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)
