Thx Phil Gramm for the economy

[ctanimalhouse1]

Later in his Senate career, Gramm spearheaded efforts to pass banking reform laws, including the landmark Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999, which served to reduce government regulations in existence since the Great Depression separating banking, insurance and brokerage activities.

Years later, critics of Gramm point out that this same legislation may have been pivotal in encouraging the corporate practices that led to the 2008 mortgage crises in America.[5]

Between 1995 and 2000 Gramm, who was the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, received $1,000,914 in campaign contributions from the Securities & Investment industry.[6]

Later, as lobbyist for Swiss bank UBS, Gramm pressured congress ease it's restrictions on predatory lending tactics by mortgage brokers. For his efforts, Gramm received $750,000 from UBS in a one year period starting in 2007.[7].

 

[ctanimalhouse1]

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[AVG-JOE]

Later in his Senate career, Gramm spearheaded efforts to pass banking reform laws, including the landmark Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999, which served to reduce government regulations in existence since the Great Depression separating banking, insurance and brokerage activities.

Years later, critics of Gramm point out that this same legislation may have been pivotal in encouraging the corporate practices that led to the 2008 mortgage crises in America.[5]

Between 1995 and 2000 Gramm, who was the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, received $1,000,914 in campaign contributions from the Securities & Investment industry.[6]

Later, as lobbyist for Swiss bank UBS, Gramm pressured congress ease it's restrictions on predatory lending tactics by mortgage brokers. For his efforts, Gramm received $750,000 from UBS in a one year period starting in 2007.[7].

This is exactly the kind of activity that needs to be a crime. Not changing legislation - rules need to be kept up with the times, the money changing hands and allowing former government employees to lobby government.

The most unfortunate thing for me is that I met Phil Gramm in the early 80's when he just switched from democrat to republican and he was a champion of free markets. He pushed for 2 companies to provide cable TV in his district, allowing customers to choose and competition to keep the price for cable in College Station / Bryan around half what it was elsewhere. The service was much better too.

What happened to you Phil?

-Joe

 

[editec]

As I've been saying ever since I got here, the deregulation of our banking system, a system devised after the great depression to protect us from the kind of financial metdown that is threatening us now, was didmantled by the people who bought into and continue to buy into the philiosophy that government is the problem and that markets are the solution.

The fact is that government can be a problem, but the answer to problematic government is NOT the market...it's better smarter governments.

Free markets require regulation because sometimes individuala making perfectly rational decisions FOR THEMSELVES, leads the society as a whole into terrible situations.

And that is exactly what is going on now with our banking crises.

Curse you Scroogeitarians for understandinbg only SOME of the principles of economics, but for not bothering to understand that social science well enough to see that everything you thought you understood so much better than liberals was only partially right.

NO, markets cannot entirely regulate themselves. That was, is and always will be the sheer bunk of the Scroogeitarian mindset

All that anti-governance, socio-economic philosophy inevitably leads us to are TRAGEDIES OF THE COMMONS, of one kind or the other.

Now, thanks to banking deregulation, ten million perfectly rational decisions made by perfectly rational people, people who were only seeking to maximize profits, after all; people who did absolutely nothing wrong; people who were simply playing the game according to the rules we put in place, are leading our nation into a serious, A VERY SERIOUS, national financial crises.

Lehman had 40 times as much money lent out as it had in capital, folks.

And cpaital they were counting on was the bundles of mortgages with values based on the prices of real estate BEFORE the R E bubble burst.

So now, LEHMAN finds itself without the capitalization to support the amount of momney they have loaned out.

The bank is bust.

AIG? That insurance company invested in what?

MORTGAGE BACKED financial insturments.

Guess what?

The value of those financial instruments is ALSO down.

Hence, AIG does not have the liquidity to pay off its policy holders if a serious natural disaster happens.

YOUR BANK?

YOU BANK, is probably holding financial instruments based on Freddie Mae or Fanny Mac debt instruments, too.

Its capitalization is ALSO likely based on assets which are losing values, too.

NONE of this would be happening if we hadn't DEREGULATED our banking industry, folks. Savings banks could NOT invest in high risk securities UNTIL supply siders, people who worship the market as blindly as any Christian worships the baby Jesus, dismantled those safeguard regulations we HAD IN PLACE to p[rvent this kind of problem.

EXCELLENT PLANNING SCROOGITARIANS!

Way to ignore the lessons of the past so that you all could make the same damned mistake you Scroogeitarians made in the past.

Way to go, you greedy ignrant genuises!

You and your iditoic hatred of our government have done what 400,00,000 million communists armed with 27,000 nuclear weapons could NOT do...You have beaten America down to the point where our money is a joke, we are indebted worse than the third world, we have deindustrialized our nation, un and underemployed most of our people, our infrastucture is falling apart and the world fucking hates us!

I hope you enjoy all your Bimmers and your McMansions.

Most of you won't be keeping them long.

 

[Diuretic]

But the really, really wealthy, are safe.

So that's okay for them.

 

[editec]

But the really, really wealthy, are safe.

So that's okay for them.

Even that is not entirely true.

Certainly one hell of a lot of people who you or I might think were very very affluent are hurt by this, too.

Here's the thing that the very wealthy seem to forget even couple generations...

the working class creates the wealth.

When they are in trouble, the wealthy class will inevitably get into trouble, too.

Oh it often takes a while, but if there aren't enough people working at decent jobs, making enough money to pay their bills and consume, and pay taxes, too, then the whole system starts to get poor, and inevitably even many of the formerly wealthy find themselves out fo work and stuggling to make it in America.

yesterday Lehman fired 25,000 workers.

They were NOT factory workers.

Most of them were highly skilled traders and fuctionaries who made VERY VERY good incomes.

MOST OF THEM are NOT going to find work in their area of expertise again.

There's going to be some unhappy folks in the better villiages and bergs of Connecticut in the next few months.

New York City and the metro region is going to suffer terrible economic blowback from the firing of the nearly 100,000 workers in the banking and finace industry in the last few months. More workers in that area are going to lose their jobs, too, believe me.

I seriously doubt that anyone reading this is really safe from a major economic depression stemming from tjhis banking crises.

I don't care what you do, how much money you make or have in the bank, or how carefully you've structured your portfolios, when things go South in a big way economically, very few people escape it unscathed.

 

[Care4all]

greenspan's policies hurt us too, by making borrowing money CHEAP....very low interest rates.....all the banks/mortgage brokers then started giving it out like free candy with no regard to the borrowers income, or downpayment etc....making home demand rise, thus home price rises, without a blink,....the home/housing BUBBLE that is now bursting...

 

[chopcrazy]

Later in his Senate career, Gramm spearheaded efforts to pass banking reform laws, including the landmark Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999, which served to reduce government regulations in existence since the Great Depression separating banking, insurance and brokerage activities.

Years later, critics of Gramm point out that this same legislation may have been pivotal in encouraging the corporate practices that led to the 2008 mortgage crises in America.[5]

Between 1995 and 2000 Gramm, who was the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, received $1,000,914 in campaign contributions from the Securities & Investment industry.[6]

Later, as lobbyist for Swiss bank UBS, Gramm pressured congress ease it's restrictions on predatory lending tactics by mortgage brokers. For his efforts, Gramm received $750,000 from UBS in a one year period starting in 2007.[7].

What were the President's reasons for approving this bill?

 

[AVG-JOE]

....

The fact is that government can be a problem, but the answer to problematic government is NOT the market...it's better smarter governments.

Free markets require regulation because sometimes individuala making perfectly rational decisions FOR THEMSELVES, leads the society as a whole into terrible situations.
...

Regulation for regulations sake is not the answer. The problem as I see it is that the regulations have been written by those who are to be regulated. How much would any of us spend to buy the regulations required to control how much competition we face and reduce our risk by making the taxpayers bear much of the burden?

Professional lobbying is the cancer of our system that must be cut out and destroyed.

-Joe

 

[AVG-JOE]

What were the President's reasons for approving this bill?

Campaign contributions by the industry being 'regulated'.

Promises of $250,000 speaking engagements after leaving office.

Etc.

-Joe

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

As I've been saying ever since I got here, the deregulation of our banking system, a system devised after the great depression to protect us from the kind of financial metdown that is threatening us now, was didmantled by the people who bought into and continue to buy into the philiosophy that government is the problem and that markets are the solution.

The fact is that government can be a problem, but the answer to problematic government is NOT the market...it's better smarter governments.

Free markets require regulation because sometimes individuala making perfectly rational decisions FOR THEMSELVES, leads the society as a whole into terrible situations.

And that is exactly what is going on now with our banking crises.

Curse you Scroogeitarians for understandinbg only SOME of the principles of economics, but for not bothering to understand that social science well enough to see that everything you thought you understood so much better than liberals was only partially right.

NO, markets cannot entirely regulate themselves. That was, is and always will be the sheer bunk of the Scroogeitarian mindset

All that anti-governance, socio-economic philosophy inevitably leads us to are TRAGEDIES OF THE COMMONS, of one kind or the other.

Now, thanks to banking deregulation, ten million perfectly rational decisions made by perfectly rational people, people who were only seeking to maximize profits, after all; people who did absolutely nothing wrong; people who were simply playing the game according to the rules we put in place, are leading our nation into a serious, A VERY SERIOUS, national financial crises.

Lehman had 40 times as much money lent out as it had in capital, folks.

And cpaital they were counting on was the bundles of mortgages with values based on the prices of real estate BEFORE the R E bubble burst.

So now, LEHMAN finds itself without the capitalization to support the amount of momney they have loaned out.

The bank is bust.

AIG? That insurance company invested in what?

MORTGAGE BACKED financial insturments.

Guess what?

The value of those financial instruments is ALSO down.

Hence, AIG does not have the liquidity to pay off its policy holders if a serious natural disaster happens.

YOUR BANK?

YOU BANK, is probably holding financial instruments based on Freddie Mae or Fanny Mac debt instruments, too.

Its capitalization is ALSO likely based on assets which are losing values, too.

NONE of this would be happening if we hadn't DEREGULATED our banking industry, folks. Savings banks could NOT invest in high risk securities UNTIL supply siders, people who worship the market as blindly as any Christian worships the baby Jesus, dismantled those safeguard regulations we HAD IN PLACE to p[rvent this kind of problem.

EXCELLENT PLANNING SCROOGITARIANS!

Way to ignore the lessons of the past so that you all could make the same damned mistake you Scroogeitarians made in the past.

Way to go, you greedy ignrant genuises!

You and your iditoic hatred of our government have done what 400,00,000 million communists armed with 27,000 nuclear weapons could NOT do...You have beaten America down to the point where our money is a joke, we are indebted worse than the third world, we have deindustrialized our nation, un and underemployed most of our people, our infrastucture is falling apart and the world fucking hates us!

I hope you enjoy all your Bimmers and your McMansions.

Most of you won't be keeping them long.

So your solution to all the government regulation is more government regulation? The free market did not lead to this crisis, because we don't have a free market. The Federal Reserve manipulates the interest rates and causes these bubbles. Then they continue to print more and more money which devalues the currency.

 

[editec]

greenspan's policies hurt us too, by making borrowing money CHEAP....very low interest rates.....all the banks/mortgage brokers then started giving it out like free candy with no regard to the borrowers income, or downpayment etc....making home demand rise, thus home price rises, without a blink,....the home/housing BUBBLE that is now bursting...

Agreed.

And the tax cuts which caused our government to have to borrow still more money also part of the formula of this toxic economy.

FREE TRADE? Still another element in the mix.

This failure has many sources all coming together much as it was predicted they would by people like myslef.

People who were poo-pooed by neoc-n apologists as isolationists, old school liberals, and other such highly inaccurate epithets.


Here's a clue...you cannot make more than half the working population of a nation POORER and expect the economy to keep making the rich richer.

Like hard headed economists like to remind us?

There's no FREE LUNCH.​

 

[rayboyusmc]

But the really, really wealthy, are safe.

And that's why the richturds keep telling US the economy is sound. It is for them. They have made their millions/billions and are safe.

If Mumbles McCain wins, Graham Cracker will be the new Secretrary of the treasury. He is still advising McCain

Mr Straight Talk is being lead by a group of crooked lobyist.

Anyone today who does not make over a hundred thousand annually and votes for McCain is truly a self hater and a delusioned repbulican.