AMERICAN CONSERVATISM IN 2008 AND BEYOND

And then you have AIG giving huge retention bonuses to incompetents and people who have already left the company.

We see the top officers of big corporations spend millions to refinish their offices. They take out monster compensation packages, caring nothing about the shareholders, who are the owners of the corporation. And remember the corporate jets, which are often used for personal purposes.

Bush had a lot of agencies outsource, and it was a disaster, with high costs and poor performance.

Walter, please don't fret. My point was that even members of the EU are starting to talk in more MACean terms. It was NOT to link Hannan's speech to my comment about France. That's twice I have explained that now.

And you did respond to Ican's post and inferred that he was talking about the EU or that EU governments were relevant to what he was saying. I was simply pointing out that he was not and they are not.

It was also before it was announced that the US was in recession.

Oh well sure. If we aren't in recession, by all means lets keep increasing the size and cost of government by hundreds of millions, or billions, and now trillions of dollars even if a whole big bunch of it goes to feather the nests, build power, and increase the comfort of those spending the money. Hell we don't even have to wait until we're out of recession do we? Forge on ahead and spend all the money you want guys. When the lenders finally dry up and you've milked the taxpayer dry, you can always print more.

Foxie, MACean theories are meaningless. Your definition has no real application to real life.

You are implying that the British Constitutional Monarchy complies with my dictionary's definition!

http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/

CONSTITUTIONALISM

If it does, I doubt its socialist government is fully complying with it. I'll check it out later.

Are you now making the leap that billions or even trillions have been spent to redo congressional offices?

You realize that if your bunch had properly managed the SEC, we wouldn't be in this mess at all. Right?

The SEC should have identified the danger of the credit-default swap market a long, long time ago. Instead, they did nothing, b/c everyone was making a lot of money off of it...

Cycloptichorn

No, it is false that our bunch is responsible for this mess. Bush learned about this pending mess from somewhere, but the Democrats ignored him.

HISTORY OF THE DECLINE OF THE USA’s FINANCE INDUSTRY
1977
President Carter signs into law CRA (i.e., Community Investment Act) Carter.
Mandates banks invest in poor urban areas.

1991
Home Mortgage Disclosure Act is expanded to compares rejection rates by race.

1995
Clinton changes CRA to require banks provide mortgages to their poorer communities.

1998
Janet Reno declares that since inception of 1992 fair lending initiative, Justice Department has filed 13 major fair lending lawsuits.

2001
*04/…."Bush declares that the size of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is a potential large financial problem because financial trouble of a large "GSE (i.e., Government Sponsored Enterprise) could cause strong repercussions in financial markets."

2003
*01/22"Freddie Mac announces it must restate financial results for the previous 3 years due to earnings report errors.
*06/11"Freddie Mac is the subject of federal securities and criminal investigations.
*09/11"New York Times says, "Bush recommends the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago."
*09/25--Barney Frank responds, "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do very good work, and they are not endangering the fiscal health of this country … I believe there has been more alarm raised about potential unsafety and unsoundness than, in fact, exists."
*10/29"Fannie Mae discloses $1.2 billion accounting error.

2004
*06/16"Samuel Bodman, Deputy Secretary of Treasury, repeats Bush Administration call "for a new, first class, regulatory supervisor for three housing GSEs: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banking System.
*10/06"Franklin Raines, Fannie Mae CEO, testifies before the House Financial Services Committee, "assets are so riskless that the capital for holding them should be under two percent. "

2006
*04/18"Freddie Mac pays a record $3.8 million Federal Election Commission fine.
*05/23"Fannie Mae’s regulator announces that Fannie Mae has for years overstated reported income and capital by $10.6 billion.
*05/25"Senator John McCain calls for GSE regulatory reform legislation, warning: "If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system and the economy as a whole.”
*11/07"Democrats win majorities in both houses of Congress. The U.S. economy is growing at about 3 percent, unemployment is at 4.5 percent, and inflation under 2 percent.

2007
*06/23"Two Bear Sterns hedge fund groups collapse due to their mortgage investments.
*08/09" President Bush requests Congress pass a reform package for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
*12/06" President Bush warns Congress of need to pass legislation reforming GSEs.

2008
*03/14"J.P. Morgan and the Federal Reserve recognize extent of Bear’s toxic assets, including sub-prime mortgages, and credit default swaps, and interconnection with other banks.
*03/14"At Economic Club of New York, President Bush requests Congress take action and reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
*04/14"President Bush issues a plea to Congress to pass legislation reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
*05/03"President Bush issues a plea to Congress to pass legislation reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
*05/19"President Bush issues a plea to Congress to pass legislation reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
*05/31"President Bush issues a plea to Congress to pass legislation reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
*06/06"President Bush issues a plea to Congress to pass legislation reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
*07/11"Senator Chris Dodd says: "There’s sort of a panic going on today, and that’s not what ought to be. The facts don’t warrant that reaction, in my opinion … Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were never bottom feeders in the residential mortgage market. People ought to feel comfortable about that. "
*07/13"Treasury Secretary Paulson asks Congress to grant him authority to take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
*09/07"Paulson takes over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and offers them $200 billion, despite the fact their government credit line had been limited to $25 billion.
*09/15"Lehman Brothers officially collapses, the government does not intervene, and panic occurs, triggering a big Dow decline.
*09/16"Nancy Pelosi is asked if the Democrats bear some responsibility for the current crisis on Wall Street. Pelosi answers, "No. "
*09/17"Harry Reid regarding the economic collapse: "No one knows what to do."
*09/18"About 11:00 AM, the Federal Reserve noticed a tremendous drawdown of money market accounts in the United States within two hours, equal to about $550. Treasury puts $105 billion in the system, but quickly realizes it cannot correct the problem.
*09/18"Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke ask Congress for the required funds"and unprecedented authority to bail out the entire financial system. They say failure to act means "we may not have an economy on Monday."
*09/23" Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in Senate Banking Committee testimony outline the $700 billion asset relief program (TARP).
*09/29"That TARP version doesn’t pass the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives.
*10/03"Three days later TARP is passed after about $112 billion is added.
*11/05"The day after Barack Obama’s election, stocks plunge 500 points.
*11/12"Paulson changes the TARP rules from purchasing "troubled assets" to buying bank stocks to spur lending.
*11/23"Paulson gives Citibank a $308 billion bailout.
*12/06"Both houses of Congress agree to bail out the U.S. auto companies.
*12/18"President-elect Obama hints at an $800 billion to $1 trillion stimulus plan within his first month of office, and the Dow drops another 2.5 percent.

2009
*02/10"Treasury Secretary Tim Geitner unveils the Administration’s $2 trillion TARP II plan, and the Dow drops 382 points, or 4.6 percent
*02/17"President Obama signs a $787 billion bailout bill.
*02/18" President Obama reveals his mortgage bailout plan.
*02/19"Rick Santelli says in an impromptu speech on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange: "The government is promoting bad behavior … How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor’s mortgage? President Obama are you listening?" Santelli calls for a "Chicago Tea Party."
*02/20"The market falls as Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee floats the idea of nationalizing the nation’s banks. The White House issues a denial, and the Dow ends down 100 points. The Dow is down now more than 800 points"nearly 10 percent"from the day before President Obama’s inauguration.
*02/21"Soros says, "The financial crisis marks end of a free-market model."

That is an idiotic and false timeline, full of lies. You have no conception of what caused the financial crisis and are not worth my time to discuss it with.

Cycloptichorn

Cyclo, You're wasting your time trying to have a discussion on the current crisis with anybody who wears a conservative stripe. They are now the "no" party who doesn't want Obama to succeed, and who doesn't even offer their ideas for a recovery.

Their battle cry of "too much money" didn't seem to bother them when they were in control of Washington; they not only increased the national debt, but failed to guard the American people by getting lax on their responsibilities to make sure the banks and investment houses were operating legally. They failed, and now they are the party of "no."

Their only message now is "the sky is falling!" They should have thought of that when the problems were first identified about two years ago.

Odd isn't it that you were asserting they have an"excellent" record for it? It turns out the government is neither redundant nor efficient.

None knowingly would do that. Government however instinctively raises its expenditures to equal or exceed whatever revenues it can extract from the people through taxes - even without increasing either the extent or the quality of the services it supplies. The Bay Area bridges still collect $4.00 tolls (more on the Golden gate) more than 60 years after the bridges were constructed - the bonds issued for their construction have long since been repaid.

That is the usual canard, however the facts don't support your assertion. Private schools do better on average and at a lower per capita cost than public school "advanced" classes.



Many much larger capital projects have been undertaken by private sector mining, petroleum and manufacturing companies. You are simply dead wrong on this.

I want the country to succeed, and Obama's idiotic bloated government and wild government social spending is not the way to do it, obviously. I complained about Bush spending too much, but Bush's spending was trivial compared to Obama's plans.

It is increasingly obvious the community organizer from Chicago is clueless in regard to the economy, and the tax evading Geithner has little or no credibility in my opinion. The man should be asked to resign, and yesterday was too late.

Compared to what? We are now in a financial crisis of gargantuan proportions not seen in modern times. Most people have lost a good portion of their equity in their homes, and many 401ks are now worth half - if that much.

Can you tell us when we had a similar type of world crisis? Don't even bother mentioning Hoover, because that's a different time in our world history, and there's very little resemblance between then and now.

Would you prefer that our government wait until more people lose their jobs, homes and health insurance? When and what is "your" action plan to reverse this crisis?

You keep talking in generalities; please give us some detail on what your plan is, how much it'll cost, and how you expect to reverse this trend in job loss.

Quit bitching, and provide us with some solutions.

Stimulating government won't fix it. Stimulating business will. I have offered the solutions in a bit more detail more than once, and obviously you haven't read them, but the above summarizes it.

For Obama to know how to fix a problem, he must first correctly identify the problem. The problem is not inadequate government activity, it is instead economic business activity. Therefore, stimulating government is the wrong solution.

To be fair much of the stimulus package involves grants to state governments (which, unlike the Federal government, can't print money) to make up for shortfalls in their collections of income, sales and gasoline taxes on which they depend. Most of this money goes to K thru 12 education (listen to the applause from the NEA and the AFT union), with lesser amounts going to highway and environmental programs. Federal agencies like EPA, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Interior department also get large sums for environmental cleanup, Missouri-Missippi river water projects , fisheries habitat restoration and other like projects. The state grants will enable hard-strapped state governments to sustain current education, highway and environmental programs. However, we should be prepared for some increases in state taxes when the Federal money runs out (that, however won't be the Administration's problem - it will be ours.)

The good thing about these government projects is that they will sustain several industries during the downturn (my company will do well) and stimulate secondary economic activity. The bad thing is that, in their rush to get projects out the door, many of the projects will not meet the usual criteria for public benefit, and will instead simply be make work.

Meanwhile the government contracting officers are pushing their contractors to move fast so they can meet their highly compressed time schedules for spending; while the government technical managers and inspectors who control the pace of work move at their accustomed leisurely pace; and the contractors try to figure out how to apply all the absurd special provisions of the stimulus package like "buy American" (is a Dell computer assembled in Mexico from components made in Taiwan an American product? How about a Toyota truck assembled in Kentucky?) and "Union Labor" (what if the contractor is a non-union shop - he can't legally refuse the work for which he has a contract. Must he fire his non-union employees?). Waiting in the wings are the army of government auditors looking for another Haliburton to hang. They, of course don't have to worry about all the contradictions imposed by their government compatriots - their job is just to meet their scalp quotas for violators.

Despite all the contradictions, there will be some economic benefits from all this activity. Whether the modest stiumulus now will be more beneficial in the short term than will be the future drag on the economy due to the government borrowing required to pay for it, remains to be seen.

None of this addresses the liquidity crisis. That presumably will unfold as Geitner's plan becomes clear. (I see the President has also appointed a special task force to catch tax cheats - I wonder if they will start with Geitner, Daschle, and Dodd ?)

Do you get this stuff in a box of crackerjacks?

WTF is "stimulating [the] government?"

T
K
O

I'm not discussion your dictionary or their definition.

The UK is a Constitutional Monarchy. The UK's government (Labour) is by its own (see their program/statutes) run by a Socialist party.

Are you nuts? Bush and the Reps had complete control of govt. for six years, and did nothing about the financial mess. The Dems took only the House in 2007, but had no power with the Reps controlling the senate and the presidency. Blaming the Dems is a foolish joke.