Dick Cheney before he dicks you.

FRIIIIIIIIIST.

At this point all I can do is either yawn or shake my head disappointedly. With our Congress' lack of any bones at all, let alone a backbone, NOTHING IS GOING TO CHANGE. Right Nancy?

Dr. Acula @ 3:

At this point all I can do is either yawn or shake my head disappointedly. With our Congress' lack of any bones at all, let alone a backbone, NOTHING IS GOING TO CHANGE. Right Nancy?

I've been sitting here like an idiot wondering who is this Nancy he speaks about. Duh, I get it now. Thank goodness it's only an hour and a half until happy hour, then I can blame a cocktail for making me act stupid.

I bet the Iraqis think WE had something to do with 9/11.

Wouldn't put it past us, after all, look at all the OTHER shit we've done.

there were laws, remember when the scum decided they were evil, big government?

gee, another big coincidence. another republican "jesus-loving" piece of shit in the white house and the treasury gets looted. this is NOTHING like the s&l crisis. no no no. look, obama is black!

Credit cards, car loans, it's going to finally be something that really does trickle down. And not in a good way.

The History books are still being written on all of this.

Speaking of..

Not much in "our media" about the story of Victor Bout who was arrested in Thailand.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/06/AR200803...

Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun report in their new book on Bout, Merchant of Death, ..
his services has also been provided to --> several U.S. contractors in Iraq, including Halliburton parent company Kellogg, Brown & Root.
http://www.motherjones.com/interview/2007/09/viktor-bout.html

pissed off patricia @ 4:

I hope if there was any illegal hanky panky with these banks, they get their asses handed to them.

As to all the magical mortgages that were handed out, what's to keep it from happening again if some laws don't prohibit it? Maybe there already are such laws and they were ignored, I don't know.

There were laws on the books in every state preventing predatory lending practices that date back to the Depression, when bank practices were noted as one of the main causes of the Crash of 29 and the failure of one out of every five banks in the country.

Bush had these stated laws over-turned in 2003 to facilitate his 2003 campaign for the Presidency... here are the details:

Bush Administration invoked an obscure Banking clause 1863 to enable predatory lending practices

By: John Amato @ 3:16 PM - PST

Gov. Elliot Spitzer explains:

Predatory lending was widely understood to present a looming national crisis. This threat was so clear that as New York attorney general, I joined with colleagues in the other 49 states in attempting to fill the void left by the federal government. Individually, and together, state attorneys general of both parties brought litigation or entered into settlements with many subprime lenders that were engaged in predatory lending practices. Several state legislatures, including New York’s, enacted laws aimed at curbing such practices.

That sounds good. I witnessed such practices and saw prices skyrocket before my eyes . That was a huge reason that the Bush economy held up as long as it did—I think Bush called it the “ownership society.” I guess we can call it the foreclosure society…. The right wingers usually try to say that we blame Bush for everything. Well, let’s see how he did, shall we…

Not only did the Bush administration do nothing to protect consumers, it embarked on an aggressive and unprecedented campaign to prevent states from protecting their residents from the very problems to which the federal government was turning a blind eye.

The administration accomplished this feat through an obscure federal agency called the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The OCC has been in existence since the Civil War. Its mission is to ensure the fiscal soundness of national banks. For 140 years, the OCC examined the books of national banks to make sure they were balanced, an important but uncontroversial function. But a few years ago, for the first time in its history, the OCC was used as a tool against consumers. In 2003, during the height of the predatory lending crisis, the OCC invoked a clause from the 1863 National Bank Act to issue formal opinions preempting all state predatory lending laws, thereby rendering them inoperative.

Nuff said….

http://www.crooksandliars.com/index.php?s=Bush+1863+law

Dr. Acula @ 6:

Just wait until millions of people default on their credit cards. You know -- all the people currently using their cc's to pay for essentials like gas & food. It's going to make this "sub-prime crisis" look like a Monopoly game.

Don't forget the new bankruptcy laws! Plus, with real estate in the crapper, you're house is worth less.

Mission Accomplished! Devastasted middle class...infinite servitude.

Rasputin @ 15:

pissed off patricia @ 4:

I hope if there was any illegal hanky panky with these banks, they get their asses handed to them.

As to all the magical mortgages that were handed out, what's to keep it from happening again if some laws don't prohibit it? Maybe there already are such laws and they were ignored, I don't know.

There were laws on the books in every state preventing predatory lending practices that date back to the Depression, when bank practices were noted as one of the main causes of the Crash of 29 and the failure of one out of every five banks in the country.

Bush had these stated laws over-turned in 2003 to facilitate his 2003 campaign for the Presidency... here are the details:

Bush Administration invoked an obscure Banking clause 1863 to enable predatory lending practices

By: John Amato @ 3:16 PM - PST

Gov. Elliot Spitzer explains:

Predatory lending was widely understood to present a looming national crisis. This threat was so clear that as New York attorney general, I joined with colleagues in the other 49 states in attempting to fill the void left by the federal government. Individually, and together, state attorneys general of both parties brought litigation or entered into settlements with many subprime lenders that were engaged in predatory lending practices. Several state legislatures, including New York’s, enacted laws aimed at curbing such practices.

That sounds good. I witnessed such practices and saw prices skyrocket before my eyes . That was a huge reason that the Bush economy held up as long as it did—I think Bush called it the “ownership society.” I guess we can call it the foreclosure society…. The right wingers usually try to say that we blame Bush for everything. Well, let’s see how he did, shall we…

Not only did the Bush administration do nothing to protect consumers, it embarked on an aggressive and unprecedented campaign to prevent states from protecting their residents from the very problems to which the federal government was turning a blind eye.

The administration accomplished this feat through an obscure federal agency called the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The OCC has been in existence since the Civil War. Its mission is to ensure the fiscal soundness of national banks. For 140 years, the OCC examined the books of national banks to make sure they were balanced, an important but uncontroversial function. But a few years ago, for the first time in its history, the OCC was used as a tool against consumers. In 2003, during the height of the predatory lending crisis, the OCC invoked a clause from the 1863 National Bank Act to issue formal opinions preempting all state predatory lending laws, thereby rendering them inoperative.

Nuff said….

http://www.crooksandliars.com/index.php?s=Bush+1863+law

Wow! Thank you so much for that link and great information. So they set the stage for the big robbery. Now the robbery has taken place. Who will eventually go to jail? Probably no one.

Everything Bush has touched has turned to crap. No wonder he wants to rewrite his legacy. Lord knows he is quite happy living in a world of delusion. He surrounds himself with spineless lackeys who kowtow to his every word. There is no room in his world to confront reality. Watching him now is horrifying, between dancing on the steps at the White House to the singing at the GridIron Dinner while our esteemed press laughed and joke at his antics. Sad indeed!

So christian fundie doctors (quacks) who don't want to perform abortions don't even want to give referrals to other doctors? What happens when some christian fundie doctor (quack) doesn't want to treat or refer someone for being Jewish or Black or gay? Will the Bush regime come riding to their defense as well? This is the same as the problem with christian fundie pharmacists.

Personally, I'd like to become a pharmacist, claim I'm a christian scientist and refuse to dispense medicine to anybody for any reason. Something tells me that Bush supporters wouldn't be so understanding.

Samson- @ 20:

pissed off patricia @ 19:

Rasputin @ 15:

pissed off patricia @ 4:

There were laws on the books in every state preventing predatory lending practices that date back to the Depression, when bank practices were noted as one of the main causes of the Crash of 29 and the failure of one out of every five banks in the country.

Bush had these stated laws over-turned in 2003 to facilitate his 2003 campaign for the Presidency... here are the details:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/index.php?s=Bush+1863+law

Wow! Thank you so much for that link and great information. So they set the stage for the big robbery. Now the robbery has taken place. Who will eventually go to jail? Probably no one.

that is a good link.

also, note comment #83:

"Spitzer doesn’t go far enough in this article. There is no way in hell that Bush could have reached back to the 1863 National Bank Act if Clinton hadn’t repealed the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act in 1999. {Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 }This dual act was put into place to prevent the financial scams of the 1920s. It was replaced by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Act in February, 2000."

All true. It's been said that Bill Clinton was the best Republican President of the last 20 years. And they're correct.

He continued many of the aspects of the so-called Reagan Revolution, particularly in the area of deregulation. Make no mistake, however, this was and IS a GOP agenda, and has been since Reagan. George Bush used 9/11 not simply to advance a consolidation of executive power and to undermine the Constitution, but he also used it to wipe out whole sections of consumer protection legislation, particularly in the area of financial services.

Well Samson@10;

I gotta agree with ya... I hate Bush and the republican party too, with a soul searing passion. But the Clinton administration for whatever good they did the nations rep and economy or anything else... They, and that includes Hillary, are also eyeball deep in enabling this shit these crooked GOPers are taking advantage of these days... From Nafta to that financial services modernization act to more unmentioned here but on the books somewheres...It's been nearly 30 years in setting this table up
starting with Reagans trickle down economics.. And now it's about to bare its bitter fruit for all of us. The whole freakin American economy feels like just one huge Ponzi scheme....

I guess we'll all have to be buying bread with wheel barrows full of near useless U.S. greenbacks, ala 1920's Germany, before the true depths of what we have been saddled with will really sink in... I think we are being set up and will soon experience exactly what our grand parents and great grandparents experienced in their youth.. Ya ever really talk about money and economics with a person who went thru that?? Very educational.. They are all, almost to a man and woman, very tight with a dollar and they got pretty valid reasons for that...

Recession??? Nope, don't think that term is up to date to what awaits us.... Depression, a massive possibly worldwide depression is the word that will be on the tongues of everyone sooner or later... Probably sooner... I just hope at least one of the big brains, either political or financial, who have engineered this trainwreck will be around to be held accountable... But I sincerely doubt it.. They will all be in Aruba, or Paraguey or Dubai or somewhere other than here with their ill gotten gains. 'Our' money, 'our' national wealth in 'their' private Swiss bank accounts...

Joe and Jane Taxpayer? Drop trou and skirt, bend over and grab your ankles babies... There's no lube so I won't lie to ya and say it's only gonna hurt a little....It's gonna hurt A LOT, hurt all of us, me included.. and for a long long time folks...That's what I think is coming down the pike..........JD

Samson Says...

The thing that really drives me nuts about all of this is that the subprime disaster was the result of an old scam by the Repugs in congress recycled and run on an epic scale globally... it was the Savings and Loan Crisis that began in 1982 and again the banks were bailed out for $160 Billion dollars of tax payer funds!

The costs so far on the subprime costs are at $600 Billion of tax payer dollars by the Fed so far and rising rapidly!

Here is a recounting of the causes of the Savings and Loan Crisis/Scandal, you will find them very familiar to the subprime disaster:

Causes

Deregulation

Although the deregulation of S&Ls gave them many of the capabilities of banks, it did not bring them under the same regulations as banks. First, thrifts could choose to be under either a state or a federal charter. Immediately after deregulation of the federally chartered thrifts, the state-chartered thrifts rushed to become federally chartered, because of the advantages associated with a federal charter. In response, states (notably, California and Texas) changed their regulations so they would be similar to the federal regulations. States changed their regulations because state regulators were paid by the thrifts they regulated, and they didn't want to lose that money.

Imprudent real estate lending

In an effort to take advantage of the real estate boom (outstanding US mortgage loans: 1976 $700bn; 1980 $1.2tn)[citation needed]and high interest rates of the late 1970s and early 1980s, many S&Ls lent far more money than was prudent, and to risky ventures which many S&Ls were not qualified to assess. L. William Seidman, former chairman of both the FDIC and the Resolution Trust Corporation, stated, "The banking problems of the '80s and '90s came primarily, but not exclusively, from unsound real estate lending." [6]

Keeping insolvent S&Ls open

Whereas insolvent banks in the United States were typically detected and shut down quickly by bank regulators, Congress sought to change regulatory rules so S&Ls would not have to acknowledge insolvency and the FHLBB would not have to close them down.

Brokered deposits

One of the most important contributors to the problem was deposit brokerage. Deposit brokers, somewhat like stockbrokers, are paid a commission by the customer to find the best certificate of deposit (CD) rates and place their customers' money in those CDs. These CDs, however, are usually short-term $100,000 CDs.[citation needed] Previously, banks and thrifts could only have five percent of their deposits be brokered deposits; the race to the bottom caused this limit to be lifted. A small one-branch thrift could then attract a large number of deposits simply by offering the highest rate. In order to make money off this expensive money, it had to lend at even higher rates, meaning that it had to make more, riskier investments. This system was made even more damaging when certain deposit brokers instituted a scam known as "linked financing." In "linked financing," a deposit broker would approach a thrift and say he would steer a large amount of deposits to that thrift if the thrift would lend certain people money (the people, however, were paid a fee to apply for the loans and told to give the loan proceeds to the deposit broker). This caused the thrifts to be tricked into taking on bad loans.[neutrality disputed] Michael Milken of Drexel, Burnham and Lambert packaged brokered funds for several S&Ls on the condition that the institutions would invest in the junk bonds of his clients.

The major causes of Savings and Loan crisis according to United States League of Savings Institutions... much more to read...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savings_and_Loan_crisis

Britisher @ 26:

Ron @ 12:

When is someone going to do something about it. Let,s hope Obama will. Bill Clinton let those involved in Iran-Contra off the hook. I doubt if Hillary or McCain will do anything.

I wonder if the fact that Bush Sr. managed to pardon Casper Weinberger BEFORE Weinberger was even INDICTED--and thus by implication Bush managed to pardon HIMSELF before the fact, thuis establishing an extraodinary action that would require a significant lawsuit by one President against another was a factor in letting that issue go. I wonder if Clinton had other significant but more pressing issues to deal with, such as establishing his presidency and addressing the recession and record debt he'd inherited. I wonder if, two years into his adminstration the GOP control of both houses ofr the next six years elminated any posiibility that he might have the chance to pursue the criminal and unconstituional acts of the past administration?
I wonder if you've considered such factors when you so confidently sate that "Bill Clinton LET those involved in Iran-Contra off the hook".

Thanks Britisher. I was hoping someone would tackle that one and I was about to myself, but you did it for me. Well done.

RayC Hussein @ 30:

Come on where are all the Pauletts to school us backward country folk on how government regulation just makes everything worse? I want to hear that fairy tail again about how it was the Federal Reserve that caused the 1929 depression and all of the regulations put in place by FDR just made things worse. Government regulation are the root of all our problems. If we just let the "free market" work everyone will be living on easy street.

Oh I expect they'll be along shortly... they always show up on any economic thread preaching their gospel of a "free trader" heaven that has never existed anywhere and its attendant meme... deregulation, ban the Fed, it is their own stupid fault for "getting defrauded into buying those mortgages they couldn't afford" and faux arguments about "personal responsibility." Never fear... they are thick as flies on dog shit... they'll show up!

jack damage @ 27:

Well Samson@10;

I gotta agree with ya... I hate Bush and the republican party too, with a soul searing passion. But the Clinton administration for whatever good they did the nations rep and economy or anything else... They, and that includes Hillary, are also eyeball deep in enabling this shit these crooked GOPers are taking advantage of these days... From Nafta to that financial services modernization act to more unmentioned here but on the books somewheres...It's been nearly 30 years in setting this table up
starting with Reagans trickle down economics.. And now it's about to bare its bitter fruit for all of us. The whole freakin American economy feels like just one huge Ponzi scheme....

I guess we'll all have to be buying bread with wheel barrows full of near useless U.S. greenbacks, ala 1920's Germany, before the true depths of what we have been saddled with will really sink in... I think we are being set up and will soon experience exactly what our grand parents and great grandparents experienced in their youth.. Ya ever really talk about money and economics with a person who went thru that?? Very educational.. They are all, almost to a man and woman, very tight with a dollar and they got pretty valid reasons for that...

Recession??? Nope, don't think that term is up to date to what awaits us.... Depression, a massive possibly worldwide depression is the word that will be on the tongues of everyone sooner or later... Probably sooner... I just hope at least one of the big brains, either political or financial, who have engineered this trainwreck will be around to be held accountable... But I sincerely doubt it.. They will all be in Aruba, or Paraguey or Dubai or somewhere other than here with their ill gotten gains. 'Our' money, 'our' national wealth in 'their' private Swiss bank accounts...

Joe and Jane Taxpayer? Drop trou and skirt, bend over and grab your ankles babies... There's no lube so I won't lie to ya and say it's only gonna hurt a little....It's gonna hurt A LOT, hurt all of us, me included.. and for a long long time folks...That's what I think is coming down the pike..........JD

as has been said many times, capital isn't patriotic. the wealth and the rich will jump the american ship as soon as they have used, abused and tortured the people out of every last dime. as they destroy the economy, in an orgy of short-term profit and corruption, here in america, they look for the next place to call home. and the govt and the gullible continue to cater to their demands and quake at their threats. for instance, the estate tax and the fact that some dude in cincy working as an admin in an office decides that the estate tax is something that is of grave importance to him. talk about voting against your own interests.

and, you're right, calling what is coming our way a 'recession' is laughable. what happens when empires crash and burn, what is the term for that?

Liberal AND Proud @ 25:

Samson- @ 20:

pissed off patricia @ 19:

Rasputin @ 15:

Wow! Thank you so much for that link and great information. So they set the stage for the big robbery. Now the robbery has taken place. Who will eventually go to jail? Probably no one.

that is a good link.

also, note comment #83:

"Spitzer doesn’t go far enough in this article. There is no way in hell that Bush could have reached back to the 1863 National Bank Act if Clinton hadn’t repealed the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act in 1999. {Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 }This dual act was put into place to prevent the financial scams of the 1920s. It was replaced by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Act in February, 2000."

All true. It's been said that Bill Clinton was the best Republican President of the last 20 years. And they're correct.

He continued many of the aspects of the so-called Reagan Revolution, particularly in the area of deregulation. Make no mistake, however, this was and IS a GOP agenda, and has been since Reagan. George Bush used 9/11 not simply to advance a consolidation of executive power and to undermine the Constitution, but he also used it to wipe out whole sections of consumer protection legislation, particularly in the area of financial services.

which, and i am not trying to be divisive, begs the question: what IS a democrat?

the dems need (unless someone can argue there is one) a new leader, or just a leader in general, to guide them out of the forest of deregulation, corporate-teet-sucking, neoliberalism and privatization

anyone want the job??

Yes Rasputin, well done.

OT And let's not forget the Gov't massive giveaway of the wireless airwaves to Verizon today. What a special billion dollar monopoly present.

chris @ 36:

I wished Kieth would do a segment on predatory borrowing, you know, the people they lied there way into this mess......

You must have some evidence or statistics to support your assumptions, yes? Please, point me in the right direction. I'd like to learn more about this.

Ok, let me get this straight, JP Morgan buys out Bears Stearn, an investment bank (huh), then, the Fed steps in with taxpayer dollars to cover the loss. Isn't that a direct hit on capitalism, the "let the market work"? Oh, now I get it, we taxpayers get to cover the other side of the risk factor and plunge us further in the hole. Kind of like when Big Daddy Bush the 1st used taxpayer dollars to bail out his CFO son from Western Savings & Loan and that only cost us $250 mil. Jez, sure wish I would have learned how to play this game earlier. But, then, everybody in my family had to get real jobs, work for a living and pay the taxes to keep the Bushies in taxpayer pockets making gazillions.
Got to love them Bushes, they know how to shove it to us.