[Dark_crow]

Yes Tom, you’re right on as you often are … Deregulation. Congress adopted the Depository Institutions Deregulatory and Monetary Control Act. Ever hear of the so-called "Keating Five," which included John McCain who turned it all into his web of corruption. All the while Washington walked away from its responsibility to protect consumers with rules, regulations, and enforcement

Reagan came along and slashed funding for low-income housing cutting FHA adrift.

“At the heart of the crisis are the conservative free market ideologists whose views increasingly influenced American politics since the 1980s, and who still dominate the Bush administration. They believe that government is always the problem, never the solution, and that regulation of private business is always bad. Lenders and brokers who fell outside of federal regulations made most of the sub-prime and predatory loans.”

What do you have to say about that?:)

The Conservative Origins of the Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis | The American Prospect

[kp2171]

I understand a low dollar should encourage exports... id just prefer to have a stronger trade balance AND a dollar that's not weakening. Please santa? Can't a robust ecomony have a strong dollar and have products the world wants? And if we don't have what the world is willing to buy at a higher price, what does that say about our position? I know. I want it all.

And I understand china and the us are tied together economically... we will continue to buy their goods and they will not stop buying our dollars... I'm just not sure its in our long term interests to be in this position.

And its not like I'm not welcoming some correction. If anything, I'm hoping we allow for it rather than try to cover it up. Hopefully they'll be some great investments to be had.

I agree on the subs. Issues with regulation but also with people who made some dumb personal decisions.

[michealb]

I just want a strong dollar my vacation in St. Barts is expensive enough. The housing market stopping its plummet would be nice too.

[Dark_crow]

Yeah, my last trip I could hardly get my boat in the harbor:p

[michealb]

I don't have a yacht, so I have to fly in.

[speechlesstx]

the press has turned the price of gas and a housing bubble that affected very few people,and turned it into a semi-panic

Funny you should say that. The economic 'crisis' has been front page news here for the past two weeks. Yesterday's above the fold headline was "Economy in Crisis." Below that was a photo of nervous looking traders wringing their hands. Today's story on yesterday's stock gains was the very last article in my paper, lol.

[Dark_crow]

Nice air strip. Naw, I could get my boat in, the Yacht is too big though. :D

[Dark_crow]

Funny you should say that. The economic 'crisis' has been front page news here for the past two weeks. Yesterday's above the fold headline was "Economy in Crisis." Below that was a photo of nervous looking traders wringing their hands. Today's story on yesterday's stock gains was the very last article in my paper, lol.

Funny too you think stocks are the whole of the economy :)


EDIT: House leaders and the administration reached agreement today on a roughly $145 billion economic stimulus package.

[speechlesstx]

Funny too you think stocks are the whole of the economy :)

Come on DC, you know I was speaking of the media - driving the panic is front page, a little good news now is back page :D

[Dark_crow]

Right, just having a little fun at your expense. :D

More bad news... French bank Societe Generale said Thursday it has uncovered a 4.9 billion euro ($7.14 billion) fraud. The bombshell destabilized a major bank already exposed to the subprime crisis. France's second-largest bank by market value said it would be forced to seek euro5.5 billion (US$8.02 billion) in new capital.

"This is a bad time for banks and the industry in general. But detecting the fraud over the weekend was problematic because world stock markets on Monday and Tuesday fell hugely around the world. When the positions had to be unwound, the bank did that in a terrible market of falling equities," said Janine Dow, senior director at Fitch Ratings financial institution group in Paris

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/finan...eek+exclusives

[ordinaryguy]

i understand a low dollar should encourage exports....id just prefer to have a stronger trade balance AND a dollar thats not weakening. please santa? can't a robust ecomony have a strong dollar and have products the world wants? and if we dont have what the world is willing to buy at a higher price, what does that say about our position? i know. i want it all.

Why do you think the dollar is undervalued? How could you tell if it was overvalued? I think part of the problem in discussions about exchange rates is the "strong" and "weak" terminology. It would be more accurate and less emotionally laden to just say "high-priced and "low-priced".

Because nobody wants anything about America to be ".

Because nobody wants anything about America to be " we get the spectacle of Georgie-boy and Treasury Secretary Paulson ritually intoning "We have a strong dollar policy, we have a strong dollar policy." like bobble-head dolls even though there's precious little, policy-wise, that they can do to affect it one way or the other.

Low US interest rates make it less attractive to hold dollar-denominated securities (and vise-versa), so the Fed's monetary policy choices can affect the exchange rate that way, but the Fed's primary objective of keeping domestic inflation in check has to take precedence over any attempt to manipulate currency exchange rates. Besides, the Fed is an independent agency not under the control of the Executive branch, so George and Henry really have no policy levers to pull.

[inthebox]

Yes Tom, you’re right on as you often are … Deregulation. Congress adopted the Depository Institutions Deregulatory and Monetary Control Act. Ever hear of the so-called "Keating Five," which included John McCain who turned it all into his web of corruption. All the while Washington walked away from its responsibility to protect consumers with rules, regulations, and enforcement

Reagan came along and slashed funding for low-income housing cutting FHA adrift.

“At the heart of the crisis are the conservative free market ideologists whose views increasingly influenced American politics since the 1980s, and who still dominate the Bush administration. They believe that government is always the problem, never the solution, and that regulation of private business is always bad. Lenders and brokers who fell outside of federal regulations made most of the sub-prime and predatory loans.”

What do you have to say about that?:)

The Conservative Origins of the Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis | The American Prospect

So should not those who made unwise lending[s] or borrowing choices face the
consequences and not expect the government / taxpayor to bail them out?

Personal responsibility a conservative value.

[Dark_crow]

Good question lets take an example, food. There are plenty of poor fools, or very poor people who would buy spoiled food were it not for the federal food laws. Mortgage brokers did a fast sell on many of those people and made tons of money, what about them. I believe too that people's optimism also caught them up when they assumed that property value would continue climbing when it didn't. There is no doubt that whatever the cause, the people who lost their homes are paying the price.

[kp2171]

Why do you think the dollar is undervalued? How could you tell if it was overvalued? I think part of the problem in discussions about exchange rates is the "strong" and "weak" terminology. It would be more accurate and less emotionally laden to just say "high-priced and "low-priced".

You know what? You might damn well be right... and I'm not being my normal smarta$$ self here. I'm biased because I deal with buying overseas and the point is reasonable... maybe the dollar is perfectly "valued"...

[tomder55]

More bad news... French bank Societe Generale said Thursday it has uncovered a 4.9 billion euro ($7.14 billion) fraud. The bombshell destabilized a major bank already exposed to the subprime crisis. France's second-largest bank by market value said it would be forced to seek euro5.5 billion (US$8.02 billion) in new capital.

Imagine that... don't the French regulate their banking ? I think they do to a much higher degree than we do. How could this happen in a regulated economy?

Not that I agree with this in principle ;but I think the homeownwers who got suckered into these bad loans should be helped. WE bailed out the auto and airline industries didn't we ? We should be consistent here.

[NeedKarma]

Not that I agree with this in principle ;but I think the homeownwers who got suckered into these bad loans should be helped. WE bailed out the auto and airline industries didn't we ? We should be consistent here.

Isn't the conservative stance to have the government be less intrusive in a person's affairs? No one got "suckered" into bad loans, no one held a gun to their heads. Dear God Tom, you're starting to sound like a Liberal!!

[tomder55]

NK the caveat is that I would not help out those who's early payment defaults had fraudulent misrepresentations on their original loan applications. The rest of them should be offered a reasonable refinance arrangement if they are facing bankruptcy .Since this is partly the governments fault they should be part of the solution. A liberal solution would be to throw money at the problem. I am looking for a much narrower bail out then what is being debated now. Call it my attempt at bipartisanship.

[speechlesstx]

Hillary seems to have found herself in another embarrassing situation. After her "slum landlord" comment to Obama the other night a photo has turned up that appears to show Bill and Hill with the slum lord himself.



Reminds me of another interesting photo...