An email to Larry Kudlow
C&Ler Jim sent this response to Kudlow after he blamed " Liberal guilt consciences" for the mortgage meltdown.
Cudlow, Cudlow, Cudlow [sic]... you are not stupid. You are, however, a conservative, republican hack. You know good and g*damn well that this crisis was precipitated by the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, pounded through by Senator Phil Gramm, that was tucked into an omnibus spending bill at the end of Clinton's last term that included, amongst other things, a treasury authorization and Medicare/Medicaid bill that could not be vetoed. This Act excluded any swap transaction from the reach of the CEA and also amended the Securities Act to exclude swap agreements as being defined as securities.
Therefore, these instruments were left unregulated. Hence, we are now reaping the whirlwind. You have put yourself on record as blaming liberal guilt and poor people for this crisis. This is not just intellectually dishonest, it is a factual lie. As a member of the f*&king intellectual elite (I have a law degree, a guitar, and a car) I challenge YOU to bring McCain and Palin on your show and have them explain their version of these events. I bet you won't... Love, Jim.
P.S. I might also add that the notion that the sub-prime crisis was caused by liberals wanting to put poor, first-time buyers into homes is disproved by the fact that most of these loans (over 60%) were not first time home buyers, but refinances. This is because investment firms and banks were selling the idea that people should treat their primary residence as an investment like a stock: borrow on the equity (leverage) like any other asset and bet on the value to rise. This is contrary to traditional conservative thought that the homestead is not to be put at risk. But you guys never thought about that because you were too single-mindedly interested in the up-side. It never occurred to you that the downside was families without homes. Therefore you put unsophisticated folks with children in the same boat with Ivy league 20 something geniuses who walked away with millions, while the families walked away with a trailer. It truly is sickening.
Once again, Love, Jim
(Just a reminder. I will print emails from C&L's massive inbox)
We should stop paying the Fed Tax on our phone bills, utility bills and anything that we pay monthly for that has a Fed Tax. Attach a note with your payment each month stating that you are withholding the Fed Tax because you object to the federal government not doing proper oversight in implementing the bail out of the financial institutions. Insist that they follow the guide lines as outlined in Obama's statement about proper oversight and something for home owners. Be sure to put the taxes in a bank account that you can keep separate, and note in your correspondence that you will pay the back taxes once the federal government agrees to the peoples demands.
I don't think they can turn off your service with this kind of protest.
Spread it around, spread it far. Let's do this.
Dave
Viet Vet
Wow. That's all I can say. Plus a plug for Flying Fish brews. Wow.
Prince Amato! Finally someone comes up with the goods:
the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, pounded through by Senator Phil Gramm, that was tucked into an omnibus spending bill at the end of Clinton’s last term that included, amongst other things, a treasury authorization and Medicare/Medicaid bill that could not be vetoed.
we should check USCCAN (and the committee) to see if there's a McCain comment.
there is MORE money in derivatives than stocks. it's
essentially sophisticated 'betting'. it's a system NOT
talked about. it's called the 'shadow financial system'.
it's NOT only the default of loans....it's the betting by wall street on whether or not people will pay the loans
or not. they actually bet on whether these loans will be
paid on they thought they would and they didn't. investors put money of either side of investment vehicles.
GOOD ON YA!
You got to realize Kudlow was one of those folks that held meetings with ENRON employees why they should not sell their stock.
He got paid $50,000 for two 30 minute meetings.
I like Dave's idea. After all, it's not like they obey the law, right?
Also, I think Cudlow's a fine spelling. As in cud: chewed over, previously digested, saliva-soaked vegetable matter.
This is nice but lets see the DNC put out an attack ad that penetrates below the surface. Hit em, and hit em hard. Anything goes. Its never been easier than now. Until then, we are just talking to ourselves.
NoOneYouKnow @ 6:
Traders call him Krudlow.
pay close attention to congress this week?
are barney frank and chuck shumer being blackmailed?
is there anything a despotic regime with unbridled surveillance power could blackmail them with?
Larry Kudlow?? Don't you think that you should care about a real economist as opposed to someone that plays one on TV. Heck he doesn't even have a degree in economics, too stupid to finish.
kudlow loves to chant...drill...drill...drill
Senator Bernie Sanders: The Middle Class Must Not Be Forced to Bail Out Wall Street Greed
Sen. Sanders lays out a plan to address not just the present financial crisis but also the present economic crisis, a plan that benefits We The People.
.. worth a read ..
New bumper sticker: Free Markets Aren't Free
W
You know, there was a time when Republicans (like Jack Kemp) agreed that programs to help low income people buy homes, build equity and start their climb up America's economic ladder were a good thing. Little did we know their goal all along was to just set them up for predatory lenders and hucksters, and pass the blame onto poor people (what they really mean is poor black people)when Wall Street's pyramid scheme imploded.
Anyway, my personal observation is this meme has already reached maximum infection of the conservative reptilian brain.
Cudlow, Cudlow, Cudlow [sic]… you are not stupid. You are, however, a conservative, republican hack.
O.K., like I thought conservatives are stupid.
Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives.
- John Stuart Mill
JimboSlice @ 10:
3 credit hours of economics got him a senior position in the Reagan White House as an "economist".
Go figure.
constituent @ 11:
He also pushed for Palin back in June.
Dave @ 1:
Like an escrow account?
Harley @ 17:
it could wishful thinking for him....or it could be that he
believes mccain when mccain says sarah palin is a
leading expert regarding energy/oil. i couldn't believe
he said that. all the investment firms,oil companies,
government intellects and think tanks.....sarah palin
university of idaho journalism is a leading expert wow
Harley @ 17:
That makes him as smart as Kristol.
So, as its final (can we hope?) criminal act the Bush administration now attempts to extort $700 BILLION from the US Treasury, threatening to crash the world economy if we don't cough up the ca$h.
I might be a little premature in asking, but, did Kudlow's people send Jim a response?
Just curious.
here's a one page read that helps explain what's going on.
it's sophisticated 'betting'
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/07/foreclosure-phil.html
Harley @ 16:
Sort of like a certain Alaskan Secretary of Agriculture whose credential was "a love of cows." These Republicans sure have strict criteria for appointees. No wonder Kudlow pushed for Palin.
Anyway, thanks to Jim for his excellent refutation of Kudlow's liberal-bashing.
GonzoD @ 20:
When Bush invites a "select" group of reporters to "get the message" out. Kudlow is all ways one of them.
The Very Bitter Ceci Hussein @ 22:
Don't hold your breath.
If you watch his show - he never has any regrets when his advice crushes people.
Jo @ 18:
Eactly, an escrow account.
Dave
Viet Vet
Harley @ 26:
Thank you for answering. :)
And no, I don't watch his show because I can't stomach what he says. :(
Harley @ 26:
Hell what I'm I saying. Kudlow got paid $50K to explain to ENRON employees why they should not sell their stock as it was crashing towards $0.
Without free-flowing credit, people wouldn't have been able to roll their houses over every six months for the past twenty years!
My brother bought a two-bedroom house ten years ago, for ninety thousand dollars. First time buyer. NOW, that house is worth $250,000.00!
Now that may be all well and good for my brother, since he's gained equity in the house, but if he wanted to go out and buy THE SAME EXACT HOUSE, he would be no further ahead in the game than he was TEN YEARS AGO, because after selling his ORIGINAL house, ALL that money has to go back into another house, WITH NO NOTICEABLE GAIN.
And what does this say for the guy who, right out of high school, maybe messes up, gets his girlfriend pregnant, but wants to do the right thing. HE can't buy a two bedroom house for $90,000.00 anymore, because of the SHELL GAME that we allow the BANKS, and our "homeowners" to play.
Harley @ 29:
That says it all. I'm still angry about ENRON, btw.
Dave @ 27:
Gotcha. O.k. one more question. Lots of people have their utility bill automatically deducted from their bank account each month. Can this be reversed? Once a bill is paid automatically, can a person opt out of this way of paying?
I am seriously considering your proposal.
Ha HA! Good Shot/ Let
s hope the media does it's job and makes this point clear or people will erroneously feel sympathy for the crooks and guilt for themselves.
How about a criminal investigation!
This economic downturn shouldn't be a trillion dollar taxpayer bailout. No, the banking crisis should be INVESTIGATED. We must not let these white collar criminals go free. They have defrauded the American taxpayers. Recoup the stolen money.
Republican/evangelical leadership are not stupid. They are wealthy and don't like to pay taxes. Party elite have created massive tax cuts for themselves and cronies. Middle class republicans are low information, misinformed Fox/Limbaugh fans.
Jo @ 32:
You would need to stop the auto pay. Start paying with a check. I am trying to get other people going on this. If you belong to any groups, I belong to World Can't Wait, then contact them and see if we can start this. I just sent a note to WCW.
Dave
Viet Vet
we can add the JoeDugan rant to the statement from Jim. both cudlow and cramer rely on the ignorance of their audiences. they haven't spoken a true word in years.
Dave @ 35:
I could go and give a talk about this to a seniors group, but I would want to know beforehand that this is legal and have the written word of a good lawyer that it is.
RMB @ 34:
it was all legal. it should also be unconstitutional to give paulsen unfettered control of the federal budget or any dispersal of federal funds.
Jim is dead-on. I'm not in the states right now, but I can imagine who the "liberal" media is blaming just from the posts on this and other sites: Clinton!
I know it's been a whole 9 years, but if memory serves me right, Clinton was impeached and lame ducked before this bill was pushed through by the Republican controlled Congress and Senate.
The Republicans are in control of Congress and the Senate for 13 years, and they have a 7-year lock on ALL THREE BRANCHES of government, but Clinton gets blamed for this meltdown.
7 years of Republican President, Congress and Senate. Hmm, do you think if they wanted to make changes, they could have?
Oh, that's right, they did! They actually got a lot done:
Gutting the constitution
Gutting environmental protections for air, water and forests
Gutting oversight of imports and the meat industry
Hog-tying schools with the NCLB legislation
Giving tax cuts year after year to the richest people
Privatizing national security
Increasing spending at a record pace
Creating the biggest debt in history
Devaluating the dollar
Feel free to add on. I haven't got all day.
Norwegian town of 18,000 victim of the SubPrime-Crime:
Sub-prime chill reaches the Arctic
motherjones...july/august2008 issue
Who's to blame for the biggest financial catastrophe of our time? There are plenty of culprits, but one candidate for lead perp is former Sen. Phil Gramm. Eight years ago, as part of a decades-long anti-regulatory crusade, Gramm pulled a sly legislative maneuver that greased the way to the multibillion-dollar subprime meltdown. Yet has Gramm been banished from the corridors of power? Reviled as the villain who bankrupted Middle America? Hardly. Now a well-paid executive at a Swiss bank, Gramm cochairs Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign and advises the Republican candidate on economic matters. He's been mentioned as a possible Treasury secretary should McCain win. That's right: A guy who helped screw up the global financial system could end up in charge of US economic policy. Talk about a market failure.
Gramm's long been a handmaiden to Big Finance. In the 1990s, as chairman of the Senate banking committee, he routinely turned down Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Arthur Levitt's requests for more money to police Wall Street; during this period, the SEC's workload shot up 80 percent, but its staff grew only 20 percent. Gramm also opposed an SEC rule that would have prohibited accounting firms from getting too close to the companies they audited—at one point, according to Levitt's memoir, he warned the SEC chairman that if the commission adopted the rule, its funding would be cut. And in 1999, Gramm pushed through a historic banking deregulation bill that decimated Depression-era firewalls between commercial banks, investment banks, insurance companies, and securities firms—setting off a wave of merger mania.
posted this at TP also:
just remembered something i heard on randi rhodes, back when the housing crash was beginning… about foreclosure:
if you, or someone you know, is facing a foreclosure, first thing you need to do is DEMAND to see the original paperwork…
she linked to the information detailing the fact that this paperwork MUST be shown for any foreclosure to procede…
since those mortgages were sold down the line, it’s difficult to come up with that paperwork, and that means more time…
to do what, i’m not sure, or don’t remember… but she reiterated how important it is to DEMAND the actual original papers…
made sense anyway…
Please keep hammering this point there are a lot of talking heads lying their ass off about this. Its time to nail them with heir own words about the *cough* benefits of deregulation. Bush says that now is not the time to assign blame, that means Bush is worried about blame being assigned so now is the time to attack.
As Sun Tze says " when the Enemy retreats attack!" Hope I got the quote right.
bravo. nice smack down. i'll look forward to "cudlow" responding.
Jo @ 32:
you can always opt out. you have to request it and don't let them
tell you that you can't. i have opted out of several without any problem.
The funny thing about so-called "conservatives" like Krudlow, is that a year ago (or less, and before that all during the run-up in the housing bubble), their mantra was that there is no crisis, real estate always goes up, and anyone who said there was a real estate bubble and/or that the bubble had now burst was an America-hating "doom and gloomer."
Now their talking point is that it was the government's insistence that poor (read: black) people be given the same access to housing as the white middle class created this mess, and nothing could be further from the truth.
While my personal feelings on this are that many factions -- from all sides of the political and economic divides -- contributed to this crisis, there were actors in this who knew or should have known (due mostly to having MBAs, PhDs in advanced mathematics and years of experience) that the whole house (pun intended) of cards of ever-escalating debt would implode in a fiery crash the likes of which we are now seeing.
Yeah, "bad borrowers" -- many of whom I am closely acquainted with (like family) -- made very bad decisions and acted very greedily. They should suffer (bring back debtors' prisons), but the major players who really caused this mess should NOT be allowed to get away with it, let alone get 700,000,000,000 of my and my potential great grandchildren's dollars to boot.
Lets not forget to point out to anyone who doesn't get it, that while homeowners may indeed bear some, if microscopic responsibility if only at the personal level, the current financial crisis has nothing to do with homeowners. The current financial crisis is the result of banks selling bad loans to financial companies.
This is all about banks and financial institutions being greedy. Homeowners have nothing to do with it besides being tangential participants.
I had to quit listening. He's a propagandist for the bogus "free market". Which is an excuse for the politicians not to do anything about the excesses of major business institutions. No wonder they only want to work 3 days a week. They dumped most of their responsibilities with the creation of the so-called free market.
So the tax payer foots the bill, the rich get theirs and yours, and just on the horizon is the 1 year Estate Tax exemption.
What perfect timing, the rich get more and more while Joe average has to deal with having less and less.
I used to watch Kudlow and Cramer because I thought the interchange was interesting. When Kudlow got his own show, "Kudlow, Right on America", I watched a few times out of curiousity. I found that the man is some type of megalomaniac who is obsessed with taxes. He brings any discussion around to reducing taxes.
I saw him two nights ago, weighing in on the current financial crisis. I could only stomach about two minutes of his ranting. Perhaps others can figure out what type of mental illness he has -- perhaps it's just greed gone wild. I don't know...
A few years ago all those mortgage companies were pushing HARD to get me in to some fancy schmancy mortgage. I wanted to re-fi because I had 17 years left on a 9% loan. They kept offering me a 2/28 loan with a big cash payout, or some other thing. I told them, I'm simple. I want a 5% 15 year fixed loan with no points. That's it. Why would I want to pay longer than I'm paying now? I plan to keep this house. I finally got a 5.25% loan with 1 point for 15 years. I figured that was pretty good. I have about 11 years left on it.
I am not a mortgage expert. I probably could have done better but I am also not an idiot who was going to let some sales guy sell me something I could not afford or give me a bunch of cash I didn't need. Unfortunately, too many people saw dollar signs and grabbed for whatever these swindlers were offering. The ex-wife of a guy at work is walking away from a place she put $50K down on. It was the money she got from the divorce. My friend advised her against buying the house and now he can only shake his head. That $$ could have gone toward his daughter's education.
It's funny that people would think "liberals" are too blame for this. In Aristotle's Ethics a liberal man is described as someone who knows how to handle money. He is not prodigal nor stingy. He uses his money in the right amount, at the right time, for the right reason and gives it to the right person. I have tried to figure out whether conservatives are prodigal or niggardly when it comes to money and the only conclusion I've been able to reach is, YES.
bamboozled @ 39:
What the Blame Clinton crowd don't want to remember...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass-Steagall_Act
1. The GOP controlled the congress that year and the vote broke on party lines.
2. The rules adopted by that congress made the bill "veto proof"... it was law no matter what Clinton did.
In short... the GOP owns this one... especially "Foreclosure Phill" Gramm!
Some months back a young man, friend of the family, that had made a ton of money in the wholesale side of the sub-prime mortgage market and I were talking about just what in hell went wrong. After a short discussion, he summed it up pretty well I think...'Look, the way I see it is Wall Street manufactured this 'Crack Cocaine' of financial instruments...the wholesale and retail, store-front, sales octopus sold this 'Crack'...and the consumer, hooked on the 'American Dream' of ownership, bought and used the 'Crack'...and now everybody's having to go 'cold turkey'.
Rasputin @ 52:
Let's start with you then.
I just sent this email to Representative Mitchell asking him to stop this 700 billion dollar heist:
Dear Representative Mitchell,
I am a constituent of yours living in the Shalimar neighborhood of Tempe, and I am writing to you to request that you resist and vote against the proposed bill by the Bush Administration to use tax payer funds to purchase real estate related securitized debt obligations, or other financial products, from private banks or any other seller. If the Treasury Department wants to use taxpayer funds to repay FDIC insured accounts fine. If the Treasury Deparatment want to use tax payer money to make loans to consumers or business as a market participant because the existing so called finance industry now refuses to do so fine. But to buy worthless assets with tax payer funds (that will be itself borrowed) that enrich private commercial interests (why do you think the stock market just went up) is outrageous. The Administrations conclusory argument that we have to do this or we get a depression is not substantive. They have not made public any coherent argument that that is the case or that buying worthless assets is a solution. The meeting with congressional leaders where supposedly everyone was scared with non-public information sounds like the same type of non-public and false information given out in the meetings before the Iraq war and look where that got us. Low stock prices is not a crisis, its either an accurate reflection of companies’ values or a buying opportunity. The only companies that need a high stock price or their fundamentals fail are frauds like Entron and that is the vibe this whole thing has. You don't fix an Enron problem by throwing money at Enron. We have had 200 years bankruptcy law in this country, put it to work for the non-commercial banks, and have the fed take over insolvent commercial banks just as it did in the late 80's. The liquidation value of these mortgage backed securiites will be determined in these processes and they will be sold to private investors, not taxpayers for insane premiums. One of the reason stated for this whole effort is to stabilize home prices. Using taxpayer money to prop up inflated home prices (prices that have disconnected from the peoples incomes to carry the debt service on them) is awful policy. Ironically none of these measures enables homeowners to restructure their home loans based on the liquidation value of their homes like one can do with nearly every other type of loan due to an exception secured by the lending industry in the bankruptcy code. If you struck that exception you would have given homeowners all they need to stay in homes that they can actually afford without a dime paid by the taxpayer. Finally, its my sense that you pretty much do whatever the Congressional leadership tells you to do. I am sorry if this perception is incorrect, but if it is incorrect please show some indepedence now and push back against this godawful 700 billion dollar trainwreck being rammed down our throats. Pardon the harsh tone of this email but it is a very important issue, maybe along with the Iraq war funding bills, one of the most important votes of your career.
Mark Giunta
The shit has hit the fan folks.
But get out the slickers and brollies, coz this is only the beginning of the post-conservative melt-down!
When it is all over, this will make the Great Depression of the 1930's look like a "speedbump".
I bought my first home in 1987 for $24,000 at a variable interest rate of 11 3/4%. I was young, without much credit, and wasn't sure if I would get it or not. BECAUSE at that time my bank looked at my income coming in, my bills going out, and it was their decision whether or not I could afford to repay them. Fast forward to 2006--my credit rating (which was not used in 1987) was in the pits but I still wanted a new kitchen, maybe a deck, some siding, new windows, etc. My neighbor's smaller house had just sold for $92,000 (way more than it was worth in my opinion) and so my bank was more than willing to loan me $20,000 for improvements. They even encouraged me to borrow more! Take that much needed vacation they said. But I knew I could not afford payments of $350 per month (then and now paying $174) and so I canceled the loan. But not everyone was so prudent. I look now at so many people scrounging for money to pay their overpriced mortgages encouraged by their banks. Sure, they have new kitchens, decks, windows, etc. and I don't--but I'm in no fear of losing my house right now either.
Excellent message, but would you read an email from someone who hadn't even bothered to get the spelling of your name right?
No, I wouldn't either. So don't hold your breath waiting for a response, Jim.
PHIL GRAMM is to blame for the deregulation scams and should be brought to the forefront of the public eye for that.
I was watching CSPAN this morning and I am glad that you are pointing out the fallacy of the argument where they blame the poor and liberals for WANTING houses they couldn't afford. SOME people did get caught up in the No Money Down or ARM mortgages, but they are NOT the cause of this crisis. IF a poor person gets suckered into a complex agreement via a shady lender, then that is potentially FRAUD, but even THAT isn't the cause.
No, the cause goes to something deeper, but still very simple (and it appears to be the typical GOP model of late): Corporate directors/investors still have a fiduciary duty and a duty of care that go far above making profits. Just because all of these banks made profits and passed it on in the form of dividends to the shareholders does NOT mean a damn thing if they didn't make common sense or PRUDENT investments. In any "trust" situation, there is a rule regarding prudent and good faith investments. SOME risk is acceptable, but there's a reason why diversifying is a good idea, so if ONE stock or industry or market crashes, then the bulk of the investments are still secure. Here, these CEOs and boards put all of their eggs in the high risk portfolio of high-risk loans, and were "shocked" when so many people defaulted.
In any industry, there's GOT to be a cost/benefit analysis....that's BUS101 - why did they NOT see this coming? Or, was it as John alludes, that they KNEW it was only a matter of time and didn't care because they knew that George would bail them out? If that's the case, well, its NOT poor people that Pwned this one!
I love to see how Kudlow and others like him look at the "Big Picture". When witnessing the subprime market on an individual basis, it's much more apparent that the scenario listed above is the most common. People being encouraged to play with the equity in their homes by constantly refinancing is a big piece of what happened this year. The rest is taking people with good credit and no money, adding in people with lousy credit and little money and charging both higher interest rates to purchase homes.
The key to remember in all of this is that this type of economic gamble only works in rising real estate markets. When the down market comes, it really beats the hell out of this type of economics. Too bad no one remembered this from previous down markets.
Having sold homes for over 20 years, it became a matter of amazement to me that folks with decent jobs and not much more were being lent 100 to 110 percent of the appraised value of the properties they wished to purchase. They were upside down on the house from day one, and if their jobs went south they had nothing to fall back on.
In a case like this, who is going to keep paying on a house that is already worth less than they paid for it?
Phil Gramm designed this debacle when he helped repeal regulatory rules. John McCain, who admittedly knows zero about the economy, turns to a calculating creep like this one for his economic advice. If I liked McCain on other matters, which I don't, that would be enough to make me vote for Obama.
The Larry.Kudlow@cnbc.com address doesn't work. Does anybody know if the Larry.Kudlow@nbcuni.com works?
This is a comments page from CNBC.
This is a blog by Kudlow. Of course he is to chichen shit to have a comments sectionjust go here to tell him what you think. I suppose it also goes to the CNBC honchos.
Look who really is to blame:
http://www.policyalmanac.org/social_welfare/archive/wh_minority_housing....
Damn that librul!
Bravo Jim,
Larry Kudlow is merely an angry Republican shill. "Oh, Goldilocks economy, where art thou?'
Kudlow is wrong on the economy, wrong on the market and wrong on the basic tenets of financial machinations. The rest of the warped know-it-all stuff he leaves to "Mad Monster", Jim Cramer.
In addition, please not us forget Kudlow's hero Arthur Greenspan. The greatest Federal Reserve president-prostitute in almost 100 years. Any Fed president that can serve 4 (four) presidents and adhere to their divergent policies is, well I already said it.
MBrillson
Kudlow's status is that of a pig men Pump Monkey!!
Lindy
Barney Frank speech regarding causes of the crisis. Very informative:
http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_...
The Very Bitter Ceci Hussein @ 22:
No.
Where's your goldylox economy now Kudlow that you so loudly boasted about all year long. You and John McCain should take Bush to lunch and discuss it. Fox news, Larry Kudlow, Jim Cramer (and his "FOR THE CORPORATION" bull crap all these years), Sean Hannity(the Jew basher), O'Reilly(although I thought I saw a glimmer of hope when Obama held his ground), George Bush, John McCain, Palin, all need to be cast out of American society or better yet, stoned in the public square. These people have been the detriment of our country.
Holy sh*it, the Russians are more decent than these people. Spewing hatred, corruption, deceit, and inductive reasoning throughout the land. Hissing lies through their teeth incessantly, these monsters need to be put down like a sick dog. Thanks for listening. Have a nice day.
P.S. Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot Chaney the kingpin. Don't forget him!
It is amazing to me that MSNBC allows this man to sound like an expert. He is obviously owned by big business, and is willing to allow everyone in the country who works for a living to die, starve to death, implode, whatever works for them to allow the wealthiest 1-2% of the business people to continue raping and pillaging until the end of time. (which is fast closing in on us due to the extravagances of these people) These people ARE NOT HONEST. Integrity is not even a consideration. The big problem we are now facing with trying to figure out how to "bail out" the world is that we cannot trust these "big business" people. The banks were given billions, but aren't willing to loan to people with legitimate plans and good credit. The auto makers cannot cut back on their personal convenience enough to take a normal flight to Washington, DC, and executives are much more worried about how much they will be paid than they are worried about the country. It's the classic killing the goose to get all the eggs. There is no awareness of the needs of anyone outside the very small circle of the very wealthiest. But Kudlow promotes their propaganda ruthlessly. He cuts people off who have any positive ideas to contribute, and promotes an ugly attitude about any plans any Democrat may have. The entire focus of any conversation he is a part of is skewed to the point that nothing positive can come out of it. He does not seem willing to even consider anyone else's opinions, so how can he have a conversation with the goal of greater understanding and progress toward problem solving? He loads his guest list with people who will only agree with him, and blasts the one or two guests who have fresh ideas.
Is MSNBC that out of touch with the needs of the American people? Big business cannot be trusted to solve our problems, cannot be trusted to even PARTICIPATE in plans most agree to as a nation without careful oversite. If they are given money, we have NO guarentee they will spend it wisely. So what defense do they have? They NEED to be regulated. They won't self-regulate, they've proven that. They don't care about the big picture and the role they should be playing. They worry only about their personal jobs and bonuses. This is not a group we can depend on when our entire future is at stake. And day after day Kudlow yells out his defense of these indefensible positions. What a loss to a useful, helpful dialogue! We cannot make any progress when a major focus of the dialogue is defense of positions that have been shown to be fatally flawed. Come up with some new people and some new ideas if you want to be a part of the solution to these huge problems instead of being a part of the problem. I realize you are presenting information regarding the stock market all day long, but it would be smart of you to acknowledge that REAL people watch these numbers, not the 1-2% of people you are defending. And real people know that the market will only prosper in a real and sustainable way if the disparity in the way the market functions is corrected. Larry doesn't get it, do you? He needs a reality check or a big boot in the butt!
I'm sure Jim is very angry and well-intentioned in his email to Kudlow, but he (like a lot of liberals) are biased if he ignores the fact that the democratic minority in Congress supported and Bill Clinton signed into law the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, which "allowed the stockbrokers, insurance companies and banks to merge for the first time since the 1930s, ushering in this era of irresponsibility." The facts: "Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers who both served as treasury secretaries in the Clinton administration...talked the president into signing that wretched legislation." In other words, BOTH parties are responsible for this fiscal mess. And if you still don't believe me, look at footnotes #3 (WaPost) and #4 on the bill's Wikipedia entry, and the sentences that support these facts: "The final bipartisan bill resolving the differences was passed in the Senate 90-8-1 and in the House: 362-57-15. Without forcing a veto vote, this bipartisan, veto proof legislation was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on November 12, 1999."
AT this point, it doesn't matter whether some democrats and some republicans voted for some bill. The fact is, it doesn't work! Get over it! Something needs to be done at this time to correct the error. This is a crisis, and you're defending an obviously flawed bill based on who voted for it? Move on, let new ideas come forward and make sure these people who only look out for themselves are monitored and regulated!/p>
The Kudlow creep is a serious substance abuser. But like his hero, The Bush Drunk, there he is, on the TeeVee spewing forth unfetterd horseshit. This nation is really quite the joke.
Loosely Twisted @ 55:
Start what with me, you blithering idiot?
I have NO debt.
None.
So kiss my black ass.
And that is how republicans, and some democrats continue to be elected. They blame every crisis on the weakest, least politically powerful, least voting in society. To make the claim that the influence of groups like ACORN even came close to the influence of the moneyed interest in the banking industry; to claim that the most powerful and financially influential people in the world, in the most unprecedented unregulated atmosphere since the before the Great Depression, allowed policy to be swayed toward disaster by some of the least powerful is sheer genius. Even many of the victims believe this and vote again and again against their own interests. But on the part of Kudlow it is also disingenuous at best, and most likely a knowing lie. It is the moral equivalent of kicking a puppy to feel brave instead of facing the pack of wolves that are outside the door-either because he is in league with them or afraid of them.
Also, seems like I remember President Bush bragging about the unprecedented amount of homeowners created under his administration....
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