What a fiasco the entire Presidency of this outrageously enept and mischievous person -- George W. Bush has been. We don't have to wait for the verdict of future historians to say that Bush has been the worst of ALL U.S. Presidents. And I for one do not believe he won either in 2000 or 2004.
The impending recession can be laid directly to his policies, his men, and himself -- if he has enough of a grasp of such things.
For the last five years, the financial thieves: banks, mortgage brokers, etc. have been have been feasting on sub-prime mortgages -- selling them to those who did not qualify, or who qualified for a regular mortgage, but were talked into taking a much more expensive sub-prime one.
One financial blog site I came across in which some financial crooks and their allies were blogging that these buyers have the responsibility of knowing what they were doing. So,it isn't those who benefited from the con game -- it's the victim. They had too much trust.
Balderdash! What about the sellers? Have they no shame? Have they not a smidgen of probity? Do they not have the responsibility to point out to these "ordinary" people that they don't fit the criteria? That they will getting in too deep? For many of them -- it was just making a buck. And, I do not believe it's OK just to make a buck -- anyway you can. Selling drugs is one way of making a buck, so is deceitful and aggressive subprime loans. It's it peculiar the white collar crime is somehow a lower form of evil than drug dealing or white slavery? Just put on a suit and go to church on Sunday, and you are OK.
I can remember the days of yore when bankers were respected: they were honest, careful, prudent. Now-- they are hogs at the trough.
This whole disaster was brought about by GREED. Merrill Lynch, Citi-Bank, and most of the other big banks gobbled up these mortgages, as they "ascended" from one buyer to the other.
However, don't feel too sorry for the likes of the above -- they have gone to Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Japan to be bailed out. And, having more and more of the financial stability of the nation in the hands of other nations. These private banks, and corporations in general -- have NO patriotic feelings whatsoever. Or, if they do they wear them on their lapels as a pins.
Now that the bubble has burst, largely due to the de-regulation of the banking industry over the last thirty years as the private powers came out from other their rocks and began to gain more and more power over the people's government -- beginning with Carter the U.S. began to ease the regulatory framework --- that protected the nation and its people from the avarice and cupidity of those who make money --- by handling money.
As Jim Hightower points out: The subprime schemes are run through an intricate, intertwined system of loan brokers, mortgage lenders, Wall Street trusts, hedge funds, offshore tax havens and other predators. To entrap borrowers, the industry created an arsenal of arcane financial devices and maneuvers.
Bush was concerned about the financial effects of this crookedness on the crooks themselves -- the financial jackals --- the bankers and lenders. Jesse Jackson suggested that Wall Street could reduce or eliminate the obscene "bonuses" handed out at the end of each year to the officers and brokers of the large investment houses. Naturally, this plea was ignored because they deserve 30 BILLION in handouts for their work. And, really, what IS their work? Making money by manipulating money.
The war is responsible for our financial problems also and the deficit caused by it and by the tax reductions to the wealthiest Americans. A new study by Columbia University economist Joseph E. Stiglitz, who won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2001, and Harvard lecturer Linda Bilmes concludes that the total costs of the Iraq war could top the $2 trillion mark. (Christian Science Monitor)
The Nation's international deficit in goods and services increased to $63.1 billion in November from $57.8 billion (revised) in October, as imports increased more than exports. (http://www.census.gov/indicator/www/ustrade.html)
China owns 25% of the deficit. Much of America's wealth is underwritten by foreign countries. I heard a few days ago that if Saudi Arabia would switch from the dollar to the euro in selling its oil --- the United States would be in very desperate straits indeed.
The stimulus package is too weak and too late. A financial "nutrition bar".
We have been "monkeying" around too much with our nation's financial stability
