Get the Hell Out of Our Way!

Good Morning - I don't have much serious to say about the debate on the stimulus package, especially since I posted a thorough debate already, but I do wish to rant about how incredibly annoying the Democrats and the media are right now.

It's obvious the Republicans are not interested in bipartisanship, and yet President Obama and the Democrats keep talking to them. They keep allowing the Republicans to dominate the debate. The Republicans are CONSTANTLY IN THE MEDIA and the Democrats aren't fighting back hard enough.

It's incredible, but Republican revisionists are out there claiming that Hoover was right and FDR delayed the last major recovery. Americans were starving in the streets from a lack of work because of Hoover and the Republicans, and they're claiming Hoover was right! What a load of crap! It's PROPAGANDA! Look it up! THEY'RE LYING! THAT'S WHAT THEY DO!

FIGHT BACK DEMOCRATS! GET MEAN! GET NASTY!

The Republican ideas are failures. It's a FACT they create unstable economies with crap jobs that crash, and middle-class Americans suffer.

The Republicans can call the bill "social engineering" all they want. WHO CARES! We the people voted for change, and the Democrats need to deliver. Forget the Republicans. The Democrats need to take the stage back and FORCE THE REPUBLICANS OUT OF THE WAY!

Tuesday's Angry Political Rant #1 - Michael

Evidence that Bush and "Hands-Off" Republicans are Responsible for Crisis

Hello Bloggers - It's a subject that I've been debating both on this blog and in real life with my Republican friends for a VERY long time. Who caused the economic crisis that we're experiencing today?

Most of my Republican friends think it's the Democrat's fault. They usually blame Clinton and the deregulation of the late nineties. Of course, they don't acknowledge that those changes were the result of Republican legislation, a strong Democratic opposition, and ultimately executive or Clinton compromises.

They also like to blame everything on Fannie and Freddie Mac, and the Democrats lack of legislative oversight. Again, they refuse to acknowledge the role of Republicans in the EXECUTIVE branch who were actually responsible for that oversight. There were plenty of regulations available to the EXECUTIVE branch to prevent what happened.

The whole Fannie/Freddie argument is absurd when you look at the laws and regulations in place at the time. Feel free to try and debate it, but it's accurate when you do the research.

So, why am I bringing it all up again, and why is this a RAVE and not a RANT? Because The New York Times/Herald Tribune has published a FANTASTIC - very long and very thorough - new article that does a very good job of describing what went wrong, and describes what I've always said, that GEORGE BUSH AND HIS LACK OF OVERSIGHT is what caused most of the problems. It describes the events in excruciating detail, and does a very good job of placing the blame mostly on BUSH and his "hands-off philosophy.

"We can put light where there's darkness, and hope where there's despondency in this country. And part of it is working together as a nation to encourage folks to own their own home." — President George W. Bush, Oct. 15, 2002

The Times describes how "there are plenty of culprits, like lenders who peddled easy credit, consumers who took on mortgages they could not afford and Wall Street chieftains who loaded up on mortgage-backed securities without regard to the risk. BUT the story of how we got here is partly one of Bush's own making, according to a review of his tenure that included interviews with dozens of current and former administration officials."

The paper adds that "his conviction that markets do best when let alone" coupled with the fact that he "pushed hard to expand homeownership, especially among minorities, an initiative that dovetailed with his ambition to expand the Republican tent — and with the business interests of some of his biggest donors" is very interesting. It adds that "his housing policies and hands-off approach to regulation encouraged lax lending standards."

If you want to learn more, visit the article. I don't have much to add. I've been saying this for over a year now. I've been one of the few screaming about the crisis, even BEFORE it hit the news. Just ask many of my friends. In earlier posts on this blog I described how alarmed I was by the TYPE of mortgage companies that hit the market after Bush. To those paying attention, it was obvious that rules were lax and the market was bloated. Something had to go wrong.

Unfortunately, it went even more wrong than I thought. I never dreamt it would be this bad. The really sad part is the way my Republican friends never want to take any responsibility.

They continue to blame the borrowers (personal responsibility despite corrupt lenders and unmanageable rules governing paperwork), the Democrats (Fannie and Freddie caused everything, despite all the evidence to the contrary), and a few bad lenders (right, a lack of oversight and Wall Street's resale market had nothing to do with it).

I don't bother arguing with them anymore. I don't think they'll ever take responsibility for anything, much less ALL THE DAMAGE THEY CAUSED OVER THE PAST EIGHT YEARS! I just hope those in the middle, the independents and the moderates, learn about what happened, and point the finger of blame where it belongs most, on GEORGE BUSH.

It was his ridiculous hands-off philosophy as president that made him the WORST PRESIDENT IN HISTORY! What a STUPID way to govern. As I always say, thank you so much for electing such MORONS, and for getting us into this mess. For God's sake, TAKE SOME RESPONSIBILITY!

George Bush, and many other "hands-off" Republicans like Gramm and Delay, are responsible. They've caused so much pain and suffering, and yet they're such narcissistic psychos they'll never know the damage they caused. We beg you, please learn from your mistakes, and don't inflict them on us anymore.

Monday's Political Rave #1 - Michael

PS - The White House has published a lengthy rebuttal to the New York Times cover story. I read it, and, like most of their crap, it seems far less convincing with far fewer citations than the Times article.

Using their usual tactics, they call the Times article "gross negligence." In my opinion the Bush Administration is both GROSS and NEGLIGENT in the way they always attack the press.

Well Mr. Bush, it isn't working these days. People know that you're to blame, and that you're also a scoundrel and a liar. Let's see you talk yourself out of this one in the history books.

It Was a Recession, It's Now a Depression

Hello Bloggers - I went to Wikipedia, one of my favorite places, and looked up the definition of a depression.

Their definition is: "a rare but extreme form of recession, a depression is characterized by abnormal increases in unemployment, restriction of credit, shrinking output and investment, numerous bankruptcies, reduced amounts of trade and commerce, as well as highly volatile relative currency value fluctuations, mostly devaluations. Price deflation or hyperinflation are also common elements of a depression."

So, let's see, the US Commerce Dept. reports today that US companies axed 533,000 jobs in November, 183,000 more than was expected. It represents the 11th MONTH IN A ROW OF LOSSES!

Most economists today are calling it the worst slump in employment since 1974. The federal unemployment rate stands at 6.7%, but most economists believe the number is MUCH HIGHER because it doesn't account for people who fell off the rolls or who are underemployed. No matter what, they say that it's evidence that the country is in a recession.

Yea, right, I think it's more likely an early depression. I know many say that you need 10% or 20% unemployment to claim a real depression, but I think that's beginning now. Construction, finance, telecommunications, entertainment, auto and retail are all starting to announce HUGE LAYOFFS. If Congress allows the auto companies to collapse, in my humble opinion, we are witnessing the start of another depression.

The last one lasted about twenty years. How deep will this one go we all need to ask? I think it's beginning NOW! I could be wrong - I do read lots of different opinions about it. So, what do you think? Let's discuss it if you're willing.

Friday's Opinion #2 - Michael

Outrageous Bush Administration Ignored Disaster Warnings AGAIN!

Good Morning Bloggers - I hope you had a good Thanksgiving and weekend. It was beautiful here in Southern California. I would like to talk about a new AP story this morning that is saying the Bush administration ignored plenty of warnings that the current economic MELTDOWN was on its way.

I know many of you Republicans out there like to say that 9/11 was not the Bush Administration's fault. Most historians disagree. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that the Bush national security team ignored plenty of warnings from the outgoing Clinton Administration and from intelligence agencies. Many historians blame them for the disaster. It happened ON THEIR WATCH.

Now there is evidence to suggest that the Bush economic team ignored warnings of the economic disaster. According to the AP, they "backed off proposed crackdowns on no-money-down, interest-only mortgages years before the economy collapsed, buckling to pressure from some of the same banks that have now failed." They supposedly "ignored remarkably prescient warnings that foretold the financial meltdown."

"The administration's blind eye to the impending crisis is emblematic of its governing philosophy, which trusted market forces and discounted the value of government intervention in the economy. Its belief ironically has ushered in the most massive government intervention since the 1930s."

If you go back to the very beginning of this blog, you can read some earlier posts where I give my own first-hand exposure to the type of mortgage sellers described in the AP story. I worked across the hall from one - it launched months after Bush won the office. It was obvious to anybody watching that it was a new kind of mortgage business - it was obviously predatory.

So, it appears that the Bush Administration is not only going to be known for one of the worst and most deceitful foreign policy blunders in American history, the Iraq War, but it will also be proven over time that it could have prevented TWO OF THE WORST DISASTERS EVER TO HIT THE NATION - 9/11 and the 2008 Economic Meltdown.

I hope you Republicans understand exactly how much damage you caused. You elected a MORON! I know that you never admit it, but it's true. You caused more damage in eight years than any foreign power could ever aspire to. Your success at installing that IDIOT was the worst thing to happen to this nation since the Civil War. You devastated us.

Bush keeps saying in various recent interviews discussing his "legacy" that he never compromised his principles. He's like a broken record talking about his principles. SO THE HELL WHAT? Principles are important, but there's more to being a leader.

Why doesn't he regret his JUDGEMENT? He never regrets how he ignored relevant facts and made bad decisions. The man had/has NO INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY and HORRIBLE JUDGEMENT! I challenge any of you to defend the Bush Administration. Go ahead, I dare you. This is a blog, use it!

Incredibly, your support for McCain/Palin, two more bottom-of-their-class-bottom-dwellers, shows that you haven't learned your lesson. I only hope that you learn a thing or two about governance over the next four to eight years, and abandon that unbelievable willingness to elect fools as leaders.

Hopefully the majority of Americans, especially independents and fair-minded Republicans, will realize that voting based on fear, narrow moral views, or simple passion is not enough. We must always vote for the most qualified individual. We must always try to elect the person who understands the issues, subtleties and complexities of this very complicated world. I sincerely hope we never have to suffer through this again.

Monday's Political Rant #1 - Michael