Another sign of the economy going down the hill: U.S. seizes assets of Pasadena's IndyMac bank. It is estimated that it will cost the FDIC between 4 to 8 billion dollars to takeover the bank. It is likely also that other banks are going to be in the same situation in the near future. Now there is even fear that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are going to be in trouble. So it may be that the taxpayer will be left holding the bag just as it was during the Savings and Loan crisis in the 80's. That debacle cost the taxpayers over 100 billion dollars.
The S@L crisis brings to mind McCain's involvement as part of the Keating Five. He was one of the five senators who was accused of trying to influence regulators in their dealings of Keating involved in a S@L failure. While McCain just got a reprimand, it was certainly not a good period in his political life.
Given that disaster it is strange to see McCain has Phil Gramm as one of his economic advisors. Gramm just said that we are a country of whinners when it comes to the economy. He does not think the economy is that bad. Gramm, as a senator, helped pass a bill that deregulated energy trading in 2000. This helped lead to the Enron debacle. Not only that, his wife Wendy was on the board on Enron! She had to pay a settlement for a lawsuit filed by Berkeley against Enron board members. So given McCain's experience with the S@L crisis, why would he still uses Gramm as an economic advisor?
I don't think that Obama and the Democrats have any good ideas about how to get out of this economic mess. But I am sure that McCain really have no ideas of his own at all. The Democrats are over protective of unions while the Republicans are too protective of big business. People like Gramm are always complaining about over- regulation. But it has been the lack of regulation or the enforcement of regulations that led to the S@L and Enron disasters. It appears that this lack of oversight will lead to another financial crisis. I am sure Obama will use this against McCain over the next 4 months.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
4 comments:
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I have not heard any good ideas from both candidates. As I've said before, how sad is it that we have less than idea candidates to run for president?
ReplyDeleteAs candidates of change, you'd think that these guys would think outside the box. The fact that McCain has been using Gramm as an advisor is basically cronyism. The guy is probably older than McCain! Up until 2 months ago I thought McCain was running a very good campaign but I think as time passes, he's starting to crack under the pressure from the party and just the election itself.
Obama may not be better either. He's spewing the same rhetoric we've heard from previous Democrats. He's running a pretty conservative campaign and I think this whole Clinton thing is weighing him down.
Is his mother still alive? Why haven't we seen her? You'd think that he'd want to show his white mother.
Maybe it's just the times we live in but it sure would be nice to see these candidates think outside the box.
-LBOAYM
Obama's mother is dead. His grandmother is still alive, I think, but probably too fragile to come out. I think that Obama's move to the center is a smart move although I disagree with some of his views such as going along with wiretaps and the Supreme Court's ruling on D.C.'s gun ban. He was right to call for more personal responsibilities from black males. When Jackson was caught with an open mike I think it actually helped Obama keep a distance from the extreme left. In the long run I believe the election is won in the middle so I think moving to the center is a good strategy.
ReplyDeleteDespite the poor economy and an unpopular war, Obama is only 3% up in the latest poll. Given the dire situation the country is in, you would think that the incumbent party would be getting slaughtered. But we have a "low information" population such that 12% still think that Obama is a practicing Muslim and 39% think that he went to an Islamic school as a kid. With such a well informed electorate, would you expect to have great candidates?
I actually like Obama's comments though I'm a bit concerned that it could turn off black voters. Then again, who else are they going to vote for? Usually you see these type of comments after the election, but yes, moving to the middle should help him. But as the polls show he's losing ground. Why? I think that his people are not doing enough to show the public his background. I didn't even know for sure that his mother was dead. Is his father still alive?
ReplyDeleteIf the democrats lose this election, they have no one but themselves to blame. They couldn't come up with a candidate that would defeat the incumbant party's candidate. You'd think they would have learned their lesson 4 years ago when Bush's rating was low.
Maybe there just aren't any good candidates out there.
Even on the republican side, do you think that McCain is the strongest candidate out there? He's almost Bob Dole part 2 and we know what happened to him when he ran for president.
-LBOAYM
It's ok they don't have any good ideas to get out of the mess. The best "solution" is to lie to the public, calm them down, and increase their confidence again. It's not like the haven't lied to the people before. I'm sure of it! People down there are too ignorant to tell the difference between what's a lie and what's real. That should buy them some time to better the economy.
ReplyDelete