Make No Mistake.. Republicans Have Screwed it UP

[Joanne98]

You knew it was going to happen. The Republicans, who have controlled Washington for eight years (despite the shift in Congress two years ago), are trying to blame our economic woes on the Democrats. Among others, Rush Limbaugh, the Republican pit bull without lipstick, is reminding us that President Clinton started subprime loans, encouraging/coercing banks to make risky loans so that low-income workers could afford homes.

Well yeah, that was stupid. I mean, it’s nice to think anyone can own a home in America, but it’s smart to let them earn those homes in the traditional way — showing they are credit-worthy by saving, buying a small home, and trading up to bigger homes over time. I did it that way. My parents did it that way. But when bank executives tell Average Joe that this whopping mortgage is afforable for him, he believes this “authority”. Average Joe will learn the hard way that he was wrong. But will the banks?

Clinton’s system was running along fairly evenly for years before some conniving wizard recognized the potential and the abuse started. And this abuse started under a Republican Washington due to typically Neoconservative thinking that believes such a thing as a “free market” exists. It does not. If it DID, then there would be no corporate bail-outs for the “common good”. I can’t believe this has happened again. Did the Republicans learn NOTHING from Reagan’s deregulation of the Savings and Loans? If the government is going to guarantee money, they had better have a hand in saying where that money goes. What is it about Republicans that has them thinking the rich and powerful won’t lie, cheat, and steal?

But don’t think this is a typical class warfare rant. I have no problem trusting rich people — as long as they are held accountable. But the tax-payer is bailing out their companies while they keep their mansions. Mailroom workers are losng their retirements, as well as their houses.

This happened for the same reason the S&L crisis happened. Lack of regulation. I’m sure if the rich and powerful were ultimately responsibile for their money, we COULD trust them, but Washington has shown that isn’t the case. We tax-payers are ultimately responsible. It is that way by necessity, not choice, unfortunately. But that means easing regulation or a mentality of deregulation is NO LONGER an option.

Have they learned? I don’t know. Senator McCain and the Republican ticket are going to have to convince me they have if they are to get my vote. I don’t think Senator Obama and the Democrats have a handle on what to do, either. I mean, Clinton’s subprime gambit gave money away, and that set up this system which needed an influx of regulation via taxes in the first place. Pandering all the way around. Where’s the responsibility?

Still, the blame — and it’s good to blame if you want to see how to avoid this again – lays squarely on the Republican president and Congress, only aided by the impotence of the Dems who came in two years ago. There is no way the Republicans can fairly lay this crisis on the Democrats. President Bush’s poor monetary policy has led to the Fed printing money to fuel Bush’s wars and spending, all while keeping rates artificially low to stimulate a flagging economy and allowing American investments to focus overseas instead of on the infrastructure in the U.S. To be fair, many many Republicans are infuriated with Bush for being a big spending administration.

Some economists blame Alan Greenspan, former Fed Chair under four presidents, for his trust in free markets, and I think what we’re learning is that the belief that markets and bankers know better than governments only works if they are left to learn from their mistakes. And that’s something Washington isn’t willing to do.

Where are the criminal prosecutions? Fraud, stealing, deceit. Shame isn’t enough. Those who oversaw this should not keep their homes and retirements when those they swindled aren’t.

http://teresawymore.wordpress.com/2008/09/19/make-no-mistake-republicans-have-screwed-it-up/