You and I have something in common with John McCain
The government is taking your money and mine to buy up all those risky mortgages. Do you realize what that means? It means that now, just like John McCain, we don’t know how many homes we own either.
Remember over the years we have talked about george bush failing at everything he tried and his dad or his dad’s friends always bailed him out of his poor business decisions. We have even wondered who would save his ass after the debacle he has created these past eight years. Well now we know the answer to that question. Your money and mine has been summoned to do just that.
Remember over the years we have talked about george bush failing at everything he tried and his dad or his dad’s friends always bailed him out of his poor business decisions. We have even wondered who would save his ass after the debacle he has created these past eight years. Well now we know the answer to that question. Your money and mine has been summoned to do just that.
posted by pissed off patricia at 2:04 AM
26 Comments:
great point
everything he touches turns to crap. except now we are paying trillions for that crap.
i really wish he would just go away NOW
This is really bad.
But we knew that...
We saw this coming. We were warned,
...and now he gets away with more crimes and failures, while we suffer.
//SULKING//
How much more damage to the U.S. can he do in the last 4 months.....
When will this nightmare end?
when it ends, or begins to?
that depends on the election.
The sad thing is, 30% of the population thinks he is doing a good job! And 50% or so think his party is doing good enough of a job to put McCain in office!
"We have even wondered who would save his ass after the debacle he has created these past eight years"
ummmmm....no, this debacle started longer than 8 years ago...I will admit he was late to correct it, but the problem began with the previous administrations drive to expand home ownership...the loosening of regulations then, created the issues we are having now.
I'd be laughing if I weren't cryin' so hard.
But then, I guess I'm one of those whiners they're talkin' about.
Yup. Too bad the admin didn't step in sooner to stop this mess rather than letting it get this far.
Once Bush is out of office (I'll be jumping for joy and doing backflips) we know darn sure that some lame republican folks (probably the 30% who think he's done a great job) fund his big ass Presidential Libray. Yeah, it will be in Texas , where they think Bush parted the seas. Can we hope that he will just retire and wither away. Please...do not write a book.
Ha!
Great point.
my understanding is that last week's mess began under Reaganomics when a LOT of deregulation started happening, companies got huge tax breaks while simultaneously shipping all their manufacturing overseas, etc.
later administrations and congresses continued the trends and, under Bush 43, those practices grew exponentially.
now, we get to join Poppy Bush in bailing Jr. out of his latest flop.
Man, I can't WAIT for Martial Law to kick in on October 30th!!!!
[and for all you neocons... that's sarcasm].
Thank you! Thank you very much. I'll here 'til Election Day.... try the democracy.
Hey Two Crows... just wait. They'll start blaming it on Clinton pretty soon.
It's what they do.
Probably.
It's the ownership society. Now we're owners too.
Targa said:
"Hey Two Crows... just wait. They'll start blaming it on Clinton pretty soon.
It's what they do.
Probably."
Well, if by "they" you mean that Ultra Right Wing rag, "The Village Voice":
http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-08-05/news/how-andrew-cuomo-gave-birth-to-the-crisis-at-fannie-mae-and-freddie-mac/
I apologize for the double post, but I when I read the following, I thought, nothing is truer about this situation than the following:
"We Have Met the Enemy and He Is...? [Victor Davis Hanson]
In the sudden rush to blame the crooks in DC and on Wall Street, we should first take a long look in the mirror. For two decades, we — as in we Americans — expected to buy homes, flip them, and walk away with thousands — without much thought about what might happen to the johnny-come-lately at the bottom of the pyramid when the game was finally up and housing prices cooled or crashed. Walking away from a mortgage on a house with negative equity was "smart;" putting someone in one who had no ability to come up with a down payment, monthly payments, taxes, and maintenance was "fair"; borrowing unduly against equity for cash expenditures was "understandable."
We deified the masters of hedge funds, derivatives, and subprime mortgages, forgetting that passé oil production, mining, farming, manufacturing, engineering and construction were the real sources of our material wealth.
We assumed mega-returns on our portfolios, without a thought what Wall Street did to get them, or the effect on others who needed to borrow at such high interest to run their businessess.
Ours became a culture that wanted larger cars but less drilling to fuel them, more stuff and more credit from — and more anger at — the Chinese; less taxes but even more government hand-outs; ever more electricity, but fewer icky coal and nuclear plants — and always more health-care, education-care, prescription drug-care, housing-care, and always less care how to pay for it.
So by all means let us prosecute the lawbreakers, finger-point at the enablers, lecture the stupid, but at least spare us the sanctimonious "they" did this to poor "us." If there were not a Senate Banking Chairman like Chris Dodd without shame cozing up to the creeps at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, or a Richard Fuld playing casino roulette with someone else's money, we would have had to invent them.
We should argue over the course of Paulson's unpleasant chemotherapy to deal with these symptoms of a metastasizing disease, but let us at least consider what were the catalysts for that deeper cancer."
As they say, just so....
Frankly, I don't think the world markets will be fooled by any measure that doesn't look to shore up the American consumer.
Without addressing the root of the problem, any bailout is just shoveling more money into a toilet.
Owning countless homes, yet I don't feel suddenly rich?
As a matter of fact, I'm feeling financially very insecure at this moment.
speaking of 'whining':
blaming the victims [as the brave soul who calls himself (sic) 'anonymous' above does] plays directly into Graham's and McCain's hands.
yes, there were people who flipped houses.
how many of those folks do YOU know?
I, personally, know zero. zilch. nada.
and I certainly never did any such thing, myself.
if I could have afforded to, I have no guarantee I wouldn't have. but I couldn't and didn't.
so, anonymous [if that is, indeed, your real name], pointing your finger at the victims simply doesn't work.
xxx
and, Targa--
oh, yeah, that is exactly what they do.
they've already started.
it reminds me of how Reagan was blaming Carter for things that were happening during the 7th year of Reagan's reign.
To make matters worse, this is a plan developed by George and his merry band of idiots. Is there any hope that it will work?
Let me answer that.
Nope. Not a chance.
Two Crows,
"pointing your finger at the victims simply doesn't work" ???
So now they are all victims? Is there no such thing as personal responsibity left at all? Buying a house is the biggest purchase one makes in their life. Common sense dictates one understands what they are signing---what they are obligating themselves to. Where is the compensation for people like myself who did not overextend themselves? My wife, half-jestingly, says we should have bought a a huge house when everyone else was...so what if we could not really afford it...no one who did that is paying for it now...the govt. is rescuing them...WITH MY MONEY no less...so please, please, please tell me how I am not a victim here...I did absolutely nothing wrong--in fact I purposely did the right thing...and yet you claim the people who could not manage their own money are victims.
And by the way, regarding this : "so, anonymous [if that is, indeed, your real name]" I choose to post anonymously because I made the mistake in the past of identifying myself. The nasty e-mails, and even one phone call were enough to make me say never again. I could just make up an identity...but what's the difference if I just post anonymously...I do not hide behind the anonymity to launch personal attacks. I stick to the argument, without getting personal. I understand there are many out there who hide their identity to say things tehy would never say if they were known. I can only give you my word that I do no such thing. I think in the few posts I had here you can see I am true to my word. Unfortunately, I run the risk of another person using the anonymous tag to post crude remarks, and I will have no way of proving it's not me. Perhaps I will reconsider my lack of an ID, but until then, I ask for at least the benefit of the doubt until I do something to violate that.
anon--
your post seemed to be blaming everyone who bought a house they ended up not being able to afford.
the ones who were pressured to take on more than they could afford and didn't understand the system are the ones who won't be bailed out.
I can just about guarantee that those who acted out of greed are likely to survive better than those who acted out of ignorance.
xxx
when I bought my first home, I was a babe-in-the-woods and, in fact, made some bad decisions as a result. luckily, I didn't end up homeless [as many of these folks have] as a result of those mistakes.
xxx
like you, I have little sympathy for those who sought to abuse the system.
it seemed to me that your comment blamed everyone equally -- whether they acted out of ignorance or greed.
I apologize if that was not the case.
===
as to the crack about posting anonymously--
there has been an anonymous flamer here on PoP's blog who has, indeed, been quite nasty.
when folks post anonymously, it's impossible to tell the wheat from the chaff.
taking on a handle protects you from emails and phone calls while also protecting you from being lumped in with those who hide behind anonymity in order to flame-- jfwiw.
two crows,
I figured that was the case (with a flamer) I shall take your advice under advisement (as they say)
Certainly there are those who were pressured to buy more than they could...but again, ultimate personal responsibility dictates that if you do not feel right about the deal, if you feel pressure to do something you are not sure of, then perhaps the solution is not to go forward and hope for the best. But I do put most of the blame on the banks and investors who took advantage of the naivete of people...who profited at their expense, and now want the govt. to protect them. My reason for posting the comments above was to simply echo what Mr. Hansos is saying--before we just blame the mortgage cos., the regulators, the speculators, et. al, let us not forget that at the core of it all was ordinary people expecting to have it all, but believing they could get it cheap...I believe what Hanson is saying, and I most certainly agree, is...there is plenty of blame to go around...there are few real victims in this mess, more were willing participants in a risky scheme that fell apart.
My wife and I were like you when buying our home---a little 2 bedroom twin that we got cheap, in a great neighborhood...we were expecting our first child, and thought this would be a great starter home...15 years later, and now with 4 people living in a 2 bedroom home, we are still in place. Now, we made some choices along the way which made moving prohibitive (I stayed home with my daughter for nearly 6 years)...but the market was such that we could have bought a bigger home, and hoped for the best...I knew that was just not the right thing to do, and I am so glad now we made that choice (that's why I said previously my wife half-jokingly says we should have moved up)
However, it's not quite true that those who were duped or even those who just made a wrong choice are not being bailed out....how soon we forget the whole Countrywide mess...in ordinary times, if we were not in such a mess, those mortgage defaults would not have been rescued.
And just one personal note, it is so nice to find a place where one can have a rational, reasonable discussion, agreeing to disagree where necessary, yet never devolving into personal attacks...quite refreshing indeed!
hi, Jonah--
[how appropriate - we're ALL in the belly of the whale right now]
agreed, there's plenty of blame to go around -- including those who thought they could get more house than they could actually afford and never have to pay the piper. things never work out that way.
xxx
as to not degenerating into name calling-- again, agreed.
all that does is close communication-- it never does anyone any good.
PoP runs a great blog and, occasionally a flamer tries to make trouble here. so, people get skittish. or, I do, at least.
sorry I'm late to this PoP..But to quote the Talking Heads...
Same as it ever was...
Good for people to know.
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