Here's a movie to watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4egXbhSOhk. Most economists avow that US deregulation helped the economy to grow; they also seem to think it went too far & helped cause the current economic problems.1 Even John McCain admits it now, despite the fact he was anti-regulation up until this month.2 Go to www.therealmccain.com for more, in case you weren't convinced.
The first vote on the bailout ended in defeat, despite the fact that Bush & leaders from both parties supported it. Could it be re-election season has reared its ugly head? Isn't it funny how some of the legislators cried foul, while the past 20 years has seen them support bill after bill that reduced banking & other controls established in the 1930's. So we had a Great Depression and we don't learn from it? Will Sept '08 be called GD2 (or Black Monday) by future historians?
I wonder. The richest 400 families in the US in 2000, had a wealth of about $1 trillion. In the last 8 years, that grew to $1.6 trillion.3 If you take away the $1 trillion loss Bush claims happened on Wall Street yesterday, that only leaves $.6 trillion. Oh, too bad. I don't know how those folks will survive. There can't possibly be any connection between deregulation and greed, can there?4
A fix has to be in the works and passed; doing nothing will only exacerbate the problem--at least that's what all the economists seem to be saying.5 Interest rates have been too low, the housing market has collapsed, and all those bad mortgages (created after deregulation) have ballooned. I wonder who gets penalized? The moneylender or the ignorant homeowner? So far, the mortgage side of things is winning.6
Sources:
1. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26774653/
2. http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/23/mccain.bailout/index.html
3. http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/invest/forbes/P129955.asp
4. Greider, William, The Nation, "Waiting for the Big One", Sept. 10, 2007.
5. http://www.usnews.com/blogs/capital-commerce/2008/9/19/analysis-washingtons-trillion-dollar-wall-street-bailout.html.
6. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26837854
No comments:
Post a Comment