tracks still weren't functional along the Gulf Coast...

[tbkepler]

Did anyone just see Gov. Mark Sanford, potential McCain VP, with Wolf Blitzer this morning? When asked to describe a specific difference between Bush's and McCain's economic policies, he stammered and paused for an excruciatingly long time, and even said "I'm drawing a blank."

I do hope this precious moment sees more air time.

[paixa3]

There is nothing but blanks in bush's and any neocon financial plan. Quite simply, rape the world for all WE (neocons) can reap.