How many more...

[EarnedStripes44]

My whole point about congressional control from 1995-2006 is that we reeling in the effects of deregulation from the those years now. Actually from the last 25 years. Clinton was the greatest republican president in the last 100 years and Greenspans served as the chairman of the fed under his administration but I dont blame either party, I blame deregulation, it just so happens that this school of thought has been embraced by most in the republican party and some in democratic party. But special emphasis is necessary on those years 2001 thru 2006, oil companies and war profiteers not withstanding, our economy turned to paper. Now its wet and red.

Now indulge me for a moment, for the sake of argument, lets just say s**** rolls down hill. Maybe you dont agree, and prefer highlighting irresponsible borrowers as a significant contributing cause to this mess, you'd be right I suppose, but we do lock up drug dealers for years on end, not the users. So what about the irresponsible lenders, they made a lot of money, lots of bonuses off incredible bubbles in home prices. "Speculative" bubbles in homeprices that outstripped the pace of real purchasing power for working people who secured inflated loans.

So what about Greenspan, are his inherent philosophical flaws about corporate self-regulation of derivatives backseated by some green sign in South Atlanta that says WE FINANCE.....BAD CREDIT, NO CEDIT, 0 DOWN. So lets continue to blame the folks waiting in line to get their fix of the china bubbling in the dealers spoon.

Who put the rules in place Bones?

Now I'll give you this, Liberals can think up some brilliant headf****. However, let us not neglect the parisitic self interest and greed that hitchiked its way onto well intentioned policy that often happens as a result of a collision of interests. This is what has turned a good policy proposal bad. Self interest is, to varying extents, an essential part of the human condition and it should be held in check where necessary. Is that not a cornerstone of conservatism, keeping self interest in check and under control. The irony for me here, is that conservatism, dating back to Thomas Hobbes, insists on checking people with prisons, police, illegal wiretaps, etc, etc but they dont want to check corporations which enjoy the same citizenship rights as the people they pursue to control. I don't know dude, I just don't know...

Bones, you should include Phil Gram in that sentence with Barney Frank.

[fishbones]

Originally Posted by EarnedStripes44

Now indulge me for a moment, for the sake of argument, lets just say s**** rolls down hill. Maybe you dont agree, and prefer highlighting irresponsible borrowers as a significant contributing cause to this mess, you'd be right I suppose, but we do lock up drug dealers for years on end, not the users. So what about the irresponsible lenders, they made a lot of money, lots of bonuses off incredible bubbles in home prices. "Speculative" bubbles in homeprices that outstripped the pace of real purchasing power for working people who secured inflated loans.

I like your analogy of the drug dealers/users. It does fit this discussion to a point. Would you rather see drug users put behind bars and then the dealers would have noone to sell to? Or do you try to put the dealers away so the users can't get their drugs? Realistically, you can't do either to the point that it's going to end the drug problem in this country.

Same goes for loan companies. Blame the loan companies or blame the borrowers. It doesn't matter because in the long run they both are screwed. People lose their homes and companies go bankrupt. I do blame the big mortgage companies for preying on uneducated or unqualified loan applicants. Now, they are reaping what they sow. But, just like drug dealers, when one goes away, another will pop up to take it's place sooner oor later. Hopefully this crisis has at least made people more aware of their own financial state.

My point earlier was just that as much as everyone would like to blame the Republicans for everything that ails this country, the Democrats are equally to blame.