Larry Kudlow proves once again that he's nothing more than a right wing, free market, Milton Friedman hack that just lies at will. Doesn't he have a conscience? Nope...It's never the big money freepers that horde the wealth of this country and have no restrictions on what they can do thanks in part to Mr Deregulation himself, John McCain. Jon Perr has more...
Download | play 
Download | play (h/t Heather) (rough transcript)
Kudlow: It's time for the Congress, Republicans and Democrats to stop encouraging---exhorting and forcing banks to make low income loans with no documentation. Stop that---literally pushed these lenders to make low income loans
Scarborough: Hold on a second. You cannot blame this on low income people that are getting a house.
Kudlow: I'm not blaming them. Kudlow: Sub prime, sub standard loans were a creature of the US Congress in the 90's and the 2000's.
Scarborough: Are you saying that poor people have caused this crisis?
Kudlow: Not poor people. Members of Congress who were rich people. But their Liberal guilt consciences forced banks and lenders to make lousy sub-standard loans and that has to be repealed...not everybody can afford a home, Joe. Some people have to rent."
What a crock. Kudlow blames it all on the liberals. What a joke this man is. This is another case that proves conservatism is dead. Of course not everybody can afford a home. Sorry, the irresponsible lending practices went on because it kept Bush's economy chugging along for years before it crashed and burned. The ownership society Bush and conservatives called it. Morning Joe actually takes him apart for even suggesting that low income families are the root cause of our economic problems in the housing market. It's up to the lenders to qualify people for loans. PERIOD.
I watched this crisis unfold and saw people walking into fairly expensive homes in Venice, CA with no down payments and either low or no interest loans. Yes, I'm a renter now. I couldn't believe my eyes when the property values skyrocketed (went up to 1 million) because of these lending practices. People can apply for a loan all they want, but that does not automatically mean they should be approved. That's up to the lenders. Liberal guilt is never an issue and a lie, Mr Kudlow. They aren't supposed to hand over thousands of dollars without knowing that they will be paid back. The predatory lenders made boat loads of cash at will with a conservative philosophy in hand. Just ask your best friend for a hundred bucks and see what happens...Naomi Klein writes: Disowned by the Ownership Society
Washington think-tanker Grover Norquist predicted that the ownership society would be Bush's greatest legacy, remembered "long after people can no longer pronounce or spell Fallujah." Bush has turned out to be the ownership society's undertaker.
I hope these work....Contact Larry Kudlow here: Larry.Kudlow@cnbc.com Larry.Kudlow@nbcuni.com Call 877-251-5685 up until 7 pm EST and let him know how you feel in a respectful way.
Logan Murphy says:
It's not often I agree with Joe Scarborough, but on Thursday's Morning Joe he tore into CNBC's favorite Bushie, Larry Kudlow for his delusional ranting about this week's meltdown on Wall Street.
In Larry's world, the mortgage meltdown wasn't caused by predatory lending practices made possible by deregulation by Bush, McCain and the Republican party, it was the policies of the evil libs in Washington that FORCED the now-failed banks and lending institutions into making sub-prime loans to po' folks who couldn't afford them. Scar jumps all over him and rightfully so. Kudlow blames The Community Reinvestment Act
I'd like to see him go on tour with this speech. He could warm up for John McSpain.
yes, he certainly hate the poor.
Oh, sure - liberals flexing their muscles during the Bush mis-administration are what caused this mess. It had nothing to do with greed and lack of regulation.
Oh wait, I almost forgot - it's all Clinton's fault!!
These mean-spriited, Chicago School of Economics, Milton Friedman acolytes are non-human. They combine the worst of primate behaviour: duplicity and abdication of responsibility. Of course, they also have gargantuan balls and love to pound the teeming unwashed with them. Time for a 21st century Placde de la Concorde.
Well, yeah. Because there is nothing the republicans hate more than liberals other than the poor. The liberals and poor are the cause of global warming.
I mean, would have been the cause if such a thing existed....
Wow. Just wow. People like this shouldn't even have the right to buy food.
This guy is ripe for the loony bin.
This completely brain-dead, warped view of the world is how we got where we are to begin with - and it was repuke-lics who got us there. With help from some rubber-spined dems.
*
Kudlow is batshit crazy. Oh! That's right, he worships at the alter of Leo Strauss ........
What a pig.
The Friedman followers are all insane - they should be barred from any government jobs. The University of Chicago owes America an apology too.
*
Trittydi @ 10:
Oooooops - Strauss was who I meant to name.
*
Of course i is the liberal's fault. The cons got caught again.
Let's cut it down to brass tacks: the guy is simply mean-spirited and Scrooge-like.
Let's hope that he doesn't become poor with all the fluctuating of the market. Wouldn't want him to become the thing that he despises.
You have to start with the Ronald Reagan economic policy that the U.S. does not have to generate wealth by making “things”.
Then Phil Gramm, as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, introduced legislation that completely deregulated the stock market (allowed “dark markets”, as they say). This legislation was called the “Commodity Futures Modernization Act”, and to get it passed, Senator Gramm added it as a 262-page rider to the 11,000-page omnibus appropriations bill (and get this!) just as Congress was recessing for Christmas break.
Phil Gramm most likely will be tapped to be Secretary of the Treasury if McCain wins the election.
Maybe it was the brown acid, but I seem to remember a certain chimp named George that used the "ownership society" as the centerpiece of his economic policy. Every time I saw that pinch-faced fake cowboy he was prattling on about that. I didn't know he was a liberal.
The Socialist Republicans plan to have the American taxpayer clean up their mess by bailing out the socialist banks http://news.yahoo.com/story//ap/20080919/ap_on_bi_ge/financial_meltdown
Hey Larry, I hope you used your Lehman Brothers holdings for collateral on you house, you steaming pile of deep doodoo voodoo econmics.
Banks have "Guilty Liberal Consciences"?
Who the fuck is he trying to fool?
The problem facing the banks, is that they still have trillions of dollars of bad paper on their books, paper whose real value ranges from zero, to pennies on the dollar. They can't afford to write it off, and they can't sell it. Despite their financial reports, they are bankrupt.
I knew it was only a matter of time before some new age conservative douchebag claimed that this disaster was a result of TOO MUCH financial industry regulation. I'm just surprised it took them three days to slither out of the woodwork.
Larry's on crack again! Larry! Put down the pipe! Crack is whack!
Matt in Texas @ 3:
Yep, this republican screed is getting pretty old and stale, isn't it? WTF do they take responsibility for? Blue skies?? Little birdies singing?? Girls and boys skipping through a field of daisies?? The republican fucktards gotta wake up!
Limbaugh was singing the same tune today.
Wasn't congress in the mind 90's controled by Republicans?
Jo @ 8:
He creams in his pants for his tax cuts.
If you haven't read "The Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein, it will change your life. And I completely agree that the University of Chicago needs to issue a vast apology and do whatever they can to keep this country from turning into a third world country. Which is what the doctrine would like us to become. What we are seeing is that in process. Can it be stopped? Only if people in power WAKE UP and call it treason, which it is. We cannot elect Obama soon enough.
Kudlow pumped housing stocks right up to the end.
Ruthless People @ 16:
Yeah, pretty nice work, huh?! They make off with bags of money and the American people end up not only losing their money in these crooked institutions, they also end up paying for them going under. Pretty effin' sick and twisted, if you ask me.
America’s new foreign masters are lining up for a gigantic garage sale.
Typical "blame the victim" bullshit.
If the economy wasn't in the shitter, people would be able to afford their mortgages.
But then again, this is the same asshole which has been right about exactly ZERO economic predictions. Why these pinheads are taken seriously is beyond me, especially if you take into consideration their batting averages... which seem to be nil for the most part.
someguy @ 24:
tssss... don't bring back the memories of the "Contract
withon America"When these clowns apply for a conservative pundit job, do they have to show their pathological liar/sociopathic references on the resume's they submit?
L.A. Confidential @ 28:
The masters, for the most part, are locally grown.
This whole idea that it is them "furreigners" who are out to control poor good ole America is laughable at best.
right on! @ 22:
Oh just wait - if Obama wins, they'll all be blaming him on Jan. 21.
The splurge is working
Harley @ 27:
Maybe saying he "pimped" housing stocks would be more accurate.
I heard an audio-tape of Bush himself pushing for this shit.
On his head be this economic crisis, Congress was controlled by the GOP at the time. Where were the "fiscal conservatives" at that time? Out taking a 7-year crap?
Who does he blame for exporting the nation's manufacturing base, borrowing trillions to run a global empire, and leaving the border wide open?
If only the democratic congress had acted on this crisis, Americans would not be suffering now
L.A. Confidential @ 14:
Reaganomics helped get us into this mess. If McCain taps Gramm, we're fucked. Without lube.
Matt in Texas @ 33:
They are already starting, and Bush will be a bleeding heart "librul" by the time Obama by 2010. When Gin-grinch et al get ready to market their new and improved "Contract on America mk II (we're coming to take what's left...)"
Gregg @ 38:
Without a filibuster-proof majority and the GOP quite happy to filibuster?
How...is that supposed to work...exactly?
Ruthless People @ 16:
"Socialist" and "Republican" go about as well together as "Democracy" and "Stalin."
One thing you can take to the bank. People like krudlow have no consciences!
They are totally greedy evil bastards without ruth.
They are the closest thing to what they fear the most. The dreaded muslim!
They reserve the right to kill anyone that disagrees with them.
Tyler Durden @ 32:
I doubt they want to buy any of our sh*t anyway.
L.A. Confidential @ 14:
Yeah, "making things" was so 1950s. Who needs to make things? We can get things from other countries, can't we? Manual labor and those that used their hands and back to work were derided and scorned. They would laugh at a person who didn't get a degree in "management" or economics.
But when a man can't make things with his own hands he loses his creativity and pride. And he loses the ability to understand what makes things work. He thinks pushing money/paper around the globe is what's important.
Tyler Durden @ 32:
Tyler, perhaps you haven't met LA? I think (s)he's referring to totally-disinterested-in-controlling-us creditors who will pass us off as a bad investment.
General Pavel Rennenkampf Xocoyotzin @ 36:
Bush said too many Anglos own houses.
President Reiterates Goal on Homeownership
The goal is, everybody who wants to own a home has got a shot at doing so. The problem is we have what we call a homeownership gap in America. Three-quarters of Anglos own their homes, and yet less than 50 percent of African Americans and Hispanics own homes. That ownership gap signals that something might be wrong in the land of plenty. And we need to do something about it.
Audio can be found at this link: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/06/20020618-1.html
james Ratliff @ 42:
Nope, Islam forbids usury... at least they have that one going for them over the Kudlow et al merry Neo-Cons.
General Pavel Rennenkampf Xocoyotzin @ 39:
And Give 'Em Encouragement Harry Reid and Queen Nancy Never Met a Republican I Didn't Like Pelosi will push for his confirmation
Gregg @ 34:
Gregg FTW!
Harley @ 46:
That's the one I was thinking of, thanks.
How shameful of the angry left to force those banks into foreclosure, just like the banks who foreclosed on the farmers in the great depression. Don't you get the irony people?
You liberals make me sick.
I have not been able to afford a home since moving to California in 1997.
I stayed out of the market because it was clear as day that prices were becoming wildly inflated.
Fuck the predatory lenders who drove up real estate prices and made the dream of home ownership impossible for a person like me.
enough @ 26:
Just bought the book. I'm going to start reading it this weekend.
Of course, everything is the fault of the Liberals. The moon is receding away from the earth. Know who's fault that is? Liberals. The reason why abstinence only education doesn't work? Liberals. Wanna know why the sky is blue? Liberals.
See nothing can ever be the fault of conservatives. Because they're perfect little patriotic law abiding angels. It doesn't matter if a conservative goes out and murders a hundred people and eats their bodies. It would still be the Liberals fault.
because Liberals have become the popular boogie man for right wing assholes who want an excuse for their bad behavior.
Gregg @ 50:
I'll have you know that your types in the Great Depression would have been all for fucking over the farmers.
And laying the groundwork for either a Commie or Fascie revolution while you're at it.
Tyler Durden @ 47:
So does Catholicism.
Ironically, most early Neocons were ex-Trotskyists. That's where the socialism comes from...
Not everyone can own. Some can rent. Others can misapropriate $50,000 to turn the town hall into a bordello
Must be nice living in an Ivory Tower... Douche Bag!
I dunno if John caught it, but if he happened to grab Olbermann's take on Palin's interview with Hannity, please post it. You'll get a link from me. It was classic.
Why is "liberal guilt" (which means an individual has an inner sense of morality and justice) - always the problem with these guys.
Oh yeah, because their "fuck everyone but me," sick, twisted, psychotic view of the world, cannot be justified if good isn't brought down to an alternative "opinion" when placed along side of pure greed and evil.
Gregg @ 34:
Ha! Fuckin' Ha! LOL!!!!
Best comment this thread.
If you are a liberal and have a common sense approach to solve problems you are wrong. That kind of logic is rethuglican.
Jo @ 44:
I have said that for ages.
For full effect, go to any Engineering or Applied Science department in any major US college, and then go to their business school. Note the ratio of furrigners to locals in either department and shudder...
The sad truth is that the US is in a world of hurt. Right now the EU clearly overtaken our spot at the top. This country right now could not execute things like the A380 or the LHC. And there is starting to be a movement among Asian countries to figure a new economic paradigm, not centered around the USA as their main client, in order to shield them from what they see incredibly irresponsible economic policies...
Talk about WHINY and stupid. I heard this early this morning and my ears have burned all day.
It's not the republicans who deregulated everything, it's the poor people who struggled to get a chance. And it's in the "redlined" districts where they never gave loans and kept the slums in the inner cities. Nothing like keeping "those people" out of the suburbs and out of owning houses.
What a jerk Kudlo sounded like.
Mr. Republican Red tie can suck a nut.
Bush (June 18, 2002):
The goal is, everybody who wants to own a home has got a shot at doing so. The problem is we have what we call a homeownership gap in America. Three-quarters of Anglos own their homes, and yet less than 50 percent of African Americans and Hispanics own homes. That ownership gap signals that something might be wrong in the land of plenty. And we need to do something about it.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/06/20020618-1.html
I tried to watch this fucker last spring and winter even though I could only manage 3-4 minutes a day every now and again because he was so full of shit. He was constant “The economy is good blah blah blah…” “John McDeregulation this and that…” The main thing was “The free market is the best.” I don’t think I could watch the asshole again unless I was absolutely forced but I bet he is in love with these socialized bailouts. Of course I don’t have to say this but he hates “socialized medicine.”
You have to start with the Ronald Reagan economic policy that the U.S. does not have to generate wealth by making “things”.
Yes but ronney never made anything of real value in his life, yet made a great deal of money from nothing. When you get the idea that you can make something from nothing? You don't understand why others cannot.
Even though the reason you were able to make it really had nothing more to do with you then a turn of the card, they don't understand that they just got lucky.
Nothing more! But once in a while someone gets lucky. some realize they got lucky and others puff out their chest and say I did it myself. Oblivious to the fact that it was just luck. A flip of a coin or the turn of a card. Just luck.
Sarah Palin's Rubber DoDo Award
General Pavel Rennenkampf Xocoyotzin @ 54:
I don't think that there is a direct mandate against usury in Catholic dogma, heck the Vatican has its own bank. I grew up Catholic, but I may be a bit foggy on that...
There is a clear precept against usury in Jewish tradition/law. Alas, even Orthodox Jews decided that "such a literal" interpretation of that particular part of the Torah was not so practical for their interests.
james Ratliff @ 66:
Oh yeah. Until your luck runs out.
Harley @ 64:
And sure enough, the number of Anglos owning their own homes is rapidly approaching the percent of African Americans and Hispanics who own theirs.
Heckuva Job GW!
I mean, borrowing money (leveraging) to make ultra risky investments is kind of not to smart.
L.A. Confidential @ 69:
It's all a ponzi scheme and those in early and at the top never lose.
Tyler Durden @ 68:
Protestants were burned quite a bit by the Catholics for engaging in usury around the time the Church began. And the term usury in Western culture bears an anti-Semitic stain due to the Catholics turning Ashekanazim into moneylenders. That worked great...until people were asked to repay, which was when the problems started. The Church had to make Jews moneylenders, because no Christian could charge another Christian interest. And I find that term "usury" to be a bit disturbing for that reason.
That crap from Kudlow is utterly reprehensible. He should be shunned.
Juan del Llano @ 74:
He was trying to get a hug at the end.
If you really want a Great Explanation of the Difference between the Liberal Mindset and the Republican Idiological outlook Have a look at this short Lecture from TED on how Republicans end up being embarrassed of their own minds and Liberals relish in Change and New ways to do and think things.
Thousands? Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of $$$!!
These sons of bitches were loaning money to people whose WHOLE income was not enough to make the future payment on these adjustable rate loans. These people were not making enough to even make the payments let alone enough for food, gas, clothes, beer, shoes, electricity, trash pickup or anything else. For this asshole to say they loaned money to these people because of "Liberal guilt consciences" is sick. Kud-fucking-low lost his credibility long ago but this has to bve the nail in his coffin!
Juan del Llano @ 74:
He and Limbaugh were pushing that poor people were to blame today. They also pushed for Palin for VP.
I think they are attached at the hip.
$300Mil for children's medical care - vetoed
Thought up a New Name for the Republican Ticket.
Paleo / Palin
L.A. Confidential @ 69:
And it does!
I didn't realize the libruls pointed a gun at banks and said, give your money to the poor. Actually, if that had happened, the money would still be in the system. What he refused to admit was the banking and mortgage company lobbies were the ones demanding they be able to productize loans which created a debt market. That was the thing that gave institutions the incentive to create bad loans and to dishonestly package them together to be sold to uninformed buyers. That fact, that lending institutions could make money off of intentionally bad loans, is what artificially ballooned the price of real estate.
It's too complex to explain to the average schmo. It's much easier to blame the poor and librul thinking. This turd will be back in two years demanding more deregulation so he and his fat cat buddies can do the whole thing over again.
Juan del Llano @ 74:
Or at least put in to a Jeff Goldblum-style TELEPOD with Jim Cramer, to create a giant, loud, obnoxious, bald-headed monster that eats money, and sh!ts vitriol against poor people.
isn't that kind of like when a girl get raped and you blame the girl for wearing a short skirt?
the "rapists couldn't help themselves" defense?
This is why, when talking of subprime mortgages, you have got to focus on cynical bankers targeting people who didn't understand complicated finances ... do not mention people who are facing foreclosures.
Lay it all on greedy bankers hoodwinking people who didn't understand the small print. When you start talking sympathetically about people who are facing financial hardships because they bought a house they couldn't afford, you raise the hackles on the people who feel they are overtaxed (like... 90% of Americans). They don't have much sympathy for those who overextended themselves and they do not want their tax dollars to bail those people out. In many cases they are justified - speculators drove the housing market too high and bought beyond their means, hoping to make a quick turnover buck. I know a few people like that myself and they are crying now... but they were stupid. They were greedy. They are not the same as undereducated poor people who got hoodwinked. All the same, don't mention those who are paying the price for buying beyond theirr means, whether they be poor people (which = "minority" in America) or specualtors.
Keep it focused on greedy bankers who used big words, small print and red tape to confuse people into thinking they were being helped when they were really being fleeced.
MountainMan23 @ 70:
we're all inferior now, eh?
These people who obviously could not aford the loans were given loans because of greed. Simple greed. Liberal guilt? God damn it I am so pissed off right now this guy is lucky he is not within 10 miles of me.
sirhotspur @ 84:
This is much worse than that. I don't want to get that graphic but this is much much worse.
Ron @ 72:
Well except those who worked at Lehman Brothers, accumulated stock in the company for decades and never got around to diversifying his or her portfolio. This week they saw their net worth drop from a paper high of about $100 million some months ago to virtually nothing.
the fact is: poor people don't get loans. Middle-class people get loans.
part of the intent of this scheme was to destroy the middle-class.
CoIntelPro for Pronktastic Victory Over SCLM, DIEBOLD, ESS and SEQUOIA! @ 90:
Feel the boot on the back of your neck?
Harley @ 78:
Republicans get a "Talking Points" memo every morning so they can all push the same bullshit at the same time. OUTFOXED: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism
On an unrelated note; the ad below this post is for a "survey" titled "Who is more likely to cheat - Obama or McCain?"
I wonder if there's a "Duh." option.
CoIntelPro for Pronktastic Victory Over SCLM, DIEBOLD, ESS and SEQUOIA! @ 90:
And make a quick easy buck as fast as humanly possible. And low and behold they got another four years in 04 to keep the party going.
Okay we're all freaking broke may as well take it from the ground up and start all over again.
Commentator @ 92:
Who'd wanna bang a 74-year-old? That's elder abuse, that is.
The Community Reinvestment Act came into law in 1977 Mr. Larry Bonehead - learn how to do the wiki. The CRA was about banks taking deposits in neighborhoods and then refusing to make loans in those same neighborhoods - better know as red lining.
He claims that the subprime loans are the only problem wait till he sees the Alt-A loans hit the fan. When the Credit Default Swaps build up some more steam then he will get a real big surprise. This guy is a clueless blowhard who could not be less informed. Is he with Inside Edition or something. To borrow from above - Put down the pipe or maybe it was the brown acid?
If Mr. Limpnuts is using the same talking points look for more of this complete bull intended to fuel the culture wars.
This guy's been sniffing glue.
CoIntelPro for Pronktastic Victory Over SCLM, DIEBOLD, ESS and SEQUOIA! @ 90:
That succinctly explains it all. Excellent observation. The conservatives have been at war with the Middle Class for a long time. And this should really prove that they want a Gilded Age in which the gaps between the poor and the rich widen indefinitely.
Whoops! Better start checkin' Larry for rolled-up $50 bills & coke residue again...
james Ratliff @ 91:
it has been there all my life. other people are feeling it now as well as I. the difference is I saw it coming and have been running for years to stay in front of it. Now I do worry.
Ron @ 72:
I just loved that Ponzerella in Happa' Days! A-he-he-he, a-he-he-he.........
If everyone needs a place to live, and if there is a home or apt for everyone to live in now, mostly (and apparently surplus I hear now?), and everyone decides they should own where they live, regardless of the owners, who do not need that to live because they already live somewhere else, then little, other than social will stands in the way.
Utopian fantasy or insidious grassroots mantra?
james Ratliff @ 81:
My sister in law. Sitting on a comfortable retirement bundle. Probably at home watching some sitcom totally clueless about economic events this week and maybe even a bag lady as of Monday and still clueless.
The 90's and into the 2000's the congress and senate was being run by the contract with america that snewt grinchlist was in charge of.
And someone's conscience made them so it. Priceless.
why cant this fuck accept that except for less than 1 percent of the american public, the reagan revolution has been an abysmal failure
so the dems forced banks to push the subprime???
who the fuck was crowing about home ownership being the highest in our nations history you bald fuck....BUSH
im gonna find kudlow and kick him in the gnads and tell him congress made me do it
This is a great article debunking the "Liberals and CRA" caused this economic crisis. Pass this around to debunk this typical RepubliCON talking point.
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=did_liberals_cause_the_subpr...
Entailed are the following points
*In late 2004, Bush severely weaken the CRA
*Roughly, One in four sub-prime loans were made by the institutions fully governed by CRA.
*Half of sub-prime loans came from those mortgage companies beyond the reach of CRA
*further 25 to 30 percent came from bank subsidiaries and affiliates
*The CRA went a quater of a century without any problems until recently
*Independent mortgage companies, which are not covered by CRA, made high-priced loans at more than twice the rate of the banks and thrifts
This same thing is happening to people needing private loans for school as costs go up and up for that and parents are less and less willing to cosign because of their own financial issues. They'll give you almost anything and don't care if you pay it back. In fact, it's pretty much designed so you will default and they can take even more things away from you.
It's scary to think how many people are now being hunted down this way before they are even at the point in their life to be taken advantage of for a home loan. I don't see this getting any better if that's not given some concern as well.
General Pavel Rennenkampf Xocoyotzin @ 73:
Yeah, I grew up in that Catholic dogma crap, too, and I don't recall any restriction on interest, usury, etc. Then again, the Catholic church in America is very different from that elsewhere. Someone once said, "Catholics in America leave their religion outside the bedroom door - when it's to their advantage." Quite true.
But didn't the Knights Templar begin the whole "interest thing" during the Crusades? Or is that just one of those myths? And hell, ANY church that passes around a collection basket during its ceremony is full of shit.
It wasn't the lower middle class and poor who loaned billions to people they KNEW they would be foreclosing on when their ARM's reset and the mortgage payments doubled. These people were set up by the bankers from the beginning. The lenders were relying on the over inflated property values staying in place so that they could then sell the foreclosed properties at a huge profit, that didn't happen.
It wasn't the lower middle class and the poor who bundled these risky mortgages into exotic "derivatives" with which they proceeded to flood the international markets, openly LYING about the quality of the products.
Kudlow is spewing the usual propaganda of blaming the "liberals" and the "poor", to deflect the truth and too many people are allowing this sewage to frame the argument.
The truth is our economy has been destroyed by the vampires of the banking community and NOW they demand that the dispossessed and the foreclosed, along with the taxpayers, pay them yet again.
Want a big laugh, read this:http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MTBiNjRkMTk5YTA4OTdhZTJiMWNlOGNiZjg5OWE2ZGU=
CoIntelPro for Pronktastic Victory Over SCLM, DIEBOLD, ESS and SEQUOIA! @ 90:
Very well stated. The entire conservative republican creed can be boiled down to: "Find someone who has less than you do, and steal it from them. They deserve it, and so do you!"
Gregg @ 102:
Naw. Republicans and speculators would rather a house sit empty till it's falling down into a heap and the weeds are 10 feet in the front yard then go with "socialism".
Kudlow thinks that the Republican-controlled congress of the 1990s and most of the 2000s, were "liberals"??? How interesting. The bullshit just never stops with these people....
Congratulations, Kudlow! You've entered the O'Reilly La-La Land of the Batshit Insane.
brokenarrow @ 104:
Clinton could have used the veto more
Uncle Joe Mccarthy @ 105:
Can you kick him once for me too? I'd really appreciate it.
It's amazing how far a cocaine-addled, pinstriped pinhead can go in this demented nation. This Kudlow creep is an absolute menace. The asshole is even wearing a lapel flag. Oh what a wretched nation.
According to one of my funds, is was the securitization of loans into these Collateralized Debt Obligations that created the problem. Since the originator of the loan was selling the loan to these funds as soon as the loan was made, the originator was no longer exercising due diligence in ensuring that the borrower had the ability to repay.
Nowhere have I heard that banks were "forced" into making bad loans. The reason these loans were made was because the originators were getting paid as soon as the loan was sold to the bundlers of the mortgaged backed securities.
Refresh my memory on which party controlled Congress for most of the 1990s and 2000s?
As a Consumer Compliance Officer for a bank I can tell you that Kudlow's comments on the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) are false. It does not force banks to make loans that are irresponsible. The no-doc loans that banks generated is not a requirement of CRA, banks chose to originate those loans. CRA does encourage lenders to loan to low/moderate income individuals but there is no requirement that these loans be made in an irresponsible way.
There can sometimes be a fine line between satisfying CRA requirements but these banks saw this as an opportunity to make a lot of money as well as ensure "Outstanding" ratings for their CRA exams. Note, a "Satisfactory" rating and an "Outstanding" rating have no material difference on a bank's opportunities to buy additional banks or expand as they see fit.
Kudlow has been a repuglican hack all of his breathing days. That all he is - a hack.
Now that the market may get some of it's senses back with a little "I'm looking over your shoulder" requirements, fools like Kudlow and others will go broke since THEY are the most corrupt jerks alive.
Does his lapel pin have an oil rig and falling towers on it??
L.A. Confidential @ 112:
I guess that's a shade better than what defeated right-wingers do to stuff in Bolivia.
My bank does this all the time. Every time a poor guy walks in they get a real guilty look on their faces and start shoving money at him. They just can't help themselves.
The problem is, he's right about lending to risky borrowers.
That DOES have to stop.
Where is the discussion of Mr Greenspun and his encouragement of this mess?
I can't watch Morning Joe anymore. Joe is just a right wing hack and Mika is just too stupid. Thank God I missed Kudlow.
It is true! @ 123:
Sounds like my bookie...
Matt in Texas @ 108:
I'm not Catholic. I am, however, a history major. Usury was what the Church called turning a marginalized group of people into moneylenders and then those moneylenders having the audacity to want to do their job right.
Eric Hussein in Ottawa @ 124:
Actually, I think this problem has more to do with risky lenders. And pure greed. Republican pure greed.
Lol. The majority of the dems are in the low income bracket. This message back-fired.
Just who is this Lawrence Kudlow - someone who is pretty slimy. Highlights from the wiki:
He was chief economist and senior managing director of Bear, Stearns & Company in the 90's.
In August 2001, Kudlow was paid about US$50,000 to give a public speech to Enron employees and to serve on an advisory board. Kudlow wrote positive articles repeatedly about Enron without disclosing his relationship with the company.
On June 26, 2002, in a commentary by Kudlow in NRO titled "Taking Back the Market — By Force", Kudlow called for the US to attack Iraq because "a lack of decisive follow-through in the global war on terrorism is the single biggest problem facing the stock market and the nation today." Kudlow was one of 250 economic experts to sign an open letter dated February 12, 2003 endorsing George W. Bush's policies on economic growth and jobs.
During the first term of the Reagan administration (1981-1985), Kudlow served as Associate Director for Economics and Planning in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which belongs to the Executive Office of the President. While he worked at the OMB, Kudlow was also the Washington, DC, reporter of CNN's news program Business Morning, and an Advisory Committee member of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, more commonly known as Freddie Mac.
Looks like he is a member of the CLUB. Oh by the way Larry glad to see you put down the pipe.
BTW, is Mika related to ex-Carter National Security Adviser Zbigniew?
1) The CRA was enacted in 1977, and yet this Kudlow is convinced it took this long for it to take effect?
2) The CRA only applies to banks and thrifts; nearly all of the subprime loans were not conducted by banks and thrifts.
3) The CRA laws did not even apply to most of these loans; only around 25% of loans were made under full CRA governance.
4) The CRA had nothing to do with Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac -- most of their credit losses came about due to Alt-A mortgages of large worth (like commercial property), not low-income housing.
What a lying sack of crap this guy is. I sold houses for over 20 years. The last few years of that career, I saw lenders make ridiculous loans to people with questionable credit. It wasn't because of any liberals conscience. It was because those loans were so lucrative for lenders to make, the secondary market to package and sell over and over. When you hear the commercials from lenders who say they don't care how bad your credit is, they'll make you that loan, the reason is that they will charge you through the nose, take a huge upfront fee and get rid of your loan easily because you will pay such a high interest rate.
And these guys lobbied congress to get the right to stick it to buyers. Phil Gramm was among the people who made it possible. Then the big companies like Lehmann and others bought these loans because the interest made their bottom line look better. They then sold them off as mortgage backed securities.
Now, let's blame the liberals for all this greed. The liberals are "evil". That should work. NOT.
Gregg @ 102:
Nope .. "squatting" .. and in some countries squatters have rights.
Good luck in the USA.
In March, 2003 we invaded Iraq.
Immediately thereafter, millions of dollars in contracts to re-constuct the destruction that had been wrought. Several additional construction projects were also initiated, namely the huge airbase at Balad and the US Embassy complex. Additional military installations were also constructed.
Those construction projects put an immense demand on the supplies of concrete, lumber, and other building materials. Virtually overnight, new home prices increased 10-15% due to materials cost increases. Lumber mills, steel factories, and concrete quarrys were hiring and running overtime. Add in the build-up of the several industries being disassembled in the US and reassembled elsewhere (ie. China, India, Mexico).
Those costs increases were driven because of the huge sucking of materials to the persian gulf. Home prices that rise 10-15% annually, while being financed with less than 20% down were investment nirvanas. Qualify, Buy, Hold, Sell, repeat as often as possible. Converting a $300,000 home in 2003 into a $400,000 home in 2005. Flipping was a key investment strategy for millions of people. The combination extraoradinary cost increases fueled the housing inflationary costs, resulting in tricky mortgages (5-year balloon, 10% down, 6% interest-only loan). If the home increases in value, then flip it and take the money.
Unfortunately, the high-foreclosure rate isn't due to the sub-prime...it's due to the war. The war caused a tremendous inflationary insertion into the housing market. When the price exceeded the affordability index, homes began to come down in price. If you couldn't refinance, you had to sell. If the home was less than the loan note value, then you were screwed and probably allowed foreclosure, regardless of whether you were making home payments or not. Factor in unemployment or other recession factors, and people just walked away. The banks have zero tolerance and threw the properties on the market at any price, fighting with other banks to unload their properties faster to get some cash, they drove the very market down that they needed to prop up.
If employment were better, more people could purchase. But the move-up to 2nd home is not on the horizon until home values can increase enough to allow a profit to be made. Many of those in their homes are realizing that their equity has vaporized and they are running inverted. If they have a good 30-year fixed and are keeping up with their payments and taxes, then they will hang as long as they are employed. Upset any wheel on the wagon and the apples are spilled all over the sidewalk.
In hard times, tent cities rise across the country
Eric Hussein in Ottawa @ 124:
Read my reply above. The banks LOBBIED for the right to do those risky loans because they can charge people with bad credit higher interest and take higher upfront fees, then sell these higher-interest rate loans on the secondary market. They love you more if your credit isn't good.....get it?
Eric Hussein in Ottawa @ 124:
I should have never happened! They did it because of greed. they didn't even try to hide it either. But make no mistake, these loan companies and banks and investment houses did this to themselves. They have NOBODY to blame but themselves!!
gogetem @ 132:
Its her dad. For sure. For real.
Grandma Jefferson @ 109:
Well said.
You guys are going to LOVE THIS ! (from - http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/08/20020813-5.html#)
..."A limited and focused government is essential to a growing economy. And if the Congress won't show spending restraint, I intend to enforce spending restraint. "... interesting mr. president.
..."Too many Americans have lost a large portion of their retirement funds, and they've lost a sense of security in the process. I know that. Too many Americans have lost jobs, especially in the high-tech world, in the manufacturing sector. Too many Americans run into economic and regulatory barriers when they try to create a business or expand their business. Too many construction projects have halted because they cannot get terrorism insurance. The goal must be to create an environment of sustained economic growth. We've got work to do. I know that -- but we're going to do the work. It starts with listening to our fellow Americans to find good ideas, and implement them."... So who are you going to listen to mr. president ?
..."In order to build long-term security we will enforce the rules and laws on the books. I say as plainly as I can to CEOs: if you break the law, we will hunt you down, we will arrest you, and we'll prosecute you. We expect the highest of high standards when it comes to corporate America. I want the books open and transparent, the numbers need to be real. "... Really ? Enforce the rules ? That's news to me, unless you mean re-determining the laws, in order to make sure what you were doing conformed to them, but then again, I'm only splitting hairs, whilst Europe splits atoms, but again, I digress...
Here's where it gets interesting... "I believe -- I believe to build the long-term security of America, we need to encourage ownership. We want to have an environment and where people feel comfortable by starting their own business. We want the Curtis McGuires of the world to flourish. Another way we can promote ownership is to encourage home ownership. One of the statistics that concerns me deeply and concerns those in my administration is this: too many minorities do not own a home in America. Under 50 percent of African Americans and Hispanic Americans own a home. That's just too few, as far as I'm concerned. You see, owning a home is part of the American experience. And so I'm promoting policies that will encourage home ownership.
And we've set this goal, by the way, that we want there to be 5.5 million minority families owning a home over the next 10 years. Which means government ought to have a policy that helps people with a downpayment. People take a look at owning a home and they realize the downpayment is a frightening thought. We ought to have a downpayment assistance program out of Washington, D.C. "... So before you go blaming the poor people, remember what a leader is supposed to do, but again...
I digress.
Cheers,
k
NoGWBpolicyleftinplace @ 129:
Not everything needs to be turned into an anti-Republican talking point.
This is about business fundamentals. It's unwise to lend to someone when you have little or no assurance that they'll be able to repay the loan.
It matters not who's doing the lending or the borrowing. The point is that the practice needs to stop.
QrazyQat @ 119:
The party of liberal borrowing and spending the Republicans. Which is why it is time to elect that fiscally conservative party of pay-as-you-go Democrats.
Captain Bitter Angry Kangaroo @ 139:
But they don't even have to blame themselves. Rather, the heads of these banks are probably congratulating themselves -- for making a fortune off of bonuses, getting a golden parachute, and for those sticking around, having the government come in an bail them out and/or take them over.
The people involved at the top didn't suffer. They profited. Immensely.
Dennis Hastert, Tom DeLay, Newt Gingrich, Bill Frist, Trent Lott, and Bob Dole are liberals? Is that what Kudlow is saying? Cause these guys ran the show.
So what will happen,
1. We are going to pay $1.00 for every loan worth 5 cents.
2. The banks and financial firms will take the .95 cents and:
a. Make the lives of Americans better?
OR
b. Make their banks look good and make their lives better?
Lots of ways to paint it but it's a subsidy for bankers.
I know this is a tough question for Republicans.
Actually it's not important for Republicans because they need to change the Supreme Court to abolish abortion by demolishing the rights of everyone else.
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