The working class will be set up to be taken to the cleaners again.

[Skidmore]

How many times do we need to repeat these cycles in history. I can't even articulate what I want to say because I know I'm not conversant in the language and mechanisms of markets and high finance, but I recognize the languge of a scam in the making. If you listen to the Republicans and other free market disciples since the stimulus package was passed, you hear one consistent message--blame the person who got the mortgage. It wasn't the fault of the financial industry or the policy makers. Buchanan this morning laid the blame squarely on "minority communities" in which housing loans were given by Freddy and Fanny. Well, I know a few people living in "minority communities" and none of them are living in McMansions. There is something afoot to redefine this economic disaster so that the plight of the working person right now will become permanent and the denizons of gated communities can toss cake out the door once in a while to make themselves feel better. Wails of an assault to the foundation of America-capitalism-shake the heavens. No one is really being punished among the captains of the universe. Not really. I don't see these people losing much. Our little village now has a full 12% of its houses sitting empty right now with no buyers on the horizon. We now have a section of the local news daily devoted to plant/business closings locally. Tomorrow there will be a layoff of any employee working 10 years or less in a plant supplying car parts in the next town over. I don't like the language of the discourse and the fact that the greed industry that is the media is serving as a megaphone to try to sell this bill of goods.

I hope it doesn't work and if anyone else can better explain what I am getting at, please feel free to help me out. I just think that finance industry people and the wealthy are being allowed to skate away now. We have too many legislators who have large personal wealth who will not rock the boat.

[woodwrite]

1. Excellent observation

Even the frequently-used expression "housing bubble" seems to imply that a lot of lower-income folks acted irresponsibly in buying himes, when in fact it was the lenders at fault,...

[watrwefitinfor]

2. Someone may say it better, Skidmore.

But your message is clear and spot on. I couldn't have said it nearly as well, but I've been watching it happen and I don't even have cable.

Someone is sitting up there giving orders on these talking points, and how to use them strategically. Is it Rush? Newt? Someone we can't even imagine? It's like they all get the same message every morning from 'someone' and we used to think it was Rove. Maybe it still is...

Wat

[truedelphi]

10. The M$M has definitely been given its marching orders

The program "HOuse of Cards" on the money channel gave a hugely disportionate amount of time to those who took out equity mortgages to finance a swimming pool or update thaeir back yard, even though they couldn't really afford it.

The fact of the matter, what is destroying the Global Economy is the derivative losses, most of which were just bets placed for or against the system. To the tune of 550 Trillion dollars.

Soemthing that the banking industry's own experts set up, through lobbying for de-regulation.

No way should this crisis be laid on the backs of the working poor. There are not that many poor people in the USA to have caused this.

[izzie]

3. I wish I could think of another way to say it also.

I am a capitalist and like the system. People should always control the capital that makes things work and production but as always with rules. The balance between the capital and the worker is where I think things have gone wrong. It has all gone to the people with the capital so any thing goes IF you have the capital. It became OK to put some one on the street if he was stupid enough to want a home and sign him self over to a bank, as their lack of rules made it easy to rob any one that got near them. Hay I saw this happen right in my own home. The Bank did not sell my morg. and I had put down a third on my home but what they did is mix my name up with the morg. they did sell to one of these holding com. You have no thoughts on what a mess that got ME in and HOW I had to work to get out of the mess and to top it off not one sorry from bank, they put me on a bad credit list when I proved it was all their fault in the first place. I had put all that money down and paid every morg. bill on time and had the proof, which by the way the bank wanted the originals of and I even had to fight them to take copies. I knew we were in trouble with banking after that. I saw years of people with less and less down payments buying much bigger homes than I had so the writing was on the wall for years before it all fell. If you sign over part of your paycheck to a bank, face it, they are going to take it, even if you have done it under a bad contract. I also think it has some thing to do with making Corp. a person. That is bad business I think for every one. That law should come off the books right now. A person stands alone where as the bank people hide under this tree of no rules and that they are a person also. One person can hardly stand up to even a small bank. The law makers could stop all this in about an hour if they wished it.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

4. No side is blameless in this, but the government must bear most of the blame.

You can blame poor people for living outside their means, but you can't blame them when they taunted into doing so by banks with the American dream.

You can blame the banks for issuing mortgages they shouldn't have, but you can't blame them for making the most money possible given the rules of the game - it would be irresponsible to their shareholders if they didn't.

You can blame the securities raters for marking up what they knew to be faulty assets, but again, if they weren't playing, they themselves were losing.

In the end, the buck stops with the government. It made the rules that allowed the securities to be improperly rated. It made the rules to allow mortgages to be issued to people that shouldn't have them. It made it possible for people to get in over their own heads.

It's just like steroids in baseball - you can blame the players all you want, but the fact of the matter is, without MLB setting up stringent rules against steroids, players felt like they had to use them to be competitive and, in many cases, to keep their jobs. It is the entire purpose of a governing body to ensure the safety and viability of all people under their protectorate, and that is where the U.S. government (and particularly the Bush administration) failed us.

[Greyhound]

11. The government took these actions at the demand of the financial sector.

Each component of this disaster leads back to them. This is a sector that takes about a third of our nation's economic activity and produces nothing.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

12. It's still the government's fault for caving at their demands.

That's where the Bush administration is liable.

[Greyhound]

13. But, who's the government?

Who is it supposed to be?

[OffWithTheirHeads]

5. I'm telling you, it's time to bring back the guillotine.

nt

[lovuian]

6. I see Civil war coming these local governments

are going to rebel all over the country

[marew]

7. There is certainly truth in what you are saying.

And Buchanan is one of the most detestable commentators on TV. He should be on Faux. I can't even listen to him anymore. What an ego that man has while being completely clueless. And he gets paid big bucks to give his loony opinions. His sister, Bayh, is just as clueless.

[GeorgeGist]

8. Too late ...

the deed is done.

The greediest of US Steal, Inc are pissed because the new CEO's plan might take 18-24 months before the cash is in their hands.

[blindpig]

9. So new?

Ain't that what Capitalism is all about?