So with socialism Republican style (socialize the losses, privatize the profits) both Obama and McCain are saying the saw the meltdown coming. We know Barack Obama gave a prescient speech on the financial markets 6 months ago. It wasn't covered much because it wasn't a very interesting sounding topic. Now John McCain tells us he was concerned, too:
"Two years ago, I warned that the oversight of Fannie and Freddie was terrible, that we were facing a crisis because of it, or certainly serious problems," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told CBS this morning. "The influence that Fannie and Freddie had in the inside the Beltway, old boy network, which led to this kind of corruption is unacceptable and I warned about it a couple of years ago." (Jake Tapper, ABC)
I guess McCain is getting a little forgetful. "Forgetful," as in, "I said something completely different in December 2007." "Different," as in:
Q: "Well the dimension of this problem may be surprising to a lot of people, but to many people, to many others there were feelings that there was something amiss, something was going too fast, something was a little too hot. Going back several years. Were you one of them? Or, I mean you're a busy guy, you're looking at a lot of things, maybe subprime mortgages wasn't something you focused on every day. Were you surprised?
McCain: "Yeah. And I was surprised at the dot-com collapse and I was surprised at other times in our history. I don't know if surprised is the word, but...
Q: "S&Ls?"
McCain: "I don't -- what did you say?"
Q: "The S&Ls."
McCain: "Yeah, the S&Ls."
Q: "Is this bigger than that?
McCain: "I don't know the dimensions of this. It's hard to know what the dimensions are. As I say, I never thought I'd pick up the paper and see a city in Norway is somehow dramatically impacted by it. When I say 'surprised' I'm not surprised when in capitalist systems that there's greed and excess. I think it was Teddy Roosevelt who said 'unfettered capitalism leads to corruption' or something like that, that people have disputed for years.
"But so, in this whole new derivative stuff, and SIBs and all of this kind of new ways of packaging mortgages together and all that is something that frankly I don't know a lot about.
"But I do rely on a lot of smart people that I have that are both in my employ and acquaintances of mine. And most of them did not anticipate this. Most of them, I mean I can find some that did. But, a guy that's on my staff named Doug Holtz-Eakin, who was once the head of the Office of Management and Budget, said that there was nervousness out there. There's nervousness. There was nervousness that we had such a long period of prosperity without a downturn because of the history of our economy. But I don't know of hardly anybody, with the exception of a handful, that said 'wait a minute, this thing is getting completely out of hand and is overheating.'
"So, I'd like to tell you that I did anticipate it, but I have to give you straight talk, I did not." [Tapper pullquote from NH Sentinel interview, December 2007]
McCain just makes shit up (aka lying) when it suits him. And it seems to suit him pretty often (long list of fact checked lies).
Or this:
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Yep, Revere he did give a speech.... and then went on to do exactly zip about it. Might it have been because he was bought and paid for?
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=75586
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/09/update-fannie-mae-and-freddie.h…
http://wizbangblog.com/content/2008/09/16/obama-one-of-leading-recipien…
McCain is on this list too. But that squeaky wheel might have just gotten a little more oil.
Obama is a Picasso..... very convoluted but worth a lot of money to a lot of people.
"socialize the losses, privatize the profits"
that's a damn good way of summing it all up!
shoes keep dropping.
how many feet are there?
The hypocrisy of both some Democrats and nearly all Republicans on financial policies is appalling. Many marginalized voices have been saying for years that the financial markets left unregulated would collapse and have disastrous consequences for the economy. Many politicians, academics, and talking heads have been disastrously and publicly wrong about deregulation and laissez faire capitalism.
But it already appears that few of these people will be held accountable for their reckless disregard for the financial well-being of this country. Now, we have a more socialized financial sector than ever without any of the benefits in terms of fairness or gain accruing to the average person.
All countries have problems that could solve but don't because we don't have resources to solve them. So when it comes to consumer safety, health care, public health, education, job training, daycare, etc. there is no money. But we have clearly learned that when a bad person far away might harm business there are trillions available in killing power and protection money. When arrogant millionaires and billionaires screw-up the economy they profited from on the run-up, well there are billions available to help them. For the homeless, the disabled pre-schooler, the elder who needs day habilitation, the consumer who does not want their salsa to kill them there is platitude and placation but no real change. For millionaires and military adventurists their is no accountability and all the money that used to make this country special.
I forgot the most important evidence of all--the people of New Orleans--the victims of massive political and engineering indifference were basically given more promises than assistance. And then ignored by nearly everyone. Financial titans never get ignored.
Revere, do you have a cite for that quote? I would love to be able to use it when talking to my pro McCain family members who seem to think he is on their side in this financial crisis. Also, there is something passing along that blames this debacle on legislation that began in Carter's administration that enabled "less qualified people, primarily in minority areas" to obtain mortgages. (Yes the email actually referred to minorities!)
Do you know anything about this legislation they are referring to?
You seem to have a pretty good grasp on the facts, or at least on which "facts" are lies.