In lame men's terms, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?

[Kulindahr]

Re: In lame men's terms, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON

In a way it's a nice thing, but neither party is blameless in getting us to this point. Democrats enacted laws which fueled sub-prime mortgages and mortgages for people no bank would have otherwise approved, but we could have gotten away with that if the projections from Clinton's term came even half true. As it is, a well-meant but foolish program to help people have homes was brought down by the repercussions of a wild abandonment of fiscal responsibility.

Gotta love bipartisan unintended consequences....

 

[Sbaraglia]

Re: In lame men's terms, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON

At Talking Points Memo, the following troubling insights into the latest transmogrification of the Paulson Plan...

First, here is Josh Marshall's introductory comment from http://talkingpointsmemo.com/

Finally, yes, it seems to be unquestionably good news that Paulson has jettisoned his first idea (government purchase of 'toxic' mortgage debt) in favor of British/Swedish model partial government purchase of major banks. But the fact that he rammed through his bailout bill as absolutely essential to saving the economy, only to decide a few days later that we need something dramatically different, does not inspire me with great confidence in his grasp of the nature of the crisis.

TPM then links this article from Sunday's NY Times, from which I post the disturbing paragraphs referenced by Marshall...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/business/12imf.html

Two weeks after persuading Congress to let it spend $700 billion to buy distressed securities tied to mortgages, the Bush administration has put that idea aside in favor of a new approach that would have the government inject capital directly into the nation's banks -- in effect, partially nationalizing the industry.

As recently as Sept. 23, senior officials had publicly derided proposals by Democrats to have the government take ownership stakes in banks.

The Treasury Department's surprising turnaround on the issue of buying stock in banks, which has now become its primary focus, has raised questions about whether the administration squandered valuable time in trying to sell Congress on a plan that officials had failed to think through in advance.

 

[sonny10305]

Re: In lame men's terms, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON

Perhaps they should just shut down Wall Street
No trading, no buying or selling, just everyone take a deep breath and figure out the best way to fix this mess. The stock exchange needs to close down, take a break if you will, for two or three days.
Oh, and please Mr. Bush, keep your ignorant mouth shut.
Your going on TV and telling the world to be patient
(where have we heard him say that before) is not helping us at all.
You have no credibility; telling us you understand the problem
and how to fix it is to laugh, and only causes us worry all the more.