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http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/25/jindal.defense.obama/ It's OK for Republicans to want President Obama to fail if they think he's jeopardizing the country, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal told members of his political party Tuesday night.
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My answer to the question is very simple: 'Do you want the president to fail?' It depends on what he is trying to do."
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He made a point to criticize Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for a "spending spree" that he said "is costing the taxpayers more than the Iraq war, more than the Vietnam War, and, near and dear to my heart, even more than the Louisiana Purchase." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, Mr. Jindal, I suppose it makes no difference to you that we are in the deepest recession since the Great Depression. A recession that will become a Depression unless the Government provides significant stimulus to get people back to work and spending again. A calamity of this proportion must be met with strong action on the epart of the Government. ON this point Bobby, virtually ALL economists in the known world agree and many economists judged the stimulus package NOT BIG enough. Many consider it not big enough because Obama put tax cuts in the package to please Republicans even though it's widely recognized that tax cuts are not very stimulative (67% of the Bush tax cuts were used to pay down debt or saved.).
Everyone knows a large stimulus is needed to prevent the economy from going into a contractionary spiral. But, even knowing this, only three Republicans could be found to vote for the stimulus bill. No this is not responsible action on the part of Republlicans. But why are we not surprised at this. The Republican mantra (learned from corporate lobbyists) was that the Market place needed no controls, no regulatory oversight was needed it only kept businesses from innovating and growing.
WEll, innovation we got. Credit Default Swaps (CDS) made legal by the Commodity Futures Modernization Act 2000(slipped in as a rider - same as an earmark - the the 11,000 page Omnibus Spending Bill 2000) also made trading in CDSs completely UNREGULATED. It was the CDSs which made high rate (and high risk) Collaterized Debt Obligations (bundled Sub-Prime loans) so popular because the CDSs were supposed to offer insurance against default of the CDOs and thus eliminate default risk. Thus the Wall Street banks couldn't get enough high rate CDOs to sell to instututional investors and created an explosion in demand for Sub-Prime loans. Predatory lenders were happy to meet that demand and beat the bushes for anybody they could sign up to a mortgage - even if they had to falsify financial data on the loan application to do so.
This kind of innovation we can do without. Especially when Republican appointed regulators like Christopher Cox, chairman of the SEC, dismantled the Risk Management Office of the SEC which was supposed to monitor the Wall Street banks activities with these knew financial derivatives which Warren Buffeta called "Financial Weapons of Mass Destruction".
This is how the REpublicans got is into the worst Economic downturn since the Great Depression caused by a Deregulation Disaster. But only three Republicans voted to fix this disaster. All the economists agree a large stimulus (along with stabilization of the Financial Service Sector) must be done to prevent this Great Recession from turning into the Great Depression II.
No Bobby, wanting President Obama and the Democrats to fail to fix this Republican Catastrophe is nothing more than a reckless politcal maneuver. You just want to undermine the Democrats efforts to save the economy and save the nation from Republicanism.
How ironic it is that while we have been under assault from terrorist who would like to do America great harm, it is the Republicans have done far more harm to America than Al-Kaida ever could have dreamed of. Why don't you Republicans do the RIGHT thing, for American, and just get out of public office. Your presence there is just another risk to America's future.
America doesn't need any Anti-Patriots.
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