Been the topic of debate here on the board for a couple of years....
Well...here it is! Just published:
"Reckless Endangerment by Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner
1. 'In Reckless Endangerment, Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner argue that cozy connections between government and the financial industry were the primary cause of the financial crisis. In a series of clearly written narratives with many names, dates and figures, they show that government officials took actions that benefited well-connected individuals, who in turn helped the government officials. This mutual support system thwarted good economic policies and encouraged reckless ones. It thereby brought on the crisis, sending the economy into a tailspin.'
‘Reckless Endangerment’ by Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner - The Washington Post
2. "The Republican Party and especially its Tea Party wing have just acquired a new weapon of mass destruction and it has nothing to do with any of Congressman Wieners rogue body parts. If they deploy this weapon effectively in the next election cycle a big if then they have the biggest opportunity to move the country rightward since Ronald Reagan took the oath of office back in 1981.
3. The Tea Party WMD stockpile is currently stored in book form: Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed, and Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon. By Gretchen Morgenson, one of Americas best business journalists who is currently at The New York Times, and noted financial analyst Joshua Rosner, Reckless Endangerment gives the best available account of how the growing chaos in the mortgage and personal finance markets and the rampant bundling of dubious loans into exotically toxic securities plunged the world, and millions of American families, into the gravest financial crisis since World War Two.
4. The villains? An unholy alliance between Wall Street, the Democratic establishment, community organizing groups like ACORN and La Raza, and politicians like Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi and Henry Cisneros. (Frank got a cushy job for a lover, Pelosi got a job and layoff protection for a son, Cisneros apparently got a license to mint money bilking Mexican-Americans of their life savings in cheesy housing developments.)
5. If the GOP can make this narrative mainstream, and put this picture into the heads of voters nationwide, the Democrats are toast.
6. If Morgenstern and Rosner are to be believed, the American dream didnt die of old age; it was murdered and most of the fingerprints on the corpse come from Democratic insiders. Democratic power brokers stoked the housing bubble and turned a blind eye to the increasingly rampant corruption and incompetence at Fannie Mae and the associated predatory lenders who sheltered under its umbrella; core Democratic ideas may well be at fault.
7. Big government, affirmative action and influence peddling among Democratic insiders came within inches of smashing the US economy.
8. The Great Villain, the man who almost ruined America according to the book, is James Johnson, long one of the most important members of the Democratic establishment. ...Barack Obama, impressed by this track record of discernment, reportedly asked him to lead Obamas search in 2008 ...
9. Politically, this story is a killer app for the GOP. It demonizes Dems, lends itself to attack ads, divides Democrats between their Wall Street and union bases, and combines GOP hate figures in ways calculated to unify the GOP and heighten the intensity of the faithful. The story illustrates everything the Tea Party thinks about the corrupt Washington establishment and the evils of big government. It demonstrates the limits on the ability of government programs to help the poor.
10. ...if the GOP plays its cards right, Fanniegate could push this country into a new political era."
Fanniegate: Gamechanger For The GOP? | Via Meadia
Well...here it is! Just published:
"Reckless Endangerment by Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner
1. 'In Reckless Endangerment, Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner argue that cozy connections between government and the financial industry were the primary cause of the financial crisis. In a series of clearly written narratives with many names, dates and figures, they show that government officials took actions that benefited well-connected individuals, who in turn helped the government officials. This mutual support system thwarted good economic policies and encouraged reckless ones. It thereby brought on the crisis, sending the economy into a tailspin.'
‘Reckless Endangerment’ by Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner - The Washington Post
2. "The Republican Party and especially its Tea Party wing have just acquired a new weapon of mass destruction and it has nothing to do with any of Congressman Wieners rogue body parts. If they deploy this weapon effectively in the next election cycle a big if then they have the biggest opportunity to move the country rightward since Ronald Reagan took the oath of office back in 1981.
3. The Tea Party WMD stockpile is currently stored in book form: Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed, and Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon. By Gretchen Morgenson, one of Americas best business journalists who is currently at The New York Times, and noted financial analyst Joshua Rosner, Reckless Endangerment gives the best available account of how the growing chaos in the mortgage and personal finance markets and the rampant bundling of dubious loans into exotically toxic securities plunged the world, and millions of American families, into the gravest financial crisis since World War Two.
4. The villains? An unholy alliance between Wall Street, the Democratic establishment, community organizing groups like ACORN and La Raza, and politicians like Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi and Henry Cisneros. (Frank got a cushy job for a lover, Pelosi got a job and layoff protection for a son, Cisneros apparently got a license to mint money bilking Mexican-Americans of their life savings in cheesy housing developments.)
5. If the GOP can make this narrative mainstream, and put this picture into the heads of voters nationwide, the Democrats are toast.
6. If Morgenstern and Rosner are to be believed, the American dream didnt die of old age; it was murdered and most of the fingerprints on the corpse come from Democratic insiders. Democratic power brokers stoked the housing bubble and turned a blind eye to the increasingly rampant corruption and incompetence at Fannie Mae and the associated predatory lenders who sheltered under its umbrella; core Democratic ideas may well be at fault.
7. Big government, affirmative action and influence peddling among Democratic insiders came within inches of smashing the US economy.
8. The Great Villain, the man who almost ruined America according to the book, is James Johnson, long one of the most important members of the Democratic establishment. ...Barack Obama, impressed by this track record of discernment, reportedly asked him to lead Obamas search in 2008 ...
9. Politically, this story is a killer app for the GOP. It demonizes Dems, lends itself to attack ads, divides Democrats between their Wall Street and union bases, and combines GOP hate figures in ways calculated to unify the GOP and heighten the intensity of the faithful. The story illustrates everything the Tea Party thinks about the corrupt Washington establishment and the evils of big government. It demonstrates the limits on the ability of government programs to help the poor.
10. ...if the GOP plays its cards right, Fanniegate could push this country into a new political era."
Fanniegate: Gamechanger For The GOP? | Via Meadia
